New mom Kristen Bell has a message for those celebrities who feel compelled to regain their pre-baby bodies overnight, reported the Huffington Post on October 1: Be realistic.
"It's like, by the way, don't you want to look like you've had a baby? I'm sitting here with you, I'm crunched over, I have a huge muffin top—who cares?!" she scoffed.
Although she's not thrilled with her body at the moment, Kristen refuses to make her weight the focal point of her existence.
"I'm definitely trying to lose [the baby weight] — I want to be clear. But I'm not letting it keep me up at night and I am not letting it become the narrative of my life for the next year," she declared.
As part of her desire to have a healthy lifestyle, Kristen shifted from vegan to vegetarian in order to have enough calories for breastfeeding, reported Refinery 29 on October 3.
"I'm actually eating vegetarian now, instead of vegan. Because I'm breast-feeding, I'd literally have to be eating all day long to get in enough calories if I was vegan, so I've added in a little bit of dairy and eggs. I do have to watch my diet in terms of my skin, though — If I have large amounts of sugar or dairy, I'm prone to getting eczema. So, watching what I eat really pays off in more ways than one."
And Kristen wants her daughter to grow up feeling good about herself.
"I don't want her narrative about beauty to be only about how she looks. I'd want her interest in beauty to come from an artistic, creative perspective, and not from a place of feeling bad about herself. I love makeup, and I think that it can be a really fun way for mothers and daughters to bond, I don't think that makeup should ever be treated as a mask. It should be fun!" Kristen told Refinery 29.
But she admits that it hasn't been easy to change her own view on the importance of appearance.
"Look, I'm like any other woman. All this evolved b.s. that I'm telling you is my mantra: It's not something I practice naturally. I had to surrender to not worrying about the way I looked, how much I weighed, because that's just part of the journey of having a baby. I am not a woman whose self-worth comes from her dress size."
