Pregnancy weight gain

Each week the gossip mags boast photos of the latest celebrity mum to magically drop their baby weight in two seconds flat. They look fabulous - why don't you?

Probably because you're normal. Germany's National Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care has released research on post-pregnancy weight loss, saying a woman should take six months to lose pregnancy weight. Hear that, Heidi Klum? The Institute warns that women are under too much pressure to lose weight quickly after giving birth, putting their health at risk.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) backs the German research. Dr Ted Weaver, President of RANZCOG, points out that extra padding during pregnancy is not only normal, it's essential.

"A woman will gain extra fatty tissue when pregnant; it's her body's reservoir for breastfeeding," he says.

Diet is a four-letter word

Dr Hannah Dahlen, vice-president of the Australian College of Midwives, says too many new mums have unrealistic body expectations, and could be putting their health at risk. "Trying to lose weight too soon by dieting increases the risk of problems, particularly with breastfeeding, when you need a healthy, balanced diet," she says. And while breastfeeding helps some women lose weight, for others it's not so easy. "That's still normal," says Dr Weaver. "There's a wide range of 'normal'."

Take your own sweet time

While exercise is the best way to get your body back, it's important to ease into it slowly. "You need to rehabilitate your body first," says Dr Weaver. For post C-section mums, forget the gym for at least three months. "You've had major surgery - your stomach muscles have been cut," Dr Dahlen says. "Start with something gentle like swimming. No lifting weights."

So next time you see a size zero yummy mummy on TV, remember who the normal one is. "I'd say they'd be wearing some pretty tight control garments under there anyway," Dr Weaver says. Ha! We knew it.

Did you know?

Women of the future will be shorter, plumper and fertile for longer, according to a new study. It's the first modern research to offer evidence that humans are still evolving, offering hope that one day the Summernats will merely be a thing of distant memory.

Professor Stephen Stearns, an evolutionary biologist from Yale University in the US, led a team of researchers who tracked data from more than 14,000 people, beginning in 1948.

They found that shorter, heavier women tended to have more children, as did women with lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol and (unsurprisingly) women who had their first child earlier or entered menopause later. These traits were then passed on to their daughters, who in turn also had more kids.

If these trends continue, Prof. Stearns estimates the average woman in 2409 will be 2cm shorter and 1kg heavier than she is now. She'll also enter menopause 10 months later than the current average.

Read more on pregnancy and exercise.