Natalie Portman compares self to whale

Just as Natalie Portman waxes about how unflustered she is about gaining pregnancy weight, at the Golden Globes (side note: did you see her Victor & Rolf gown? AH-MAZING), she says: “I hope I’ll get to lie in bed and eat popcorn and watch TV for the rest of it,” she laughs. “Not always be out in public looking like a whale, but it’s all nice energy that everyone is showing.”

Nat? You were setting such a good example!

Possibly another book mums don't need...

As I have been re-visiting my hometown of Chicago for the last few weeks, I find myself gravitating to my favourite bookstores, the majority of which are now overrun with Alison Sweeney's new tome, The Mommy Diet. Sweeney, host of the The Biggest Loser (US) claims that this book reflects her new found sensitivities surrounding pregnancy weight gain and the pressures to lose baby weight quickly. While I am usually all for positive reading material for new mums when it comes to body image, there are several things that bother me about this book. Firstly, Sweeney (in spite of what are probably good intentions) is inextricably linked with a television show that puts ordinary but very obese individuals through the paces to lose extraordinary amounts of weight in a short period of time. While she acknowledges that this environment led to her own anxiety about losing weight postpartum, I still think that it is difficult for other mums who are inevitably going to read this book to separate her from the context from which she has become famous. Secondly, while Sweeney reiterates that the book is meant to be a book for 'healthy' pregnant and post-pregnant bodies, I find it bizarre that a book that is meant to be about 'health' or mindful eating/exercise has the word 'diet' in the title. Call me crazy, but I think most of us have pretty explicit pictures of what 'diet' means and it usual brings to mind pictures of restrictive eating and lots of exercise in order to lose weight which I think seems to contravene what Sweeney is intending to do with the book. The book is a month-to-month guide to weight loss which, to me, isn't much different than any of the three million other books on the market that purport to be 'different' and all about 'health' when really they are just diet books in disguise. I think the whole premise of the book is hypocritical. Although Sweeney says that she didn't lose her baby weight quickly, nevertheless, she lost it and I think she would be lying if she suggested she didn't have lots of support to do so.

Has anyone out there actually bought the book or have you seen it? What do you think of it?

Wrapping up the post-baby bloat

Christmas may have come early for this (former) Girl Next Door but Kendra Wilkinson is dead set on dropping her baby weight in record time (surprise, surprise). In the latest edition of Ok!, she vows to lose the 55lbs she gained during her pregnancy. “I used to have some sexy abs, but I was like, ‘There they go,’ ” Kendra gushed to OK!.

Let's hope Kendra takes it easy. She had a caesar (again, surprise surprise) and we all know you need to wait about 6 weeks until getting back on the treadmill.

Weight gain is a sisterly affair

Oh how quickly things change. It was only 4 days ago that Kourtney Kardashian was blabbing about how much she loved being pregnant, how gaining weight was totally natural and how excited she was about becoming a mother.

Well, the honeymoon is over and Kourt has had it with the pregnancy pounds. "I gained three pounds since yesterday!" she complained to E! News. "I weigh myself every day," she explained. Her pregnancy total as of Monday night: 26 pounds.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that her sisters, Kim and Khloe are both dieting with Quick Trim and have been for the past few months? Kim thinks so:

"She is anxious to get on the same plan as us. She sees a definite difference in weight loss from us. I feel like I am in the best shape of my life right now."

The research on body image states unequivocally that sisters are the extremely important when it comes to female body image. Most women compare their bodies to their sisters and eating disorders are known to run in families, particularly in households where teenage girls are competing to be the best and the most beautiful. It doesn't surprise me that Kourtney is having a hard time gaining weight. How horrible would it be to listen to all of the praise heaped on to your sisters for their weight losses and you continue to pack on the weight?

Maybe, for the first time ever, I actually feel a bit sorry for old Kourt.

