ArticleEating and weight disorders : EWD2022
"Belly Only Pregnancy" content on social media and in internet blogs: a qualitative analysis on its definition and potential risks and benefits.
Article in Eating and weight disorders : EWD, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pregorexia: a systematic review and meta-analysis on the constructs of body image dissatisfaction and eating disturbances by gestational age in the peripartum.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2023Pooled it
- Associations between social media use, body mass index, and body image among pregnant women.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- The Role of Social Media Usage in the Impact of Body Image on Disordered Eating Attitudes During the Third Trimester of Pregnancy.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2025Article
- Effect of social media use on the orthorexia nervosa tendency among pregnant women.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2025Article
- Online Misleading Information About Women's Reproductive Health: A Narrative Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Review
- Social media influencers in the space of pregnancy and parenting: a scoping review protocol.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Balancing benefits and risks of exercise in pregnancy: a qualitative analysis of social media discussion.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Does Appearance Matter during Pregnancy? A Cross-Sectional Study of Body Satisfaction from Pre-Pregnancy to Late Gestation.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- The relationship between social media use and pregnancy-related body image.Women's health (London, England)Article
- Longitudinal association of physical activity during pregnancy with maternal and infant outcomes: Findings from the Australian longitudinal study of women's health.Women's health (London, England)Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeSocial media enlarge the impact of health and fitness trends on body image and lifestyle choices, also in birthing parents. A new and yet to investigate social media trend addressing expectant mothers is "Belly Only Pregnancy". This qualitative study sought to define this new trend and clarify whether content related to this trend might disrupt body image or eating habits in expectant mothers.
methodsPicture and text data were gathered on a key day by screening Instagram and blog posts including or linking #bellyonlypregnancy. The identified data were categorized applying qualitative content analysis using MAXQDA software version 2018.
resultsThree hundred and fifty-one Instagram and eight blog posts were included. Our qualitative analysis' results indicated that the term "Belly Only Pregnancy" was used for describing: (1) The phenotype of an athletic woman whose abdominal size enlarges during pregnancy while not gaining excessive fat tissue. (2) An active lifestyle during pregnancy consisting of healthy nutrition and regular exercise pursuing goals like fast weight loss post-partum. Also, bodily, and mental gestational changes and the feasibility of this lifestyle were discussed.
conclusionA "Belly Only Pregnancy" allegorizes an ideal body type for expecting mothers. Especially women with increased vulnerability for an eating disorder might be negatively affected by the consumption of content linked to this trend. However, the positive effects of a healthy diet and exercise should not be denied keeping into account the increasing prevalence of obesity and gestational diabetes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III: Evidence obtained from cohort or case-control analytic studies.
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