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Peta Murgatroyd is standing up against unrealistic expectations for new moms getting back to their pre-baby shape.

The “Dancing with the Stars” pro shared an honest look at her body eight days after giving birth to son Shai Aleksander Chmerkovskiy with fiancé and co-star Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

via ABC

I left the hospital looking five months pregnant,” Murgatroyd revealed. “Many people think a woman should shrink right back to her pre-birth weight immediately. That is just not the truth for most.

“The female body is incredible and resilient, but healing and strengthening take time. Now it’s time for patience and hard work,” she added, while also sending her love to fellow new moms “on the journey.” She hashtagged the post with “Shai is worth every pound.”

Along with the empowering caption, Murgatroyd shared a bathroom mirror selfie, in which she posed in just a bra and black leggings to show fans that a week later her stomach wasn’t yet flat, either.

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And Murgatroyd’s comments also echoed those of actress Zoe Saldana, who welcomed twins Cy Aridio and Bowie Ezio in 2014. “I feel bad for those women that get super desperate and want to bounce back three months after having a baby,” she told People. “Breastfeed. Stay home. Sleep. Your kid is only three months old! Like what are you going to the gym for? Catch up on f—ing reruns of some sort!’”

A photo posted by Zoe Saldana (@zoesaldana) on

“New Girl” star Zooey Deschanel also slammed unrealistic expectations, telling Redbook that the idea of immediate weight loss after childbirth was “odd.”

She explained, “Because you just grew a human and then birthed that human – there’s a lot that needs to go back to where it was. All your organs move around, for Chrissakes!”

And model Chrissy Teigen, who is known for keeping it real with her followers, urged fans not to base their progress after that of celebrities who have the time and means to lose weight more quickly.

“Anyone in the public eye, we have all the help we could ever need to be able to shed everything… We have nutritionists. We have dietitians. We have trainers. We have our own schedules. We have nannies. We have people who make it possible for us to get back into shape. But nobody should feel like that’s normal, or like that’s realistic,” she told Today.

Of course, not every celebrity mom believes in taking your time. It will likely come as no surprise that one of the more harsher critiques on post-baby weight loss comes from Goop founder, Gwyneth Paltrow, who believes that people should quickly bounce back – no matter who they are.

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“Every woman can make time – every woman – and you can do it with your baby in the room,” she told the Huffington Post. “There have been countless times where I’ve worked out with my kids crawling around all over the place. You just make it work.”

But for the most part Murgatroyd was praised for sharing, with Instagram user @mommycarissa80 writing, “Thank you for posting this. More women need to post honestly like this about our post baby bodies. It just takes time, ladies.”

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