Bethenny Frankel anoints herself Empress of Pregnancy Fitness

Sweet baby Jeebus. Why is that being a reality tv 'star' somehow qualifies you to write books about crap that you don't know anything about?

Case in point: Real Housewives of New York 'star' and celebrity chef Bethenny Frankel has said that she is writing a book called Naturally Fit Pregnancy. If you remember, Frankel was in the media recently for losing nearly 30lbs in 3 weeks following the birth of her first child.

Here's the thing: Frankel recently revealed that she has been anorexic and bulimic in her life. Her mother was also bulimic. I'm not sure that with (some might speculate) unresolved eating issues and who lost a ridiculous amount of weight following her first birth should really be giving advice to everyday preggo gals.

Besides, there's no such thing as 'naturally fit'. Women who are 'fit' working bloody hard to be 'fit'. Let's not kid ourselves here.

British mothers receive advice on sensible weight loss

I never thought I'd see the day. It seems that western governments are finally cottoning on to the fact that post-baby weight loss is a dangerous stressor for women who as they try to manage motherhood in cultures riddled with the presence of hot celebrity mums. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is concerned that British mums are trying too hard to copy celebrity slimming techniques and are pushing for new mothers to receive official guidance when it comes to safe and effective post-birth weight loss. Doctors are increasingly worried about women who are resorting to crash diets to bounce back, perhaps unknowingly impairing their ability to breastfeed for lack of calories to produce good milk.

Rosie Dodds, of the National Childbirth Trust, said: 'The message we want to get across is for women not to rush into it. Start with gradual exercise which is free and which can boost mood and confidence - such as simply walking with the baby in the pram or in a sling. Weight loss should also be gradual because that is the best way to keep it off.

'The last thing you need after you have had a baby is some unrealistic pressure to get back to a particular size or shape. Society should value women for being mothers.'

A good point, but nevertheless is this really new information? Even when women are not pregnant they know on some level that crash dieting is never a good thing and yet, the dieting industry in the US, Australia and the UK is thriving because women continue to buy into quick and seemingly simple but dangerous schemes for dropping weight. Is merely telling new mums that crash dieting is wrong an effective solution when our globalised world relies on and upholds celebrities and their bodies as the templates for daily life?

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1152439/New-mothers-receive-official-guidance-losing-weight-giving-birth.html

Carnie Wilson: blah blah blah

Famous for her struggles with weight loss and her very public experiences with gastric bypass surgery, Carnie Wilson (formerly of Wilson Phillips) is pregnant again and was talking about being a mum at 40 and gaining weight on The Bonnie Hunt Show yesterday.

Carnie reached her goal weight of 150lbs in October of 2008 and was featured in Ok! talking about her plans to get pregnant (which she did in Nov): http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/8440

Oddly, however, in her chat with Bonnie Hunt, Wilson said:

"I am glad that I lost 50 lbs. before I got pregnant but honestly, I just push the big old pause button when I get pregnant."

Right. I hate to be the bearer of bad news here but isn't 'pushing the pause button' how you ended up being 208 lbs in the first place? That is not a comment intended to castigate people that are overweight. Rather, it annoys me that Carnie Wilson spends alot of time talking about eating healthfully and losing weight (in fact, she is probably more famous for her weight gain/losses than her singing career) and yet she throws that all by the wayside when she gets pregnant. She went to extraordinary lengths to lose weight in order to fall pregnant for the second time. According to Ok! she said her diet was quite strict:

"I’m not allowing myself anything that’s off my regimen: no sugar, no carbs, no dairy, no red meat, no flour of any kind. It’s really strict, but I like how it feels."

Pregnancy has clearly become an excuse for her to change her eating. She told Bonnie Hunt:

"I don't eat red meat anymore. Now I am just a cheese freak because of the pregnancy. I can't stop with the cheese. And bagels."

Rather than talking about what she is eating (or not eating) constantly, perhaps Wilson should just shut about it all and maybe people (like me!) wouldn't have to be annoyed with the flip-flopping between being the poster-girl for weight loss and the 'I-don't-care-give-me-another-block-of-cheese' pregnant woman. Honestly, if you are going to eat, eat. Stop justifying it to other people but on the other hand, stop pretending that it doesn't matter. Weight loss and weight gain so clearly do matter to Wilson. She's spent alot of time and money on surgery, diets and personal trainers.

Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20251996,00.html

Totally Tori looks hot part 2

Tori Spelling is back in the news for finally kicking the 50lbs she gained in her second pregnancy. If you remember, she dropped the weight from her first pregnancy with Nutri-System in like 3 minutes flat:

http://babybumpproject.blogspot.com/2007/10/tori-spelling-and-her-new-body.html

Now, since Tori is like thisclose to signing on to a reprise her role on 90210, she is looking svelte once again. This time, however, her post-baby bounce back took 6 months. This time she was a bit more sensible and didn't try to lose the weight quickly and she didn't work out like a fanatic:

"Breakfast was yogurt, fruit and nuts. Lunch was homemade soup with a sweet potato or soy milk base. We'd snack on celery and peanut butter, and then I'd make lean protein with vegetables for dinner. For me to go to the gym and leave my kids doesn't make sense."

Good to see her setting a better example...

Source: http://www.fitsugar.com/2666512

Kate Winslet: how doth you annoyeth me

Kate Winslet is back in the news again for her 'sexy new shape' and again, banging on about how she doesn't exercise (much).

"I don't go the gym because I don't have time," Winslet says in the February issue of UK Elle. "But I do Pilates workout DVDs for 20 minutes or more every day at home."

She reckons she has maintained her size 6 (US) figure for the last five years by not 'stuffing down chocolate biscuits'. Uh huh.

While I applaud Kate for making openly admitting she has cellulite, let's be for reals here..I do Pilates and yoga and while both of them kick my arse more than you could ever imagine, it's not cardio and everyone knows that it's cardio that kicks off the kilos.

Kate: enough with the boring 'I don't care about my weight' platitudes. Just admit you have a trainer like every other actress in Hollywood.


Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/news/kate-winslet-workout-plan-20-minute-pilates-dvds

Debra Messing: on her post-baby body

In a candid interview with Shape, Debra Messing has admitted that all of the tabloid hype around her pregnancy weight gain (18 kg) in 2004 made her pretty depressed. Unlike other celebs who seem to drop their baby weight before the kid even has a name, Messing says:

"On one page it showed all the actresses who got skinny in six weeks or less (after giving birth), and on the other page was me! I was so depressed and frustrated. I was exhausted! I couldn't work out three hours a day and do my job as a mother and an actress. So I took the pressure off. I cut back on seeing the trainer but started eating healthier. Ultimately I'm very proud of how I dropped the weight because I think it was the healthy approach. I've finally taken ownership of my body."

Post-baby bodies

Looks like Jessica Alba has lost some serious weight. The actress if now 25 pounds lighter going from a size 8 (US) to a size 4.

And looks like Angelina Jolie is struggling to shed her baby weight. She lost 30 pounds almost immediately following the birth of her twins but is now working hard to drop the last 20 in time for the premiere of Brad's new film at the Venice International Film Festival.

Sources: http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272622202.shtml
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20220166,00.html

Oh no you didnt!

Hell has frozen over.

*deep breath*

I just found an article about post-baby weight loss in the New York Daily News (I guess that says it all) in which the author quotes some $%&*head surgeon that says caesareans are great for this reason:

"You burn a lot of calories healing after a C-section. It's a serious surgical procedure - you're cutting through the abdominal wall and the uterus," he explains. "Your body is trying to repair itself and that stimulates your metabolism. Plus you're usually on a liquid diet for the first few days afterward. You can lose about 10 pounds. So if you keep that off, watch your diet and get back to exercising, you can look really good."

Right. let's just go back to the 'cutting through the abdominal wall' bit. How about 'Ouch'? Um, I think weight loss is perhaps the last thing on your mind when you are trying to prevent your intestines from bursting out of your surgical scar.

There you have it, ladies. Elect to have a caesar and forget about going to the gym. Your immune system will take care of the weight loss for you.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2008/08/11/2008-08-11_hey_mama_postbaby_body_secrets_of_celebr.html?page=0

Camila Alves: post-baby body

In the true spirit of Hollywood, Camila Alves (Matt McConaughey's girlfriend) is looking positively slender only 17 days since the birth of their first child.

