Parenting

Blake Lively Reveals How She Lost The Baby Weight, LOL

by Valerie Williams
Image via Blake Lively/Instagram

Blake Lively talks about losing the baby weight

I love Blake Lively. I love how she savagely rips husband Ryan Reynolds on social media and takes it in stride when he does the same to her. I also love her thoughts on motherhood, her adorable lifestyle photos, and stunning red carpet looks. I love you Blake Lively.

But I’m still LOLing a little at your recent post about baby weight.

Don’t get me wrong — of course a woman of any weight and size can have body image issues. An actress in particular, employed at least in part based on whether she’s a certain size or shape, has reason to be concerned about her appearance. And post-baby, every woman is allowed her bodily hang-ups. So much change, not all of it welcome, and not a lot of time to adjust while also learning how to be a mom and basically never sleeping again.

That said, Lively’s recent Instagram post about finally being back in pre-baby shape has me giggling. Just a little — all good-naturedly. Because look at this woman. LOOK AT HER. She’s a living Barbie doll. With a personal trainer. She’s married to Ryan Reynolds, which has no bearing on this topic, but still.

“Turns out you can’t lose the 61 lbs you gained during pregnancy by just scrolling through instragram and wondering why you don’t look like all the bikini models,” she writes. “Thanks @donsaladino for kickin my A double S into shape. 10 months to gain, 14 months to lose. Feeling very proud.”

As she absolutely should. Again, LOOK AT HER. In my 36 years on this planet I’ve never once looked that good. Despite being a regular gym goer my entire adult life, I have not ever and will never look like that. Not pre-baby, and certainly not post. Her “I lost the baby weight” pic is 12 million times hotter than any photo taken of me at any point in time for the whole of my existence.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd1avF5g23e/?taken-by=blakelively

Which is why, as a self-protective measure, I’m going to laugh at this post. This woman, wonderful though she may be, was never in danger of wearing her maternity pants until her second child was in preschool (SHUT UP, they’re comfy). It’s literally her job to look amazing and I doubt anyone ever questioned whether she’d get back into pre-kid shape. That said, she did the werk. She deserves to brag it up and part of me is legit inspired by her hustle.

The part of me that isn’t silently sobbing that I won’t ever look like Blake Lively, even a nine months pregnant Blake Lively.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BacOuVcgIsP/?taken-by=blakelively

It’s also incredibly comforting to note that even though she does look like a literal supermodel, Lively’s sharing that it took her 14 months to lose the weight she gained while pregnant, which is much closer to the five years it took me than most celebrity moms who lose all the weight in two weeks. While most of us mere mortals can never hope to achieve the level of fitness that she has, it’s very cool to see that Lively took a reasonable approach to getting back to her pre-baby self.

Blake, I adore you. I’m sorry you’re so perfect and also, very kind, and married to Ryan Reynolds. I have to LOL a little bit to handle it.