I run hot and cold with Chrissy Teigen. I generally enjoy her and her social media antics. Sometimes, she is a bit too much (even she admits she just calls people out for entertainment purpose) but I do love this confession she recently gave to Today:
“Anyone in the public eye, we have all the help we could ever need to be able to shed everything,” she said. “So I think people get this jaded sensation that everybody’s losing it so quickly, but we just happen to be the ones who are out there. We have nutritionists, we have dietitians, we have trainers, we have our own schedules, we have nannies. We have people who make it possible for us to get back into shape. But nobody should feel like that’s normal, or like that’s realistic.”
While I’m obviously not a celebrity, I do put myself in the public eye by sharing so much of my life online. I agree that nobody should feel like it’s normal to bounce back into shape after having a baby and I definitely had more means than most to get back into shape.
For one, I am a personal trainer. I don’t personally have one but I can pretty much be my own with self motivation and a structured workout plan. I like to work out luckily.
Two, I can make my own schedule. Working for myself, I work as little or as much as I want. The less I work, the less I make obviously but I don’t have a 9-5 schedule. I can workout whenever I have someone to babysit Tommy.
Three, I don’t have a nutritionist or dietitian but having graduated from IIN and working in this space for as long as I have, I’m educated enough to know if I’m eating for success.
So if you’re 9 months postpartum and you’re not where you want to be, it’s NORMAL.
A few new moms have said to me recently that I’ve motivated them to get back into shape which I love, but I also rushed to remind them that it took me 9 months of giving birth. For some people that is a reasonable amount of time, for a few it might not be fast enough and it might not be enough time for others.
For me, the timing was perfect. I wasn’t ready until 9 months. I wanted to enjoy the summer and I did. Traditionally, the fall has always been my leanest season because I like to get after it in the summer from food to drinks. It’s hard not to in New England. So the fact that September coincided with 9 months postpartum worked out perfectly for me.
The three points mentioned above helped me get there. Most people don’t have them.
As I think about having reached my goal and maintained it for a couple months, I’m excited and nervous going into the holidays which start on Thursday.
I’m excited for another Holiday season (last year was my first), where I don’t have to deal with the inner monologue of “don’t eat that” but I’m also nervous that my carefree attitude will backfire and I’ll gain back the 5 lbs I worked hard to lose this fall.
If anything, being a mom has really elevated the level of compassion I have especially for others so for the Holidays, I’m going to have it for myself as well. If I do gain back those 5 lbs for eating what I want, then so be it.
Don’t compare your progress to others this Holiday season, especially to people in the public eye. Do what makes you feel good. You deserve it. If for you that’s losing the rest of your baby weight and saying no to pie, then do it! If that means saying yes to pie and a softer tummy for the next month, I’m right there with you.
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