Losing the baby weight is a long hard road and those mums that do manage it are surely all the better for it.But according to a new survey, a mother's influence is such that her dieting may lead to an eating disorder for her daughter.
The poll of more than 500 teenagers revealed that around 6% of those at an average age of 14 already had an eating disorder, but that figure rose to one in 10 for those who were aware of their mother dieting.
Nearly four out of 10 young girls said that their mother was the biggest influence on their own self-perception, while two-thirds had heard their mum complaining about her own weight.
Shockingly, 51% of the teenage girls surveyed had dieted and almost eight out of 10 were worried about their weight.
And the survey of Sugar magazine readers also revealed an unhappy truth.
One in five said they had been criticised by family members over their weight, and almost one in three confessed that a relative had called them names such as "elephant" or "beast".
Sugar editor Annabel Brog told the Telegraph: "Every single issue of Sugar magazine features fashion modelled by 'regular' girls, with difference body sizes and shapes, to prove all bodies are gorgeous when they're well fed and exercised.
"But it stands to reason that a girl's 'thinheritance' – the attitude to food and body-shape she is exposed to day-after-day in her home – is going to be more powerful than anything we can print in a magazine.
"And of course many girls feel their mums, who typically diet and worry about their own weight, are their greatest influence."
If that isn't a good enough reason to ditch the diet, we don't know what is.
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