My wife recently came across an advertisement for women’s workout clothing that depicted a woman exercising while holding her baby. Cool, right? I am all for new moms working out and taking care of their bodies. But do you know what’s not cool (and I learned this from my wife, mind you)? The woman in the ad was totally ripped and in the best shape. Why is this a problem? Because new moms, even the moms who are active and in good shape already, do not look like an Olympic athlete after giving birth!  These kind of  advertisements are why there is a skewed ideal of how women are expected to look. It is not that easy for a woman to bounce back to her pre-pregnancy weight, let alone rock a professional athlete body right after giving birth! Why can’t ads be realistic and show a true mother working out with her post-pregnancy body? I am pretty sure that would be appeal to most new mothers out there trying to get back into shape.

Even for a man, and I speak from experience here, looking at the many men’s magazines can be discouraging. I’ve looked through those workout and health magazines and became discouraged thinking that I could never get into that kind of shape. I would think, “Why bother? I’ll never look like that.” Now think about women who live in a world that sets unrealistic expectations for how they should look. It is heartbreaking. My wife is the most beautiful and attractive woman I’ve ever met and I think she’s just as sexy now, if not more, as she was when we were dating (and I’m not just saying this because I know you’ll read this, babe!), so it pisses me off when there are ads that try to tell her that her body isn’t good enough for me.

So women, especially you wonderful moms out there, don’t let those ads fool you into thinking you aren’t sexy and beautiful. Almost all those ads are photo shopped anyway! If you want to look and feel better, more power to you! But please do so for yourself and your loved ones, not because some stupid magazine told you to. Your body is unique and its definition of healthy and sexy will be different than another woman’s. Now men, if you aren’t doing so already, embrace your wife and let her know how beautiful and sexy she is to you. The world is trying to tell your wife that she isn’t good enough so she needs to know that couldn’t be farther from the truth.