What do you think about celebs looking brilliant days after giving birth?

[edam]

Apparently the papers are full of pics of Victoria Beckham looking amazing today. I've got to go on a radio station and spout about pressure on new mums to get back in shape etc. etc. (being a talking head is occasionally part of my day job). Happy to do that, but thought I'd ask you guys for your opinions. I was going to say something about how depressing it is that some celebs feel the need to hide away for months until they can emerge, looking like their pre-pregnancy selves. And that the rest of us, who can't afford personal trainers and dietitians, feel we've achieved something if we manage to get dressed when we are coping with a newborn, let alone looking fit for the paparazzi!

But did you go out of your way to buy these mags, MI and torture yourself with them?

Because that's what I think they are, a form of torture, not just for the women they feature, but for the women who read them. By criticising someone as beautiful as KW, they are criticising all of us - they 're saying no woman can ever measure up to the ideal of beauty they have. I often think that as a society, we haven't moved on very much since the mediaeval times when no woman could measure up to the Virgin Mary in terms of virtue, good motherhood and general all out perfect woman.

TBH, as I never had any women's magazines or the Daily Mail in the house, I found I was able to avoid being made to feel bad by the sight of slim celebrities quite nicely (feeling bad about other stuff is another matter of course)!

I can't walk into a newsagents without picking up a glossy mag - Hello, OK, NOW, Closer - I buy them all. I like to see how celebs look, what they are wearing, if they have bad hair days, spots etc. I notice it about non celebs also. Women in the street, people I work with.

I guess us women feel uncomfartable with someone who looks damn good all of the time. WE like to see the them looking grotty at least some of the time.

Well, I do buy women's mags partly because of work (I write for them from time to time); but actually real women around me were enough reproach, as everyone seemed to be slinking around in their ordinary clothes months before I could even contemplate mine.

I have to admit that I do like buying these mags once in a blue moon but like yesterday I felt totally crap after reading it.

As for VB I have thought for a long time that she is quite clearly not happy which is probably why she doesn't want to be seen.

I think there has been some research done to show that women feel more depressed after reading these mags.

Just like men reading porn - after doing so, they rate their women's attractiveness as lower than before.

I think alot of it is jealousy as well. I want a flat tummy, nice clothes/shoes, a big house and lovely holidays.

Self centered I know!

Have to say that i'm with Kama on this one.
Agtyedd1 i was in a size 8 then 6, (am usuallu a 10) everyone thought i looked ill, i just couldn't stop losing weight.
After dd2, (5 weeks today) i'm in a 10 jeans (courtesy of Asda as none of my pre pregnancy clothes fit yet). I don't do anything but look after the baby but i do find the weight drops off.

Having said all that though, i heard today that she said she has been working out alot at the gym and i think that IS a stupid thing to put on new mums. We should all just enjoy those pre3cious few weeks that FLY BY with the new baby and no-one should be worrying about weight.
What will we remember in years to come, that new milky baby smelly head (yes am still besotted), or our flabby tummys?

I remember my flabby tummy, I'm afraid

Don't get me wrong, i still have a flabby tummy,just don't care at the mo

if the publicity about VB is true (which of course it could all be complete bobbins) she was very insecure about her body when she was PG - there was that story about her banning cleavage at her son's christening IIRC. other thing about VB is assuming she's about 7/7.5 stone normally, she's going to look fine after the birth, as she's like to be 9/9.5 stonish (i.e. even with 2 extra stone she's not really going to be overweight)

I suppose if you rely on your looks for your "job" (or whatever it is that VB does) then it's really important for you to get back into shape. Personally I think it's a case of odd priorities but she isn't normal anyway is she?! Also, if you have someone that can take care of your children and you have enough money to have a personal trainer or go to the gym and buy more flattering clothes then you are going to look better sooner. After DS1 was born, pictures of people like this did make me feel even worse but once I'd got to DS2 I didn't care anymore - there are much more important things, like Angeliz said.

I wonder if that's to do with environment MI? When I worked in advertising, I was much more self-conscious about my body, I would always make sure I had make-up on etc., and that was partly because I was surrounded by young, image-conscious people who genuinely thought it was important what hair cut you had. I felt very uncomfortable and insecure about my fat post-baby body.

Now I work at home and live in the middle of nowhere, I simply no longer care as much about what I look like - but that's probably because I'm not surrounded by people who are continually assessing my physical appearance (or at least, if they are, their standards aren't as high as my former colleagues!)

I think it's understandable that Posh and Liz Hurley try and get back into shape so quickly. Their bodies are their bread and butter. And I actually think Liz H in particular is admirably honest about what she had/has to do to maintain her looks.

What makes me sad is that a lot of famous mothers actively encourage this fantasy of perfect mother-ness after birth. Eg. Kate Winslet, feeling pressurised to pretend she had a natural birth rather than caesarian and then going on about how great it was. Gail Porter and Sadie Frost - I have read interviews with both of them talking about how great motherhood is - the reality of course is both suffered PND and have obviously found it hard going. I don't know why they put this pressure on themselves or other women.

Personally, Caligula, no; I haven't set foot in an office (am about to, tomorrow) since before having DD1 four years ago. It was the real women in my antenatal group (one was back in her jeans four days after giving birth, another was moaning that she had to buy a size 10 as her size 8s didn't fit her any more), or the women I saw at the checkup, who got me down (and I live in a very downmarket bit of South London!). I remember a friend ringing me five days after I'd given birth to ask how I was, and I said 'fat and knackered'. I just think the overall pressure on us is quite awful - we don't have a realistic idea, any more, of how long it takes most of us to feel and look OK again.

Spot on, Puddle.

I think I felt the pressure to be happy even worse than the pressure to be thin!

Would it still be uncomfortable only 5 weeks after a c section?
I have never had one so don't know but it makes me wince to see posh in those tight jeans belt and heels. Wouldn't it rub on the scar?

What? Not sure what you mean Kama.

Kama, get over yourself! So you look slim and lovely, good for you! Stop playing the victim, its not all about you you know!

Iam a size 8 myself but I don't feel the need to harp on about it.

I'm no fan of vb (to be honest, I just don't give a damn one way or the other what she does or doesn't do), but there ARE some people who just drop their weight after their pregnancy, especially some of those small framed ones.... I have a v gd friend who has a pretty tiny frame, and about 4 weeks after the birth of her 2nd, she looked skinnier than I have ever seen her.... she was bf-ing and I think her baby was literally sucking all the life out of her (sorry for expression ), and it took her ages for her to eventually put that weight back ont to go back up to her normal (still pretty small) size. And her dh didn't like her looking that scrawny either, so you couldn't even blame him for giving that skinniness his approval on some level.
What is sad though, is that vb obviously never wanted the public to see her looking remotely pregnant.... I love my pg belly, and love looking ripe (though what I will feel like after lo is born and I can't shift any of it, remains to be seen, may not love the bellly quite so much then !)