Have you been worrying about your pregnancy weight gain?
With celebrities like Miranda Kerr, Victoria Beckham and Gisele Bündchen maintaining slim figures during their pregnancies and shedding their baby weight in a few short weeks, it’s no surprise the pressure to be skinny while pregnant is increasing everyday. And now Tracy Anderson has launched The Pregnancy Project, a diet and exercise programme for pregnant women endorsed by celebrities, including Molly Sims and Gwyneth Paltrow, it seems that the shape of pregnancy is undergoing drastic changes.
This pressure to be skinny during pregnancy has been named Mommyrexia or Pregorexia as expectant mothers are now putting their health and that of their babies at high risk in an attempt to gain as little weight as possible during their pregnancies. In fact, some women are now gaining so little weight during pregnancy that maternity clothing lines say they have been forced to stock extra-small sizes which don’t even fit some of their average-sized, non-pregnant employees!
Maintaining a healthy pregnancy diet and exercise regime for you and your baby’s health is a key part of every pregnancy. However, it seems the pressure to be skinny during pregnancy now has pregnant women attempting to maintain diet and exercise regimes that are just too strict for a healthy pregnancy.
Mommyrexia is becoming increasingly more common and a few case studies have revealed that it can have some disastrous consequences. Among the negative consequences of Mommyrexia are:
- Mothers resenting their children not only for the weight they gain during pregnancy, but also for the difficulty they face in trying to achieve their pre-pregnancy figures.
- A refusal to breastfeed their children so that they have more time for exercise programmes.
- Birth defects, particularly delayed mental development.
- Miscarriage.
What do you think? Have you felt the pressure to be skinny during your pregnancy? Are you already worrying about your post-partum figure? Is it Hollywood’s fault or does the blame lay somewhere else?