So, what do we all think about the news headline today? New mums need support in losing weight and want government backing! Please, surely there are better ways to spend public money, aren’t there?
Apparently research carried out by the Royal College of Midwives and the parenting website Netmums.com found that 61% of new mums claim they are not given enough advice on healthy eating and losing weight after giving birth. Do we really need to be told though? Is that good use of an already strained budget?
Yes, how many of us feel under pressure to lose all that baby weight the minute we’ve given birth, especially when we see celebrities manage to walk out the maternity hospital looking thinner than they did before they even got pregnant.
We all need to use our common sense though, some people are just genetically like that. Meanwhile the majority of us have to work at it a little and practice some restraint. We should all know that if we eat too much chocolate, too many biscuits or have portions the size of Mount Everest then it’s going to take a lot longer, if ever, for that weight to drop off. Lets not forget that the weight serves a purpose too, womens bodies are designed to breast feed their newborn baby thus shedding, you hope, excess weight fairly easily. It didn’t help me but then I know I have a tendency to overeat at times. Chocolate digestives taste sooo good when you are breastfeeding!
I agree that while the increase in obesity and gaining excess weight in pregnancy is a worry because of the impact it can have on babies and women during birth but that is an entirely separate issue. However, we have got to stop feeling guilty for everything we do. My weight has has gone up and down so many times that I’ve lost count but I know where I’m going wrong and also what I should be doing to prevent that. It is hard, but we also need to start becoming accountable for our own actions and not rely on someone else to bail us out from something that should really be common sense.
Rant over!
Sources
In the news
I agree, there is way too much pressure to lose weight particularly since hardly anyone in the spotlight ever shows what you really look like after giving birth – like you are still pregnant. Having just had my third I find it harder each time to lose weight. In fact I need to go eat more chocolate right now!!
Great to discover a new blog, thanks to bog carnival. Pop over and visit bigwords if you ever get the time!
ha!
i was listening avidly to this debate on the radio yesterday – us poor ladies who feel under pressure to look like kiera knightly!
i didnt look like kiera before i added a couple of stone via pregnancy and now I am just lazin around refusing to shift the bulk. Im not tired as she sleeps through and my husband would happily mind all three kids so I could go to the gym – i juts really cant be bothered yet. My baby is 6 months old now and I still blindly believe that breastfeeding helps you lose weight!
my common sense tells me to leave the chips and chocolate alone – my heart tells me to keep eating I am a growing girl!
j x
http://www.northernmum.wordpress.com
All I ever wanted to do was cuddle my babies for as long as possible not go off to the gym or worry about my weight. It’ll come off eventually when you want it too. I think I gave myself the excuse that because I was breastfeeding I could eat more….ended up putting on weight instead! *sigh*
Oh for crying out loud! Of course there are much better ways to spend public money! I, for one, am sick and tired of people not taking responsibility for their own actions.
Exactly! If it happens, which I doubt, I expect there will be uproar. The news last night was full of news of cuts that really shouldn’t be made elsewhere so if this does happen there will be trouble I would think. x
Sounds like all the crazy entitlement programs that our crazy society in the states has cooked up! I’m all for losing weight, but I’m not paying for someone else to lose it. Nothing surprises me anymore!
It is crazy isn’t it and makes my blood boil. So many better causes to spend money on. Anyway, I very much doubt that it will happen.
Why are mums being singled out (again)? Obesity seems quite widespread throughout the population. Losing weight is hard, but not impossible and there are many options available. We also need to tackle is the body fascism where newspapers (like the Daily Mail) deride celebrities for their ‘swollen’ tummies and ‘ballooning’ to a size 12 while celebrating celeb new mums showing how they have ‘got their bodies back’ in barely there swimsuits just three months after giving birth. That’s not normal – having a bit of a belly after having children and as you age is.
Probably because the ‘powers that be’ know we are easy targets who, on the whole, carry a lot of guilt about everything!! You are right though…… I cringe when I read that so and so must be pregnant because they have a swollen belly etc and am just thankful I am not under scrutiny 24 hours a day.
I heard this today too and my mind went down the same path as yours! Heavens do we all need to be spoon-fed (or, I suppose that should be, not fed!)
Exactly! People are always quick to blame someone else aren’t they for their own faults. 🙂
I agree with you, it’s common sense about how to lose weight and discipline. I didn’t manage to lose it after the boy, but that’s because I was lazy. I know full well how to do it as I think most people do. I think it would be a great waste of money to use government money to help people who should know by now.
Glad you agree, was worried I would be in the minority….. I’m sure the majority of the population know perfectly well what they should be doing.
I don’t see why new mums should be singled out as getting support losing weight… personally I’ve found the last six months now my son is out of his buggy and I only ever walk at snails pace everywhere with a tiny finger pulling me down to be a far more challenging time!
This just sounds like a hot air press release in the run up to the midwives’ annual conference… it’s unlikely to become government policy, especially at the moment.
Obviously I agree and you could be right about the conference. Didn’t think about that.