update 5/24 7 pm: After being contacted by the Instagram star mentioned in this post, I’ve decided to remove their photo and likeness out of respect. They were not aware of the PR company pitching them to new mom bloggers like myself and is embarrassed. This is a case of bad PR but I still feel the same way about sexy bumpies and postpartum selfies that are unrealistic too soon.
The internet is weird in that I never know if I am seeing certain stories in my newsfeeds because of my interests or because everyone is seeing the same stuff. Lately, I’ve noticed an overwhelming amount of news on regular people, specifically Instagrammers and bloggers. I feel like Mashable and Us Weekly have gotten increasingly lazy with their reporting and now just reshare images from social media with captions like, “Pregnant blogger stuns in this 9 month pregnant bumpie.”
A bumpie is a selfie of your growing belly.
I didn’t get why these stories were becoming articles on sites I used to enjoy visiting until yesterday.
I got a press release about an Instagrammer who looks amazing just days after giving birth.
Why do Instagrammers now have PR companies pitching them… just 10 days after giving birth?! I wasn’t going to post anything but when I saw it on Us Weekly today, I had to because I was so curious why these online news sources were so lazy lately.
The PR company wanted to know if I wanted to share the blogger’s tips for looking like her 10 days postpartum.
One of the biggest personal challenges for a woman after giving birth is getting her post-pregancy body back in shape. However, [removed], a NASM certified personal trainer specializing in women’s fitness/nutrition and social influencer with over 130K fit followers, has managed to come up with a healthy and easy strategy that has garnered major results already in just 7 days.
She would love to share some of her post baby body bounce back tips with you. If you are interested in pursuing this, please let me know and I can coordinate an interview for you. I am even happy to send you a sample of her favorite item, the Belly Bandit, which she swears by and has proven to help her safely slim down her waistline in just 1 week!
What happened to a maternity leave? It’s obvious this was a publicity stunt – likely for Belly Bandit.
update 5/24 7 pm: I did find out that the PR team works for Belly Bandit, not the blogger. The blogger is however a Belly Bandit Ambassador.
I didn’t respond because I’m promoting a healthy post pregnancy life. I have my entire life to be judged on my appearance. Pregnancy has been the only time that I haven’t given a shit what people think. Why would I want to post tips that likely 90% of my readers will roll their eyes at? My uterus was still shrinking at this time and I was still really bloated, two things your diet and exercise plans have nothing to do with really. Also, I was busy caring for my son and dealing with mastitis to think about taking pictures of my progress.
I’m also not trying to mommy shame Instagrammers or celebrities who get back into shape really quick, good for them, really! I do wish I looked as good as them but I totally ate too many cookies pregnant to drop back so quick and now am dragging my feet because I don’t feel the need to look a certain way right now. Celebrities unfortunately, are not gifted this luxury. I just don’t want to people to think that these results are normal or something you can achieve without dedication throughout all of pregnancy and the following 10 days. I wanted chocolate, wine and carbs after Tommy was born. I think that is pretty normal from what I’ve heard from fellows moms.
No one expects you to have 6 pack abs so soon after giving birth so why create this standard? I purposely didn’t post pictures without my shirt on until 6 weeks when the doctor says you can start exercising despite looking the same since week 3. I didn’t want to make anyone feel bad (or good for that matter I guess) for not losing weight faster.
So anyway, if you’re curious why these new stories are news at all, there are PR companies pitching Instagram accounts to bloggers like me and news outlets as well through ambassador programs.
This is me 4 months postpartum.
I’m proud of my progress and don’t regret one cookie I ate, even though it took me 4 months instead of 10 days. I also uploaded a new workout video to my YouTube channel today featuring a quiet HIIT workout you can do while your baby is napping or perfect to do if you don’t have kids and live in an apartment where jumping is a no go.
I’m proud of my progress and don’t regret one cookie I ate, even though it took me 4 months instead of 10 days.
update 5/24 7pm: Lastly, I would like to add that there are more ads on social media than you know. I don’t know why people insist on not disclosing, which is illegal. These pregnancy posts are landing in mainstream media thanks to companies they work with who pay for publicity.
