German health care regulators have warned that the celebrity trend of losing baby fat in the shortest possible amount of time is not only unrealistic but also dangerous. The experts have said that while celebrities are frequently shown in magazines, such as Heat, 6 weeks after the birth of their baby with amazingly flat stomachs, in actuality it takes between 6 months and a year to shed the weight gained during pregnancy.
The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care said that women are being put under too much pressure to lose the weight as soon as they have delivered and are being given an unrealistic image of how long it takes by celebrities such as Victoria Beckham and Heidi Klum, both whom were pictured very shortly after their pregnancies with pre-pregnancy figures.
The director of the Institute, Professor Peter Sawicki, said that women often after giving birth will find that weight naturally “melts away”, due to the calories expended during breastfeeding and while looking after a newborn.
However he warned that women should watch their weight while pregnant, especially if they were already overweight or had a tendency to pile on the pounds.