Kourtney Kardashian: Motherhood is totally hard

For someone who is famous only for having a marginally famous father, Kourtney Kardashian has sure been making the tabloid rounds blabbing about how much she loves being pregnant.

"I'm totally excited to gain weight, and I'm embracing it," she tells Life & Style. "I run around naked all day at home! I like that my body is changing. It's a beautiful thing." I suppose that I should be happy that Kourt is 'embracing' her preggo bod but nothing about her seems particularly genuine and it seems like this baby is more of a publicity grab than anything.

This is my favourite part of the article:

"Scott (her partner) and I have been going to different parenting classes," Kourtney tells Life & Style. "They made me nervous at first, putting all kinds of information into my head, but they're helpful. They're a fun thing for Scott and me to do together."

God forbid information gets into your pretty little head, Kourt.

Molly Ringwald chats about twin pregnancy

Aw. What's not to love about Molly Ringwald?

Pregnant at 41 with twins, Molly talks to Fit Pregnancy about the impending birth, working out and her growing family.

On carrying twins: "I find it difficult to be restricted in my movements and to feel vulnerable all the time," she says. "I am used to feeling very strong and active."

On working out: She has stopped weightlifting but has remained active, instead using yoga and walking to stay in shape. "The priority for me has been resting," she says. “I try to eat right and be sane about it. I know my body will come back.”

On cravings: "Interestingly, when I was pregnant with Mathilda, I wanted Mexican food all the time. This time around I want Japanese food, which is a lot better. It’s kept my weight down and is definitely a better craving to have. I also want anything with water in it like cucumbers, watermelon and orange juice. The only thing that I can’t stand is the smell of eggs. It’s hard because eggs are one of my daughter’s culinary staples and she is a picky eater, so I am making scrambled eggs all the time. [She laughs.]"

Advice to other mums: “It’s important to eat right and take care of yourself. You don’t need to run a marathon but don’t stop working out if it feels good. You have to listen to your own body. And trust that you can give birth.”

New weight guidelines and preconception care

Oh man. As if woman needed another thing to make pregnancy and birth less than fun. Is it any wonder that just as the Institute of Medicine released its revisions of the 1990 guidelines for pregnancy weight gain (in a nut shell, continue to limit your weight gain and if you are already overweigh try not to gain any weight at all), as if on cue, Heidi Murkoff released her latest tome, What to Expect Before You're Expecting, which in the tradition of the other What to Expect books capitalises on telling women what to eat, how much weight to gain and how not to be a bad mother all BEFORE they even get pregnant.

Seriously, if anyone could take the fun out of baby making, it would have to be Murkoff. Sure, while conception is by no means easy for everyone, come on. I think it's a pretty sad state of affairs when women are being told to monitor their weight gain before they are even pregnant and treating pregnancy as though it was a 2year process and not just nine months. As Murkoff writes:

"Before you're expecting--and before you even begin trying to expect--is the best time to get both your bodies into tip-top baby-making shape. And that's why I've written What to Expect Before You're Expecting--a complete, step-by-step preconception plan to help you and your partner prep for pregnancy. Whether you're hoping to fill your nest for the first time or the fourth (or more!), a little conception know-how--which lifestyle adjustments you should make now (cut back on caffeine and cocktails) and which you can hold off on (get your sushi while you can!); which foods are fertility-friendly and which are fertility busters (say yes to yams and oysters, so long to saturated fats); how extra weight can weigh on your fertility and his; how to track fertility and pinpoint ovulation--can help you fill that nest faster. What's more, the right preconception protocol can help ensure a healthier and more comfortable pregnancy (think less morning sickness, a lowered risk of premature delivery and gestational diabetes) and a healthier bundle of baby. And the plan doesn't end when you're finished with the prepping. It covers baby-making how-to's, do's, and don'ts--everything you need to know about conception sex (from timing, to logistics, to positions, and more)."

