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I am fat and have no apologies

Parenting

fat lady

I usually say that the only people who have the right and liberty to be fat without being questioned are two people - a pregnant woman and a nursing mother. Since I started on my pregnancy journey, I have added significant weight.

 

I thought the fat would disappear once the baby came, but I was wrong. Now that I am a nursing mother, I have realised I have added more kilos of fat. The haters (some of my so called friends and my chama mates) cannot give me a break.

 

"Oh you are too fat," "you need to lose weight", "you will be fired for being too big", I have had it with them! A nursing mother has every right to be fat because of the copious amounts of nutritious foods she has to eat so that she can also nurse her young one.

 

But according to my friends, my weight issue has blown out of proportion (no pun intended) and I should enrol in a gym like yesterday. Some of them who are obsessed with their super sexy bodies are of the school of thought that a woman on maternity leave should hit the gym by the sixth week to shed off that baby fat and regain her corporate look (trim and neat).

 

She should also cut down on that uji that most nursing mothers choose to indulge in to boost their milk supply. But I will do none of that. No nursing mother should succumb to the unnecessary pressure of shedding weight just because society has a negative perception about plus size women.

 

Even though we have been called baby hippos, I will not starve myself so that I can fit into the perfect description that society wants me to fit in. There are so many stresses that a nursing mother goes through from post-natal depression and the pressure to lose weight only compounds to her problem.

 

I am not saying it is bad to lose weight after giving birth, but a woman should be allowed sufficient time, for instance a year (yes a year, not six months), before pressure is mounted on her to lose that fat.

 

Even celebrated musician Wahu, gained some significant weight and she was honest enough to say that she allowed it to happen because of nursing her little one. So next time before you blast a nursing mother for gaining too much weight, please remember that she is making food for another human being.

photo:thegrio.com  

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