Zoe Saldana Gained 70 Pounds During Her Pregnancy - So What?
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We put a lot of often negative attention on how much weight we gain during pregnancy -- or don't gain. Every woman is different. Some of us put on a lot of weight while others carry quite small. As long as we are healthy and that includes baby, then that's all that matters.
Zoe Saldana is talking about her weight gain during her twin pregnancy, and I think it can help others see how there is no normal. Saldana admits that she weighed 185 pounds when pregnant and if her pre-pregnancy weight was 115 pounds as it was reported, that's a 70 pound weight gain.
Saldana's twins with husband Marco Perego -- Cy and Bowie (how cute) -- were healthy but mom admits that the weight she gained made it difficult for her to workout due to issues with flexibility and low energy. I can relate. I had twins as well and I gained 58 pounds. One of my doctors has an issue with my weight gain, but another in the collective didn't. It upset me when I was criticized about my weight gain. I was eating healthy -- I was having twins!
I also remember that feeling in the days after the babies were born and thinking Wow, why do I still have all their baby weight when I had the babies?! Having the babies doesn't mean all the weight gain falls off automatically?!
Nope. It takes time.
As mothers, we sacrifice for our kids, and part of that sacrifice is our bodies. I'm not saying that our bodies won't be "back to normal" whatever that means, but I am saying that if we appreciate and marvel at the wonders of our body, and what it can do, we can love the body we end up having after baby. Even if it's different than our pre-baby body. The key is feeling healthy, though, and Saldana admits that she didn't feel that way.
She said that she was "frustrated" and felt weak. "I had no flexibility, weak joints, and exercising was painful," she said, "We started with just walking, I think I only walked that first month." She also said about pregnancy:
"Your body changes dramatically, inside and out. You grow in places you never knew you could, and you are tired beyond belief. In some cases more than others, your body experiences a kind of trauma through childbirth that is difficult to explain unless you've had that experience. My case was like that, everything from my thyroid to my platelets crashed. Thank God, we are all doing great now, but my body was really bent out of shape after the boys were born."
She's right -- we change in ways we never expected. And that's why we shouldn't push ourselves to get back to our pre-baby body, a term I've grown to loathe. What's important to us as moms is to feel healthy again, to be able to have that energy we very much need once becoming a parent, and that's what Zoe is striving for, and her goal is to get there before her twins start walking.
Perfect timeline. It doesn't matter if you gain 70 or 20 pounds during your pregnancy. What matters is how you feel, your health, and your baby's health. We shouldn't ever put pressure on mom's to get back to pre-baby weight, either -- it's just a number.
Do you think society puts pressure on new moms to return to their pre-baby weight?