Having a baby is a magical experience. Truly, it’s amazing what a woman’s body can do; however, there is one thing women’s body’s can’t do very well – bounce back overnight.

A young woman who has never had a baby might assume that after a baby is born a woman’s baby belly completely disappears. Wrong. So wrong. Most women still have a pregnant-looking tummy for weeks if not months after childbirth.

Why do we have this false impression of childbirth and post-pregnancy bodies? Partly because of celebrities. When you look at someone like Blake Lively who was bikini-ready just 2 months after giving birth to her first child, it’s easy to assume that’s normal. Again, wrong.

Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds have three children, James, Inez and Betty. She filmed a horror movie called “The Shallows” just 2 months after James was born, and she openly admits that it is not normal for a woman’s body to look like hers did in that movie so quickly after childbirth. She told The Sun, “I focused on training and eating well. It took two different trainers and a nutritionist to help me get into that sort of shape because it’s not normal to look like that eight months after having a kid.”

The Gossip Girl actress doesn’t want women to compare themselves to models and actresses who seem to slim down quickly after childbirth. She admitted that she used to compare herself to Jessica Alba and wonder, “Why don’t I look like her after giving birth?”

Lively admits that the only reason she was bikini-ready so quickly after childbirth was because it was “her job.” She explained, “Women put pressure on themselves to look like a Victoria’s Secret model after having a baby. It’s absolutely absurd. It was my job to look that way.”

Lively took her time losing the baby weight after Inez was born. After 14 months of hard work, she shared an “after” photo on Instagram explaining that it’s not easy to lose the baby weight but it’s possible if you work at it.

 

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After giving birth to her third child, Betty, Lively was scheduled to appear on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.” She looked fabulous, but she felt insecure. In her Instagram Stories, she wrote that she put together a shirt and dress “because no one had samples that fit me after giving birth. And so many clothes from stores didn’t fit either. So. Many.”

One year later, Lively realizes that she shouldn’t have felt insecure. Her body did an amazing thing – grow a baby. She realizes that it was silly to feel bad about the way she looked.

Have you ever wondered why celebrities seem to look so skinny shortly after childbirth? If you’re a mom, how long did it take you to lose the baby weight? Does it help to know that it took Lively lots of hard work over 14 months to lose the baby weight?