Check a gallery of celeb more baby bumps due in the US 'summer':

http://www.usmagazine.com/summer-bumps

Source: http://www.ahlanlive.com/4974-camilas-post-baby-figure?imgN=0

Halle Berry: post-baby body

Halle Berry sporting a very flat stomach 5 months since giving birth. According to the Daily Mail, this is 'several months longer than other new Hollywood mothers'. Give me a bloody break.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1036490/New-mum-Halle-Berry-flashes-flat-tummy-losing-baby-weight-healthy-way.html

Melissa Joan Hart: on losing weight post-baby

Melissa Joan Hart is featured in Ok! talking about her post-baby weight loss. Hart gave birth to a second son 4 months ago, and now says she is only 5 pounds away from her 'goal' weight'. This time around the actress says she tried harder to drop her weight, although, she is not trying to lose too much because she is breastfeeding. Here are some highlights:

How much extra weight did you put on when you were pregnant?
I probably put on about 35 pounds. Maybe by the end of it, it was close to 40. Whereas with Mason, my first pregnancy, I put on like 55. So it was a big difference.

How much do you have left to lose?
I’m about five [pounds] off from where I started. But I want to drop another 10. So I have 10 more pounds, and I'll do that over the rest of the year. But see, weight's tricky too, because I’m putting on muscle. When I had Mason, I was the lightest weight I’ve ever been, but I wasn’t working out. So I looked skinny, and the scale was reading skinny, but I had no muscle tone to me. This time I want to have muscles, so I’m probably going to weight a little more than I did.

Did you go through stages of feeling "unsexy" while you were carrying the baby weight?
Oh god, I did not like being pregnant. I was just reading a magazine where there were a group of celebrities that loved being pregnant, so they never wanted to stop. And then there was a group of women that were just like, I hated it. And I just hated it.

Source: http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/7933

Jessica Alba: sappy and sweet

Jessica Alba's $1.5 million Ok! cover has just been released. Apparently, Alba had a 'natural' birth and she 'didn't scream'. She says:

"The labor was more like meditation," she says. "I did yoga breathing. I was focused."

And now, of course, she's back to working out and losing weight:

"I started working out last Thursday, but for 20 minutes. I do cardio on my own. I'm doing it slow," she says. "Now I'm starting to eat more healthy. Because after working out, having fried chicken and mashed potatoes is a little counteractive."

*Yawn*

Source: http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/7881

Jessica Alba: never felt less sexy

Jessica Alba is on the August cover of Cosmopolitan (UK) bleating on about how 'unsexy' and fat she felt when she was pregnant *sigh*

"I never felt less sexy. I mean, I wouldn't have changed it for the world...but I wanted to get rid of all the weight."

And of course she's nearly back to her pre-baby weight. Alba is normally a 26/27, and she is a size 28 right now.

Source: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b145967_jessica_alba_weight_almost_over.html

Javine Hylton: post-baby body

British singer, Javine Hylton has dropped most of her baby weight since giving birth in February of this year. She says, however, it hasn't been easy (motherhood and losing weight). I rate this woman. Not only does she admit that losing weight is bloody hard, she also acknowledges the absolute shock that is having a baby for many first-time mums. She says in Closer magazine:

“I’d always thought of myself as a fit, athletic person, but I’d spread everywhere! My bum was enormous – it came round on all sides and stuck out behind me! I’d put on four stone while pregnant – going up to fourteen stone – and although I’d lost some of the weight, my pre-pregnancy jeans wouldn’t fit. I’d cover up in Harvey’s biggest T-shirts and tracksuit bottoms.”

Six weeks post-birth, she hired a trainer, ramped up her fitness and started to eat well. Javine has gone from 14 stone (88 kg) in pregnancy to about 10.5 (65 kg) in the photo above.

Source: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1032969/Javine-Hylton-shows-post-baby-figure.html

Christina Aguilera's post-baby body

Just three weeks since the 'birth' (that was mean, an elective caesar is still a birth *sigh*) of her son, Max, Christina Aguilera has stepped out in all of her bleached blonde glory to launch her new DVD in West Hollywood. Considering a caesar usually requires about 6 weeks of recovery, she is either doing really well or truly suffering for her 'art'. It must be nice to have a driver, a nanny (or six) and an entourage of people to feed, clothe and make her up.

Source: http://justjared.buzznet.com/

Super slim Milla J

Wow! I've been waiting to see photos of Milla Jovovich's post-baby body considering she famously gained 70lbs during her first pregnancy. Two months on, Milla is looking mighty slender. No word as to how she dropped the weight but she is in pre-production for a new film so that must have been quite an incentive.