I think this is so dangerous. Some women do everything 'right'. They follow all of the preconception care, they see the best doctors and they still don't get pregnant. To suggest that eating healthy foods and tracking your ovulation will make you a better mother or even ensure that you will become one is ridiculous.

Teen pregnancy: makes you fat

Is anyone else disturbed by this headline?

Teen pregnancy boosts girls' risk of getting fat

Um, last time I checked, teen girls who get pregnant have a few other things to worry about becoming obese. You know, things like trying to not drop out of school.

New book cracks open the secrets and lies of mummyhood

A new book out of the UK, Backwards in High Heels: The Impossible Art of Being Female by Sarah Vine and Tanya Kindersley, calls itself an 'instruction manual for having it all'. One chapter is called 'The Conspiracy of Silence' and it a discussion of the lies that women tell each other about pregnancy and childbirth and then a funny but slightly horrible description of what women actually mean when they say to one another that, for instance, that birth 'isn't that bad'. For example:

If you tell a friend that

1. It doesn’t matter if she gets fat, the weight will drop off afterwards, especially if she breastfeeds.

What you really mean is:

1. Her stomach will never be the same again, not even if she goes to the gym every day (which she won’t be able to because she won’t have the time), breastfeeds until her child goes to university and observes a strict vegan diet.

What are some 'lies' that you were told about pregnancy and birth?

Billie Piper: scales are the work of the devil

Billie Piper, gotta love her. Even though she her new show, Secret Diary of a Call Girl is bloody good, no one really cares about that. Every question is asked is always about being pregnant. Here are a few highlights from a BBC interview:

On being chased by cameras constantly:
"People's fascination with people being pregnant is kind of weird. I do eat and I eat a lot. I don't find it annoying though because when I found out I was pregnant people were saying, 'Are you going to make an announcement?' and I kind of thought no because it really has nothing to do with anyone."

On weight gain:
"I don't weigh myself ever. I think scales are the work of the devil. I think they are just awful, it's an awful thing the scale. Every time I go to the doctors they do weigh me and I ask them not to tell me."

On maternity clothes:
"I've never wanted to dress up more and find ways to dress the stomach and my breasts because I've never had them before. I have these new found curves and I have been quite happy about dressing it all. You get a whole new wardrobe, it's exciting."

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/music/newsid_7612000/7612395.stm

Ashlee Simpson: not worried about weight

Ashley Simpson has responded to critics saying she is obsessed with her pregnancy weight gain. She posted little retort on her MySpace blog:

My size 0 jeans...by Ashlee Simpson-Wentz

Today I read on a blog that I went to the doctor and he said I was overweight and I cried and went to Planet Blue (because I was blue) and bought 6 pair of size 0 jeans. Now it is ridiculous to read such nonsense about oneself so I thought I would address this one...
1. My doctor says I am right on target with my weight gain
2. Have not been to Planet Blue in at least two years
3. Love my maternity jeans ..they have stretchy tops it is awesome!
4. My closet full of size 0's are being worn by Pete right now and he looks hot in them :)
So now that I have cleared that up let me tell you...carrying a child is the most inspiring, emotional, amazing experience of my life. My weight and my pant size are the absolute last thing I am concerned about. I am only concerned with having a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. People who talk and judge pregnant women's weight need to get a life!!!
Peace and Love,
Ashlee

Source:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=29917611&blogID=428369335

X-files pregnancy

"The only thing I do when I'm pregnant is eat and sit on my butt!"

"I'm not really craving anything, but there's the lazy part of me that thinks, 'What's the point in working out until I have the baby?' Then we'll actually do something!" she said.

Well, clearly that's not true considering Gillian Anderson is flitting around the world promoting X-Files. It seems to me, either celebrities blab on about how active they are and how much they love pregnancy or they do the 'I don't care about weight gain'/'I'm lazy' thing.

This woman is probably working harder now than she has in the last few years!

