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Before her Wimbledon win on Sunday against Arantxa Rus, Serena Williams opened up about her decision to stop breastfeeding her 10-month-old baby, Olympia. And for any mom that has done it, you can feel a mix of emotions when it comes to an end.
What’s interesting is that Williams wasn’t asked by a lifestyle magazine about her decision. She was asked at a news conference dedicated to her participating at Wimbledon in London. So, for a few minutes the news conference turned into her and a couple female journalists discussing the benefits of breastfeeding.
The 36-year-old said that she first wanted to stop breastfeeding in January, but those plans changed when she realized she could do it for a few more months.
“Then January became March. March became April, and I was still breastfeeding. And for me, it was really important to make it to three months, and then it was important to make it to four months. And then I was like, ‘Okay, I can do six months’,” she said.
And while she was breastfeeding, she realized that the drastic weight loss so many mothers claim to have just wasn’t the case for her.
“I was vegan, I didn’t eat sugar … and I wasn’t at the weight I would’ve been had I not [breastfed],” Williams said. “What I’ve learned through the experience [is] every body is different, every person is different, every physical body is different. For my body, it didn’t work, no matter how much I worked out, no matter how much I did.”
But don’t get it twisted. Williams did not stop breastfeeding because she didn’t lose weight. She stopped because it was just time. And getting even more personal at the conference, the tennis champ said that she held Olympia in her arms, prayed with her and explained to her that she was going to stop.
“I cried a little bit. Not as much as I thought I would. And she was fine. She was totally fine. It was the strangest thing, and I just learned from that experience, every physical body is different. After that, I literally lost 10 pounds in a week,” she hilariously stated.
The conversation starts at 11:17 below.
Renese spends her early mornings writing, her days securing insurance for TV shows, and her in-betweens blogging about the silliness and seriousness of life on her blog. Follow Renese on Twitter: @reneseford
