Judge for yourself: before and after pictures of Heidi Klum
The magazine felt that it was nothing short of a miracle that Heidi Klum regained her model figure so fast.
Being a huge fan of Heidi Klum ( sometimes I wished I had her life: sexy hubby, fabulous career and wonderful kids, what more can you ask for?), I was a little put off by the article. The magazine was judging her for being superficial and sending the wrong message to normal mothers out there: to have to be back in shape just after giving birth. Yet, I understand that for Heidi Klum it is important to stay in shape to keep on being a model past her thirty years of age, to compete with the 12 years old that surface every year and want to take her place. Moreover, her body is her paycheck therefore she needs to be hot whether she had a baby or not. I am not mad at her for having this fabulous figure because I am sure she just killed herself working out, and cutting on food to be this gorgeous.
Celebrities like Heidi Klum are always pressured to look good at all times, even if they are pregnant. They represent a dream to normal people, and to keep this dream, they have to work hard to get back in shape after giving birth. Most of them do not really say that they workout and diet hard to get back in shape because they want people to still have the illusion that they are perfect. They all look gorgeous barely weeks after giving birth. They are putting the bar too high for us normal mothers who do not have personal trainers, personal chefs and nannies to help us out.
As far as I am concerned, I do not follow the celebrities. I understand that we are not the same so I cannot put myself on the same level and try to get back in shape barely weeks after I give birth. In fact, the first time I had a baby, I was so overwhelmed at how much work I had to put to take care of my child, that I did not think about getting back in shape. Before delivering, it occured to me that I probably would have to exercise once the baby is born, but I put this thought in the back of my mind as soon as the baby came. And something wonderful happened to me: I began to loose weight naturally. I did not work out, I did not diet. On the contrary, I was eating like crazy and not necessarily healthy food. And in less than 2 months, I was down to 4 dress sizes. My clothes were so baggy I had to buy new ones. And a week after purchasing a new fitted jean, it became too big for me to wear without a belt. My secret: I was breastfeeding. For 6 months, I exclusively breastfed my first son. Occasionally (particularly when we were out of the house), I would offer him a bottle of soy milk. But most of the time, he would feed off my breast. Each time a woman breastfeed, she looses 500 Cal; an average newborn will breastfeed 6 to 8 times a day, so do the maths. Ok! I will do it for you: you can loose 4000 Cal a day. Considering that a normal woman calorie intake per day is between 1500 to 2000Cal, you loose a lot if you do not eat more. I could not eat more than I was eating. Hell, at the rate I was eating, I consider myself a bulimic. At one point I was thinner than I have ever been in my life. I was so skinny that when I took a picture of myself and sent it to my mother, she burst into tears. She imagined that I was miserable. In fact I was so skinny that I have lost my signature butt. As far as I could remember, I was known as the butt just like Jlo. I hated it but I had learned to live with it (most of the time hiding it by wearing long tunics over jeans). But that butt of mine had disappeared and my hubby was not really happy about it.
Was in shape? I cannot tell. I know I did not have the abs of Heidi Klum. My stomach was not flat. I still had a little bulge down there but everywhere else I was growing small muscles. My arms were getting closer to Jennifer Anniston's for lifting my baby every day all the day. That was the only exercise that I had, and it was fine with me.
Was I happy about my new figure? I cannot say. I did love the fact that I was skinny enough to fit in size 6 jeans, but I did not have the luxury to go shopping for new clothes as often as I would like. I was a stay at home mother, therefore I did not need a new wardrobe. However, I did not like the pity look I received from family and friends who saw me after I lost so much weight. You have to understand that in my country gaining weight is synonymous of being happy and rich and loosing is equivalent to being depressed, miserable. In fact, they all thought that I was deeply overwhelmed and in need of help with my son.
Was I overwhelmed? Maybe. I remember spending my days, taking care of my son, watching TV, checking the Internet and waiting for hubby to come home to take me out. I was doing OK but maybe not as much as I thought. I wanted to work so badly and leave the nest. I realised that I did not like to be a housewife or stay at home mother. I wanted to work, wear corporate clothes, drive a car, have my own money and spend it the way I wanted. And when I realised that this dream of mine would not happen anytime soon, I became depressed and did not even noticed it. I guess the first sign was me shaving my head. I grew tired of my old tresses and shaved the whole thing. The new hairstyle was easy to maintain and in a way cute. And I had a wig to cover it all when I felt it necessary. Overall, I guess I was depressed but I was also in severe denial. You have to understand that I bear it upon myself to take care of my son all alone, and to cry out for help would be an equivalent of saying that I was a failure as a new mother.
But to come back to our subject: I was happy to discover that I did not need to work out like Heidi to get back in shape. Breastfeeding save me. Yet the only problem with it is that as soon as I weaned the baby I gained all the pre-pregnancy weight back. Well it did not happen overnight. It took me 6 months to gain it all back and some more. Truly I think that weaning did not do it by itself. I also had change my lifestyle: I was working at a desk job now, driving and eating junk food all the time. So, it is understandable that I gained weight.
I hope that this time, breastfeeding would bring the same miracle to my body that it did the first time I gave birth. Because frankly I am tired enough taking care of my newborn and family to even think about working out. Eventually some day, when I find the energy and time, I would like to exercise (I may start with walking around my apartment complex) because as I am getting older, my body definitely needs a big boost. Moreover, it is important not to let myself go this time around. The first time I did it. Being a stay at home mother, I felt like I did not need to take care of myself and my relationship with my husband suffered (let us just stay that my shaved head was a big turnoff). This time around, I swear that even if I cannot get back in shape, I will try to at least be beautiful because after all, (they do not say it at loud for fear of being physically hurt)but men do like a little flower to look at once they arrive home from a long day at work (so cliche it makes me cringe). Nevertheless, I would be doing it for myself at first, because by looking pretty and pampering myself, I will feel good. And by feeling good, I can chase the blues and mood swings away. Being a mother does not mean that I have to become a slob. I owe it to myself to look and feel great. Maybe Heidi is getting back in shape for the fame and money, but deep down inside I reckon she also does it because she wants to feel great. So she does not deserve a stinky diaper for doing so.
Parenting Mgazine 2006 Stinky Diaper Award
http://www.parenting.com/gallery/Mom/Stinky-Diaper-Awards-2006-97054/5/4
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