Tammy Hembrow's postpartum body is making women feel bad. But we're missing the point.

A lot of people are pissed off with Tammy Hembrow right now. The Gold Coast-based fitness influencer recently posted a photo of herself 10 months postpartum next to a photo of herself nine months pregnant.

And 10 months since the 29-year-old gave birth to her third child, Tammy is so shredded you could cut the backlash on her six-pack. 

As one woman wrote in the comments: “I'm no way hating at all cause I think your fire ... but i just can't help but think this is the wrong message to send to new mums who think they must get back to looking like this or to work out straight away 😔🤔 your body is still healing mentally and physically.”

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A post shared by Tammy 🐚 (@tammyhembrow)

Another joked: “My toxic trait is thinking I can look like this after kids in my 30s 🤣”

And this one came right out and said what many were thinking: “OH PLEASE 😏...as if this has nothing to do with forking out money for your app under the guise of pretending to care about a woman's post partum journey.” 

For the record, she also had many messages of support ("You’re so focused & strong, such an inspo 🤍") and Tammy also preemptively addressed the above concerns in her caption. 

“One thing to note: I am not saying you should aim to look like this, this is my personal journey, Feeling strong is the goal here 🙋🏼‍♀️💪🏼,” she wrote after… letting everyone know that she’s just launched a new pregnancy program on her app.

And then telling everyone *how* she looks like this (the answer: her app)…

And then encouraging her followers, who want to get fit but don’t know where to start, to find a good fitness program (could there be one on her app?)… 

And finally letting everyone know there’s a free seven-day trial… to her app. Link in bio (obvs).

So you see why people are angry, especially when research shows that this kind of content can lead to body image issues and disordered eating.

Listen to Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt talk about body image on This Glorious Mess. Post continues below.

She doesn’t look like what we imagine a 10-month postpartum mum to look like. And none of us want the added pressure of feeling like we have to look even close to Tammy after bringing a human into the world. 

But the thing is, we do not need to look like Tammy Hembrow. 

None of us need to.

The only person who needs to look like Tammy Hembrow is Tammy Hembrow. Since she first started posting about her training regimen during, and after, her first pregnancy at the age of 19, she made looking like this her job.

It’s not an easy job, either. She has had to train hard – and consistently – for the last decade. She’s had to be super strict with her diet for all of that time too. Her body is her business (one which the AFR estimates is valued at $38 million BTW). 

Her dedication to staying in peak fitness is beyond what most people would commit to. She’s worked immensely hard for her body, and if that’s what she wants to do, then good on her. 

This is not to say I endorse her brand of fitness. I don’t follow her on Instagram (watching someone lift weights in a bikini isn’t my thing). Even in my time as editor-in-chief of Women’s Health, we never featured her in the mag or our podcast as she didn’t quite align with my vision of expanding the depiction of what “healthy” looks like in the media. 

But if I had $38 million riding on what I looked like, would I be doing what she’s doing? Would any of us?

Who knows?

What I do know is this.

When I was pregnant, my goal was to stay as fit as possible so I could get back in the boxing ring (at the time, I was competing in boxing matches) as soon as I could after giving birth to my daughter. I was inspired by this one woman I’d interviewed years before, who had her comeback fight around 10 months after giving birth.

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A post shared by Lizza Gebilagin (@lizza_marie)

Even though I managed to stay pretty fit while I was pregnant, postpartum, my body had other ideas. I could hardly walk for a couple of months after the caesarean. I was so sleep deprived that first year I’d wake up most mornings feeling like I’d just run a marathon. (And no one wants to train after just running a marathon.)

In the end, I let go of the idea of training and eating like I was still fighting. Because you know what I realised? Making sure I was in peak fitness to win boxing matches wasn’t my job anymore. My job was to look after my daughter and I. And if it meant that building up my strength and fitness was going to take years instead of months, then that was cool with me. 

Each of our postpartum journeys are unique. For Tammy Hembrow it’s meant looking shredded, less than a year after giving birth because she had a job to do - remember that app? It's her job to look like that. 

If that's not for you – like it wasn't for me – just don't follow her. 

Lizza Gebilagin is Mamamia's Head of Lifestyle. Before joining the team, she was Editor-in-Chief of Women's Health Australia and an elite boxer who represented the NSW team at the National Championships. 

If you need help or support for an eating disorder or body image issue, please call Butterfly's National Helpline on 1800 334 673, chat online or email support@butterfly.org.au. For more information about eating disorders and body image, visit www.butterfly.org.au

Feature Image: Instagram @tammyhembrow