Yahoo Finance Katharine McPhee 'Felt Zero Pressure' to Lose Weight After Pregnancy: I'm 'So at Peace with My Body'
Taylor Hill/Getty Katharine McPhee
Katharine McPhee was honest about feeling uncomfortable with her growing body during her pregnancy with son Rennie, but since his arrival, her self-image has completely changed.
The actress, 37, said in March that her "biggest challenge" while carrying Rennie, her 8-month-old son with husband David Foster, was the fear that her past struggles with disordered eating and bulimia would return as her shape grew. That gave McPhee a "healthy love-hate relationship with pregnancy," she recently told E!.
"I think that I struggled a little bit with the getting bigger part," she told the outlet.
After Rennie's birth in late February, though, McPhee found that her mindset completely flipped.
"What I didn't expect was to have the baby and then be so at peace with my body," she said. "I had this, wow, like this huge appreciation of what my body had just done and given me that I wish that I'd given myself a little bit more of that grace through the pregnancy."
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And in the months since, McPhee said she hasn't had any desire to push herself to lose weight.
"I actually had this huge gift where I felt zero pressure to kind of get back to a certain standard," she said. "I was just like, 'Wow, this is such a moment in time to enjoy a new baby and give thanks to this incredible body that just did something so spectacular, like truly a miracle.' "
"I'm so much happier, so much more peaceful," she continued. "And actually, the extra weight that I gained while I was pregnant has just sort of fallen off naturally. I never had to torture myself to do any of those things."
McPhee told PEOPLE in March that she used to feel pressure to increase her workouts before big events, but that anxiety has disappeared since Rennie's arrival.
"I've just been so grateful and happy that I've had a healthy baby and I've felt really good, emotionally and physically," she said. "… In my everyday life, I would have an event coming up or need to work out and it's just really nice to have a break and be happy where I am."
If you or someone you know is battling an eating disorder, please contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at 1-800-931-2237 or go to NationalEatingDisorders.org.
