Goal: To keep a gorgeously fit body. Plan of action: Never get pregnant.
This is how Jillian Michaels sees it. With her own weight loss company and a role as a trainer on the hit show The Biggest Loser, she can’t afford to gain a pound. In an interview appearing in the May 2010 issue of Women’s Health Magazine, Jillian expressed her disapproval of pregnancy by saying, “I can’t handle doing that to my body.”
Jillian has said that she would rather adopt, but only because she believes that pregnancy will result in the loss of her dream body. Many women fear that getting pregnant will tarnish their figures. So much so that Cornell University in New York is conducting a five-year study to assist pregnant women with controlling their weight.
Thoughts like, “Is this baby going to ruin my body?” crossed my mind more than once when I was pregnant with my first. But having been pregnant three times, I know that it is possible to have children and recover the figure you once had. So here’s to Jillian and all of the other women who fear that pregnancy will make them forfeit the figure they worked so hard to get.
- Weight gain is a normal, not permanent, part of pregnancy. During pregnancy, you can expect to gain 25-35 pounds. Since your body is manufacturing a human being, the weight gain is necessary. According to Web MD, the extra weight is attributed to the baby (of course), the amniotic fluid and blood supply that supports the health of this baby, your placenta and breast tissue, and an increase in the size of your uterus. Your body also has to store fat for the delivery and breastfeeding. But fear not. This weight gain is as temporary as the pregnancy itself.
- The rules of weight loss before pregnancy can still apply during pregnancy. Getting pregnant does not mean that your ability to diet and exercise evaporates into thin air. You can still eat healthy and nutritious foods, much like you would if you were on a “healthy” diet. You can also exercise when you are pregnant, in some cases just as much as you did before you got pregnant. (I was running five miles in my third trimester when I was pregnant with my first). Check out this article for more information regarding nutrition and fitness in pregnancy. Once you recover from the delivery, you can get back on the same fitness routine you were on prior to the pregnancy, and your terrific body will be just as possible to get then as it is now.
- If they can do it, so can I. Many mothers are walking around today with gorgeous bodies. A few celebrities come to mind. Angelina Jolie. Reese Witherspoon. Gwen Stefani. Julia Roberts. The majority of us are not celebrities, nor do we have access to the barrage of great chefs, personal trainers, personal assistants, and nannies. Yet we have still been able to have children and be in great shape. What unites us is that despite our worries of pregnancy causing figure failure, we have conquered our deepest fears and emerged as confident women who take pride in taking care of ourselves. It is unreasonable to think that you will be the one exception, that you won’t be able to get your figure back, when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.
Probably the best way to calm yourself down if these thoughts persist would be to seek the advice of fit mothers. They are living testimonies to the fact that pregnancy does not ruin bodies, nor does it jeopardize great figures. With all of the mommy groups that revolve around fitness, finding one of these moms should not be hard to do.
Ruling out biological motherhood entirely on the premise that pregnancy will cost you your figure means turning your back on the opportunity of a lifetime. Growing a human being inside your own body is a phenomenal experience – one in which nothing else on earth can come close to. There is no other person in existence who can look at my children and say to them, “You are a masterpiece created by God, and He determined every detail, every characteristic, every feature, right inside my uterus!” How awesome it is to have that privilege.