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/Gillian-Anderson-on-Pregnancy-I-Eat-and-Sit-on-My-Butt

White bikinis and what not

Welcome to my 400th post.

Moving right along. So it seems I've lost someof my loyal readers...I know, I know. As I keep telling you, I have this PhD thesis (blah blah blah) which is due so soon I'm already feeling Braxton-Hicks with every edit. My posting is not what it used to be but in some ways I haven't found much that I have wanted to write about lately. Like you, I get sick of reading about celebrities constantly so I've been having a mini-holiday from reading or thinking about Nicole Kidman. Things have been moving very rapidly on this end with plans to take this old Baby Bump Project to the next level. There is a book in the works and plans for an exhibition here in Melbourne.

Anyway, for those of you that are still listening. It seems Minnie Driver has come out into the sunshine at 7 months pregnant and of course, she is being slagged by the media for apparently being 'too pasty'. Most of the British tabs are saying she looks ENORMOUS however I laughed when I saw that the Sun was praising Driver for looking like a 'real woman' in comparison to other celebs:

"These snaps of MINNIE DRIVER show real girl power, as the mum-to-be bares her bod on the beach while heavily pregnant."

If you actually look at Minnie, she's bloody thin. Not in a scary thin kind of way but seriously, her belly is not ENORMOUS and she certainly doesn't look like a baby mammoth like everyone says. Unfortunately, the snap that's being sent around is of her in a white bikini and for my Brit readers, you will know straight away that Mylene Klass made the white bikini famous both in pregnancy and out of pregnancy for Marks & Spencer. Sure, Mylene is all made up and looking fabulous but if you read Mylene's book (which I have written about) she says pregnancy looked alot easier for her than it actually was. Why is it that 'real' women are 'fat'?

Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article1333872.ece

Totally Tori

It's been awhile since I've talked about No(Tori)ous Spelling..

Now that she's 8 months preggo for the second time, it turns out that Tori loves her pregnant body.

"So far I've gained 25 pounds and am loving my body! During my first pregnancy with Liam, I spent a lot of time worried about my weight and how big I was getting and how I would lose it afterwards," she said. "But once I wasn't pregnant anymore, I missed it. I loved being pregnant!

Will Tori go back to Nutrisystem following her second birth?

Source: http://www.hiphopelements.com/article/read/4/20787/1/

Stephanie Tanner: very preggo

Jodie Sweetin, famous for her role as Stephanie Tanner on Full House and a once raging meth addiction, is very pregnant and due in April. Shamelessly posting her first sonogram images on celeb gossip site TMZ, this is one of the first photos of Jodie visibly pregnant. According to US magazine, Sweetin says "It’s a scary thing but I’m kind of scared of how much bigger I’m going to get!"

Oh and apparently she and her husband aren't going to name their baby girl after 'any fruits or electronic devices'.

Phew!

Source: http://usmagazine.com/full_house_jodie_sweetin_due_in_april

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*

The shape of a woman: change over 50 years

In my last post, I noted that women's bodies have changed significantly over time. In answer to a reader comment, I thought I would address this. Normative images of 'beauty' and slenderness have shifted in popular representations in the media as most of us know, however, I was referring specifically to the changing shape of women's bodies (quite literally). The bulk of this research comes from the fashion industry which has for the most part, ignored the changing shapes of women's bodies and which is in part responsible for how hard it is for most of us to buy a pair of jeans that fit. The truth is that clothing manufacturers are still designing slim-fitting clothing based on the ideal womanly body of the 1950s, the hourglass. Only 8% of women in the world today have this figure.


In a study by researchers at North Carolina State University, 6000 women's bodies were analysed over a period of 2 years. As a result, the researchers 4 body shapes which now seem to be the most prevalent among women:


1) rectangular: waist less than 9inches smaller than hips/bust---46% of women

2) spoons: bottom heavy, or 'pear shape'---20% of women

3) inverted triangle: bust is at least 3 inches larger than hips--14% of women

4) hourglass: equal hip and busy measurement and narrow waist---8% of women


The 'inverted triangle' shape is particularly pertinent now as a result of cosmetic breast-enhancing surgery which signifies a shape that is not influenced by diet or exercise, whereas the first two 'shapes' are affected by weight gain.


