There’s been a lot of discussion this week about Kathy Ireland’s “muffin top,” after a photo of her, taken by her son, was released to the media. By Ireland! You could say it was a promotional stunt to garner attention for her new book “Real Solutions for Busy Moms.” Is all the scrutiny really fair? I mean, super model or not, compare any of us to our selves 20 years ago and we’re bound to have a little more padding.
We like to believe that when a woman has been in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition 13 times that she’s got all the ins and outs of maintaining that bikini body down to an art form. Then we’re awe-struck when we find out that super models aren’t super human. She aged (now 46), had three kids, became a busy mom and launched a successful career outside of modeling.
She told People Magazine that she’d put on 25 pounds. Her 5-year-old son had taken the now-famous photo, and then told her she looked pregnant. She says the weight didn’t bother her as much as realizing she didn’t look healthy. “I didn’t recognize the person I saw. I saw someone who looked overwhelmed, overstressed, overweight, over-everything,” said Ireland. After that moment, she set-out to make the important changes that were necessary to regain her health, and her figure.
In her new book she helps busy moms understand how she lost the weight and is continuing to maintain it. There’s no deprivation, just encouragement and advice for making small, manageable changes. When asked if she’ll ever get back into a bikini again, she told People she wished people would be more concerned with asking how healthy her heart is.
Real Solutions for Busy Moms draws on Ireland’s life experiences – everything from being the harried mom of three children and the wife of an ER doctor, to her first hand account of changing her life and drawing on the experiences shared with her by other women and moms. Despite being the CEO of a billion dollar, global brand, she maintains that familiar encouraging and emphatic tone to help women regain their health and sanity.