Here at MFM HQ, we have a sort of ‘cool if you do, cool if you don’t’ approach to losing your baby weight – as long as you never, ever feel pressured either way.

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Especially in those whirlwind first few weeks and months of early motherhood ?

But we do also try to embrace many of the physical changes motherhood can bring: C-section scars, stretch marks, loose skin, wobbly tums...

So, we were quite pleased to see that, despite lots of chat and buzz in the press about her recent 2 stone weight loss, mum-of-2 Katie Piper’s on board with embracing those things, too.

“After I had Penelope, which was around about Christmas, I wanted to get back into my pre-pregnancy clothes,” she tells MFM.

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“It wasn’t just about how I looked and the baby weight - of course that was a factor, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t - but also having 2 children…

“I knew I was going to return back to work, and my work has quite a full-on schedule, and I didn’t want to be lethargic.”

Katie’s weight loss came from her own The Healthy Happy Mum Plan, a healthy eating and lifestyle plan created in cahoots with pal and diet guru TerriAnn Nunns, herself a mum of 4 who's lost 7 stone over the years.

‘I’ve got loose skin – and I’m OK with that’

But during our chat, Katie’s clear: losing your baby weight isn’t the magic solution to everything.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve now got results,” she says, “but if you saw me in a bikini, I’ve got loose skin on my stomach which will never go because it’s not fat, it’s like stretched elasticity.

“And I’m OK with that because this is the best version of me, this is as good as it gets and I’m actually really proud of that.

“It’s not like me saying I want to get rid of that because how could you naturally get rid of that?” she adds.

“You can’t, and I think people know what I stand for… I’ve been an advocate for a long time in terms of: a scar is a visible thing, it’s a permanent thing.

“You can’t get rid of it but you could learn to live with it and make the best of it, whatever that is, and I think that crosses into exactly what we are talking about here in terms of body confidence.”

‘I’ve always posted the truth about my body’

katie piper mum tum

Indeed, Katie’s never shied away from being open and honest about her post-baby body on social media.

She not long ago hit back on Instagram after pics showing she had a slight mumtum were deemed ‘unflattering’ by (pretty nasty) social media commenters.

“For me, ever since I’ve used social media, I’ve always posted the truth: the way I look, my face, my scars, my burns…” she says.

“And when I got pregnant it was the same for my body. After I had the baby, I posted pictures with the bump when the baby is not in there anymore because that’s what women look like.

“I think people, particularly [when you’re] postnatal, [they’ll] say, ‘don’t you worry you’ll lose the weight’ or ‘your bump will go soon’

“And I think, well, actually we don’t know people’s individual situations and actually everyone goes at their own pace.”

‘You do have to work harder with baby no 2’

Katie’s personal pace, it seems, was fairy chill. (That’s our kinda pace ?)

“Of course,” she tells us. “[It was] my second pregnancy I’m a little bit older, so I probably gained more weight this time because my body has stretched before.

“You do have to work a bit harder [to lose it], but anything worth having always involves commitment and dedication… and I suppose that’s why a fad or a diet wouldn’t have worked for me.

But she's quick to add about 4-year-old daughter: “Belle’s already the age where she understands.

“So I didn’t want any kind of diet where I was food shopping for them, then separate food shopping for me…

“You know, I didn’t want to serve them up shepherd’s pie while I sit there with half a fig and a spinach leaf.

"And then Belle says, ‘Mummy why are you eating that?’ or ‘Why are you living off green juice?’”

The Healthy Happy Mum Plan by Katie Piper and TerriAnn Nunns is available for £39.99

Images: Instagram/Katie Piper

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