More photos here: http://x17online.com/celebrities/milla_jovovich/mama_milla-01162008.php

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=508274&in_page_id=1773

A model of motherhood?

Most of us spend alot of time (okay, maybe just me) thinking about how all of those celebrities and models manage to bounce back faster than you can say 'liposuction'. New York magazine has picked up on the trend as Russian model Natalia Vodianova is set prance on the catwalks of New York Fashion Week for the third time post-baby. Yes, she is 25 and has given birth three times and returned to the catwalk in record times.

Child: Viktor
Born: September 13, 2007
RTR (Return to Runway): October 3, 2007
DOR (Duration of Recovery): Twenty days

Child: Neva
Born: March 24, 2006
RTR: September 14, 2006
DOR: Five months, 21 days

Child: Lucas
Born: December 21, 2001
RTR: March 11, 2002
DOR: Two months, 21 days

Fast metabolism? Or the lure of millions being waved in your face to shrink down in the name of fashion?

Source: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/01/natalia_vodianova.html

Trista Sutter bounces back...only to bulge out?

Oh Trista Sutter (T.Sutt, in the spirit of J.Lo)....she's back in the 'news' (and I use that term lightly) in an Us magazine 'Exclusive' splashing her bounced-back-from-baby body on this week's cover. It was only in October that I wrote about Trista's mission to be slim by the new year. Here's a little reminder: http://babybumpproject.blogspot.com/2007/10/trista-sutter-wants-to-be-skinny-sigh.html

Wanting to be 'two sizes smaller' and back into her size 26 Hudson jeans, it looks as though T.Sutt has dropped 30 lbs of her baby baggage and is proud to tell everyone that she can't go to sleep at night until she's done about 5,000 sit ups. Blah Blah Blah.

This is the kicker. Us, in their infinite and highly unethical wisdom (just consider that yesterday breaking news' headline' was that Britney Spears was drinking orange soda), has decided to publish T.Sutt's 'exact' diet and exercise program for all of those mothers who can't wait to beat their bodies into submission because they are afraid their husbands will be forever repusled by a little belly fat.

I find it even more amazing that given the whole 'exclusive' is about how happy T.Sutt is about getting back to her 'sexy' self, the story ends with the mention that she is already trying for a second baby! Honestly! What is the point? I'm sure she's is happy being a mother but what why on earth would she go to such extreme lengths to lose weight if she is just planning on being pregnant immediately following her miraculous transformation?! T.Sutt also goes on about how happy Ryan is with her 'new' body...so if she was so worried before about her relationship won't getting pregnant again bring her back to the same body anxious place?

I don't get it.

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/exclusive_baby_trista_debuts_her_shocking_bikini_body

Garcelle Beavais-Nilon: too exhausted to workout

Finally, a celebrity mum admits that mothering is a hard gig. Mum to two-month old twins, actress/model Garcelle Beavais-Nilon tells People all she wants for Christmas is sleep. After a caesar birth, Beavais-Nilon has waited until just recently to start a post-baby fitness regimen. She says:

"I had a C-section so we had to wait six weeks." She credits getting in peak condition for a nude Playboy layout published in August (which she shot in the early stages of her pregnancy) for helping her body bounce back so quickly. "I think that really helped me lose my weight, because I was in great shape before that."

"I'm going to go back to Pilates," she vows. "That is what I like to do, but right now I'm too tired to do anything!"

Whilst we are under no false impressions that celebrities have a job to do when it comes to slimming and perfection post-baby, it's good to see that Garcelle can admit that motherhood is hard and exercise isn't necessarily her priority. I wonder how many weeks pregnant she was in the Playboy shoot?

Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20166798,00.html

Celebrity yummy mummies

Hmm...Isn't this a coincidence? Sounds alot like my research which has been heavily publicised in three countries......

WOMEN are increasingly concerned about their shape and weight during pregnancy, partly due to the media's focus on celebrity yummy mummies, experts say. Psychologist Beth Shelton from Swinburne University said there seems to be “strong, unwritten social rules” about how much weight is acceptable to gain, where that weight goes and how long it takes to lose it after the baby is born.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22874688-1702,00.html

This particular researcher only followed 13 women (which they don't mention in any of the articles)....I did more than 200 interviews with 40 women.

*Sigh*