Funny, what I've seen is just the opposite. The stay-at-home moms in our neighborhood have a lot more spare time to take walks, go to exercise class, swim, garden, etc. The working moms are so exhausted from work that they have neither the time nor the energy to get much exercise, so they gain weight.
The researchers are just confusing correlation with causality once again. The difference in weight is not related to working but to social class. The upper-middle class is more likely to chuck their kids into daycare and go off to be executives and lawyers all day, and they're also the ones who tend to be thin for social reasons. Working class folks tend to be heavier. They're also more likely to stay home with their kids, partly due to good values and sheer love of their children, and partly because they don't make enough money to make daycare financially viable. The same stay-at-home moms who are heavier would be heavier if they went back to work; work doesn't make you lose weight. On the contrary.
U forgot about the high dollar trophy wives (that stay at home), which stay in shape after having kids, cuz, that't what they're paid for.
I realize this is silly comment, but it's a silly article...when you think about it.
"partly due to good values and sheer love of their children"
So good mothers automatically mean stay at home. Who's confusing correlation and causality now? :)
"The upper-middle class is more likely to chuck their kids into daycare and go off to be executives and lawyers all day, and they're also the ones who tend to be thin for social reasons. Working class folks tend to be heavier."
That's exactly right.
Well said, and I agree.