Do women feel pressured into losing weight quickly after giving birth?

Yes

5 of 9

by Summer Minor

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Our modern society has always put pressure on women to fit the ideal body image, yet there used to be some forgiveness for the new mom with a pudgy midsection. Not any longer. As more and more celebrities enter the ranks of motherhood, showing off their new babies and still perfect bodies on the covers of magazines, we are seeing increasing pressure on moms to look thin and fit more quickly after birth.

We can see it everywhere. From the magazine articles promising new tricks to lose weight quickly to the television commercials promising miracle weight changes from little pills, we are bombarded with pressure to be thin and stay thin. New moms are given no pass from the pursuit of the perfect body. Airbrushed, toned bodies of famous moms grace the pages of magazines aimed towards women, sending the not so subtle message that this is what a new mother is supposed to look like. As they share their stories of getting back to exercising and dieting only a few weeks after giving birth women begin to feel guilty for resting and relaxing.

In fact this pressure begins before a woman even gives birth. There is a subtle pressure for women to gain as little weight as possible during their pregnancies in order to be able to get back in shape more quickly. Some celebrities have even talked of have elective cesarean sections early in order to avoid the normal weight gain of the last few weeks. The easy, smiling faces of thin mom models can add guilt and shame to a new mom trying to recover from birth without the help of personal trainers, cooks, and nannies. Very quickly the pressure from society becomes pressure from within to be thinner and fit the unattainable ideal.

Whether we are being told all the ways we can lose the mom fat quickly or being shown images of what an ideal mom's body should look like, new mothers are more and more being pressured to be thin and beautiful soon after birth. Despite the lip service paid to loving your body as it is, new mothers are sent the message that their body's are ugly as long as they hold the soft, round curves that come from pregnancy. Fad diets and plastic surgery are being sold to mothers with the promise of having the bodies they had before children. The body that should be a source of pride and power becomes a source of shame.

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