Fit moms are on the internet doing fit mom things, like celebrating their workouts.
The Cut recently explored these pregnant women, and women who have already given birth and how they fancy posting on social media about their fitness routines. These mothers are active. Nothing wrong with that. Bodies are women’s earthly possessions so they can put them into something Liberace would wear, or crunch to their heart’s content. We’re not here for anyone shaming or judging a mother, or telling which woman is legally permitted to spend her own time purging the stress of the day in the gym.
In fairness, motherhood can be one of the most narrow archetypes of all. Telling a mom to get off the treadmill and watch her kid is misguided. We’ve all heard people throwing verbal stones at moms for spending too much time trying to get their abs back instead of what they should be doing: squeezing out some sweet milk to the tune of Mozart. Post-baby weight loss is a perfectly respectable and personal goal. It’s the obsessive race and praise heaped on women to get back to their old selves that’s silly. Stories like those are just another way to remind women: as long as you stay thin that’d be great!
For women who don’t go to the gym, the littles keep them busy, and active. Women like Hannah Polites and Chontel Duncan are simply proud about their exercise, but some say posts like these can be a rabbit hole of pressure. There is some talk about how this “trend” isn’t about celebrating fitness, which is everyone’s game, but rather slimness, having a tiny baby bump and things of that nature that everyone can’t get in the game on. The time, the help, and the energy to work out can be a privilege for countless women.
As always, truly heartfelt excitement for women of all sizes and astrological signs for wherever they are on their body journeys. If a hot mamma wants totally toned armpits, then that’s what that mamma deserves. The only issue is the way we’re all so concerned and obsessed and enveloped with image. Dear media: losing weight after giving birth isn’t exactly a “recovery,” because baby weight’s natural and it’s all gravy, obnoxiously packaged the media’s coverage about it is the message that moms should rush to lose the baby weight is a tired one. As always, self-love and self-care are all awesome, directives and pressure like these aren’t.
Thank you @hiit_australia ????
A photo posted by ???? ChontelDuncan (@chontelduncan) on
Melinda Johnson MS, RD told Web MD. “All the magazines ask, ‘How did she do it?’ The more important question is, ‘Why did she do it? They do this with very, very strict diets, and a lot of them do it by getting back into activity before their body is really ready for it.”
Others say, working out while preggo is perfectly safe, up to a certain degree, and it’s a great self-esteem builder. How do you feel about it?
