marzipan’s been reading stuff, and is not pleased.

So, here are the people that I’m in a internet-brain-battle with today: (usually I keep these brain battles quiet, but I am too infuriated and C’s nephew woke me up this morning by “playing the drums” with a spoon and pot. ouch.)

the Healthy Moms study as reported by The New York Times, Jezebel, and the New York Times Well Blog (same but different than the NYT, you be the judge). The gist is that this study has cut the weight that an obese (weighing over 170) woman should gain during pregnancy from 11 pounds to ZERO, or 3% of body weight, you know, only if you MUST. Now, I know that we have evolved past the whole “eating for two” theory, but this study would have you in fact losing weight while pregnant, because obvi, doing the math, if the baby is growing and you aren’t getting any fatter, then you are in fact losing weight while pregnant. The study does not address the the implications of this new finding in relation to mental development of the babies.

I know lots of women who have lost weight during pregnancy, owing to their reduced caloric intake owing to giving up alcohol and junk food items, but it seems absurd to urge women to essentially diet during pregnancy, as if women who are pregnant aren’t already subject to a myriad of complicated body image emotions about their rapidly changing and expanding bodies. You are growing a BABY in there, you should not have to feel like you have to be a hot mom (or as my aunt calls them: yummy mummy). Also, upon having the baby, you are busy and insane and sleep deprived because you have just given birth to a human being, something difficult enough without the additional societal pressure to drop the baby fate asap.

Oooooh and read Does this Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat by Claire Mysko and Magali Amadei, because it’s awesome and addresses all of these issues.