Another study of British women found that the average woman's waist has expanded 6 inches since 1950. The average woman today is taller and has a bigger bust and hips. Most of these changes are attributed to lifestyle.

Check out this post from the Diet Blog, for a visual representation of the changing shape of women's bodies:
http://www.dietblog.com/archives/2007/04/15/female_body_shape_in_the_20th_century.php

Post-baby butchery

I pity the silly Californian plastic surgeon who says this about the post-baby body, according to the New York Times:

“The severe physical trauma of pregnancy, childbirth and breast-feeding can have profound negative effects that cause women to lose their hourglass figures,” he said.

Dr. David Stoker and his colleagues at Marina Plastic Surgery Associates (MPSA) only highlight a disturbing and ever-growing trend capitalising on the butchery of post-baby bodies. Called a 'mommy makeover' the MPSA website plays on women's bodily insecurities with their slogan 'Embrace the feeling of a being a woman' as a ploy to encourage women to have their bodies cut apart and fat sucked out with the promise of being a happier, better mother.

Before people start writing in and saying women can choose to have surgery if they feel the need, well, hold on because I am not judging anyone's choices here. My problem with the 'mommy makeover' is that it introduces medical management and pathologises the post-baby body as a problem to fixed. Furthermore, it implies that the only way women can ever be fulfilled is if they have an 'hourglass figure' (which by the way, is pretty much disappearing as women's bodies have so dramatically changed shape over the past 40 years).

The post-baby surgery makeover is framed as an empowering haven for women who 'hate' their stretch marks and excess 'fat' and also primes women for anxiety about their 'shameful' bodies. This is a particularly dangerous construction because empowerment and liberation are actually equated with intense scrutiny of the post-baby body. Women now must have a perfect birth, be a 'good' mother and show no physical signs of having experienced the process. As mothers are juggling working with motherhood, this post-baby surgery ploy is just another 'shift' in which women need to negotiate their body image and 'bouncing back' as if it was another job. Even more unsettling is that the exaggerated importance of having a perfectly slender post-baby body guarantees men an unimpeded brand of female sexuality and in a number of ways masculinises women's bodies by allowing them to slip in and out of 'reproduction' without even breaking a sweat. Using surgery as an answer to women's bodily anxieties only creates beauty hierarchies among women: the attractive alpha mothers who 'bounce back' are always on top because they are beautiful and fit and the 'fat' 'unattractive' mothers are seen as lazy and value-less.

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/fashion/04skin.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&oref=slogin
http://www.amommymakeover.com/

Milla Jovovich and the bump that ate London

Poor Milla. She's admitted to gaining a fair whack of weight in her pregnancy, who cares?

According to This is London, Milla ' did little to complement her enormous bump at a red carpet appearance last night. Wearing a full length billowing silk gown at the world premiere of Resident Evil: Extinction, the former model's outfit looked to be an example of what not to wear in the final stages of pregnancy'.


Even though Jovovich claims to have gained more than 70lbs, she seems to be really happy with the imminent birth of her first child. To add insult to injury, the website continues, 'It's unclear if the actress is giving birth to more than one baby, but if that happy event did occur, it might not be such a huge surprise!'

She is housing another human being! What do you expect? Maybe she has gained an inordinate amount of weight, but come on, celebrities who are tiny and pregnant are actually a minority of women. Look at any woman who is close to her due date and it's a pretty big ask for them to look fabulous as opposed to 5cm dilated. Milla is spectacular!

Source: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-23414752-details/Enormous+Milla+shows+what+NOT+to+wear+when+you+are+pregnant/article.do