WE CAN thank celebrity yummy mummies such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Victoria Beckham and Katie Cruise.
No sooner are they out of the delivery room than they magically appear to go from giant bump to slim and trim.
Fit & Fabulous for Life After Babies, by Fiona Thomas Hargraves. Allen & Unwin, rrp $35
And, of course, their lithe figures are attributed to drinking plenty of water and eating celery - or some such nonsense - neglecting to tell us about their personal trainers and host of home help.
The real world, of course, is not like this. And Fiona Thomas Hargraves' knows it.
Fiona is an exercise scientist, nutritionist and mother of two. Her book, Fit & Fabulous, is written for working mums, stay-at-home mums, women thinking of becoming pregnant, and anyone who wants to eat well and look after themselves while looking after a growing baby.
In three parts Fiona looks at exercise: what you can and can't do, food and attitude, how mothers should make themselves a priority and how to develop long-term positive habits.
The 157cm author explains how she put on 17kg with each baby and through eating well - not dieting - she eventually, "one step at a time", lost the weight after nine months.
"No single nutrition and exercise prescription fits every woman's body and every baby's schedule," she writes.
"I may not be presenting the quick fix many hope for, simply because it doesn't exist."
The book gives reassuring, sensible advice for healthy living, whether pregnant or not.
