Six months postpartum, I've been thinking a lot about what it actually feels like to get back into movement after having a baby.
I was lucky to feel strong going into pregnancy, and I stayed active throughout it. Looking back, I genuinely think that preparation made a difference. When I started exercising again after Kaia was born, I was surprised by how quickly my strength started coming back.
But there was another part of recovery I wasn't expecting.
I didn't necessarily feel weak. I felt disconnected.
After my C-section, my core felt different. Muscles I had spent years knowing how to engage suddenly felt unfamiliar. I could know exactly how a movement was supposed to feel and still not quite feel it in my own body.
That was probably the strangest part of getting back into exercise for me.
I didn't need to bounce back. I needed to reconnect with my body and figure out how to move forward.
I Wasn't Starting From Zero
Movement has always been a big part of my life. It's my job, but it's also something I genuinely enjoy.
I felt strong before pregnancy, and I was lucky enough to stay active throughout it. I kept practicing Pilates, walking and adapting my movement as my body changed. I also think this mattered more than I realized at the time.
I had spent years building strength, stability and body awareness before I ever became pregnant, and I continued maintaining that foundation throughout pregnancy.
So when I started moving again postpartum, I wasn't trying to build everything from scratch.
I had something to come back to.
That doesn't mean postpartum felt exactly like before pregnancy. In fact, some things felt completely unfamiliar. I think that's an important distinction. You can have a strong body and still feel disconnected from it.
The Weirdest Part Was Feeling Disconnected
After my C-section, my core was the biggest adjustment.
I've taught Pilates for years. I know what it feels like to find my core, control a movement and create stability. So it was strange to suddenly feel like I had to figure some of that out again. I could do a movement I had done hundreds of times and think, Why does this feel so different?
It wasn't that I didn't know how to exercise. My body just felt unfamiliar.
For me, getting back into movement wasn't only about rebuilding strength. It was about rebuilding that connection between my mind and my muscles and learning to trust what I was feeling again. That meant slowing things down. Paying attention to my breathing. Finding my core again. Working on pelvic floor connection, stability, and actually noticing how movements felt rather than simply asking myself whether I could do them.
I wasn't trying to prove that I could do more. I was trying to understand what my body was telling me.
That ended up being a much better place to start.
Being Able to Do Something Doesn't Mean You Have to Rush It
Once I was cleared to exercise, I was excited to start moving again and I was surprised by how quickly I felt like I could do more.
But I also learned that there was a difference between being able to perform a movement and feeling completely comfortable and connected while doing it.
So instead of immediately chasing intensity, I paid attention to the basics first.
Could I breathe normally through the movement? Did I feel stable? Could I actually feel my core working? Did I feel stronger afterward, or completely depleted? Was my body recovering well between workouts?
Those questions became much more useful to me than simply asking how quickly I could get back to my old workouts. Because progress isn't always about making a workout harder. Sometimes it's about making the same movement feel better.
Strength Came Back. So Did My Confidence.
One of the biggest changes in my recovery wasn't something I could see in the mirror. It was the feeling of trusting my body again. I noticed it in small things.
Carrying Kaia started feeling easier. I had more energy. My core felt more stable. Movements that had initially felt strange started to feel automatic again.
Those things became much more meaningful measures of progress than simply asking whether my body looked the way it did before pregnancy. Of course I noticed changes in my body. I'm human.
There were moments when I wondered when I would feel like myself again. But eventually I realized that some of the biggest signs that I was recovering weren't visible at all.
I felt stronger. I felt more capable. And I felt more at home in my body.
And yes, six months later, I'm also feeling much more comfortable with how my body looks again.
I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting that. But I don't want appearance to be the only way I measure whether my body is recovering.
Maybe “Normal” Isn't the Goal
We talk about postpartum as though there is a finish line. Six weeks. Three months. Six months. One year. As if eventually you'll wake up and finally feel like you're “back to normal.”
But your life has changed.
Your schedule has changed. Your priorities have changed. Your sleep has changed. Your body has changed. So maybe feeling like yourself again doesn't mean becoming exactly who you were before. I don't want my old body back. I loved that body. I loved who I was before pregnancy.
But I also love who I'm becoming now.
And I don't think those two things have to compete. I can appreciate the body I had before pregnancy and still be excited about what my body can do now. I can want to get stronger, lift heavier, challenge myself and feel fit again without trying to undo the fact that I had a baby.
I'm not trying to get back to where I was. I'm building from where I am now.
Why This Changed the Way I Built My Postnatal Plan
This experience is a big part of why I didn't want the Postnatal Plan to simply be a library of postpartum workouts.
I wanted it to have a progression that reflected what I actually experienced:
First, reconnect. Then rebuild. Then strengthen.
The first four weeks focus on reconnecting with your breath, core and pelvic floor and rebuilding that foundation. The next four weeks gradually bring more strength and stability back in. The final four weeks begin bringing more intensity into the picture.
Because I don't think postpartum movement should be about looking at a calendar and thinking, I'm six weeks postpartum, so I should be doing this now.
Everyone's recovery is different. For me, having a strong foundation before pregnancy and staying active throughout meant I had something to rebuild from. But I still needed time to understand my body again after birth.
That's why I wanted the plan to give you somewhere to start and a progression to follow, rather than leaving you to guess what comes next.
Six Months Later
Six months later, I feel strong again. Not exactly the same as before pregnancy. Not completely unchanged. Just strong in a different way.
My C-section incision is still numb in places, and there are still things I'm figuring out. But with Pilates, breath work, walking and gradually increasing the amount I'm asking from my body, I feel close to my pre-pregnancy strength again.
Looking back, I believe the strength and body awareness I'd built through years of Pilates and continuing to stay active throughout pregnancy, gave me a strong foundation to rebuild from. But strength wasn't the only thing I needed to rebuild.
I needed to feel connected to my body again.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped wondering whether I was “back.”
I was just moving forward.
The Postnatal Plan Is Coming Very Soon
If you're postpartum and figuring out how to start moving again, that's exactly what I built the Postnatal Plan for and it’s launching very soon, I promise.
It's a 12-week progression from Core Recovery → Rebuild → Strengthen, designed to help you gradually reconnect with your body, rebuild your foundation and get stronger without having to guess what comes next.
Join the waitlist below and we'll let you know the moment it launches.
I can't wait to do this one with you.