If you haven’t seen this amazing fitness JetsetBabe, you better visit her account! I’ve been following @demivika since the very beginning, and for me, she is a true inspiration when it comes to working out. Whenever I need some motivation to hit the gym, I visit her page and instantly feel like I want to do what she’s doing – because clearly, she’s cracked the formula to weight-loss success!
In one of her latest posts, she shared with her followers her journey towards the transformation she’s done, and how her pregnancy was what lead up to it! It’s inspiring to read because it’s common that women “let themselves go” during/after pregnancy, and never get back their pre-birth bodies. Demivika is an example how you can get in even better shape than you previously had been, if you just make that effort!
Since I speak fluent Russian, I will translate her text about her pregnancy that I found under this image.

“How I recovered from my pregnancy”
To start with, before my pregnancy, I was a girl with a good figure. I ate a lot and did not put on weight. Sports wise I was doing light exercise only in combination with some pole-dancing.
When I got pregnant, I never imagined it would be possible for me to gain so much weight! I had an easy pregnancy; my energy levels were very high! But I didn’t train or wasn’t keeping a diet – although I was moving around a lot being active. As a result, I gained 23 kg.

So why didn’t I train or eat right during my pregnancy?
Because there was nobody to tell me or guide me towards healthy living. Instead, people were saying, “you must eat for two, it’s healthy for your baby.” So I did that and started putting on a lot of weight. Meanwhile, my loving husband was always supporting me, saying how beautiful I was.
When it was time to give birth, I was told in the hospital that I had to do a cesarean because my pelvis was too narrow. My son weighed 4,400 gram. Today I have a thin 10cm scar.

I will not describe my feelings after giving birth, but I will say that I would have rather given birth twice than to suffer internal pains after the anesthesia (I got epidural). The doctor said that this is because there was absolutely no fat in the abdominal area.
After I left the hospital, I was still 17kg overweight. I looked myself in the mirror, and I was horrified. I got postpartum depression. And although everything was great, I was crying all day long. My husband and my family were supporting me, but mentally I was in despair.
I’ve always been a perfectionist, but now my body terrified me: The scarring from the cesarian was very painful, my stomach was all wobbly, the skin was all loose and in terrible condition, plus the excess weight….

I’m not someone who will surrender when there is a difficulty. I don’t see problems being a problem, I see it as a task that needs to get resolved. So I pulled myself together and promised myself to be a hundred times in better shape than I had ever been before my pregnancy!
I started off by wearing this bandage around my waist that the doctor advised me to wear (without removing it). The longer I was going to wear it the better, as it’s for the muscles to contract faster and come back to its original shape.

Thankfully during my pregnancy, I was moisturizing daily with all kinds of creams, both morning and evening. Thanks to them and good genetics, I did not get any stretch marks!
Since I had a cesarian, the doctor only allowed me to go back to training after three months. I took the opportunity to focus on my diet which helped me lose all the weight I had put on during the pregnancy. Breastfeeding contributed to the weight-loss too.

This is how I changed my diet:
I stopped eating sweets. I ate everything either steamed or grilled, with a minimum amount of salt.
No sauces, spices, etc. I was eating mostly fish or meat that were not very greasy! But also seafood, loads of greens and vegetables, nuts (especially walnuts), complex carbohydrates (rice, buckwheat, porridge).
Fruit wise I was only eating green ones because anything red or yellow my son was showing allergy to.
Most importantly for the weight loss were my portion sizes. I stopped eating for two, and instead ate a maximum of 200 gram portion per meal (in total I was under 1500 kcal per day).

I drank a lot of water, teas and various smoothies

I was breastfeeding for a whole year, and I lost all the 17kg I had put on in just 3 months. Maybe because I was breastfeeding and running around all day looking after my son, I had no nannies or housekeepers back then.

I ran every morning. I got up at 6 am and ran in the park, while my husband would watch the baby before he had to go to work. During the day I would be taking long walks in the park with the stroller. In the evenings I would go to the gym. I first started training in the gym twice a week only, but with time it reached to 4-5 times.
To this day I train exclusively functional training and mostly with my own body weight. As an addition, I was doing ab exercises every day at home until my abs began to show (that took about 3 months).
Therefore, I always say: if there is a desire, you will always find time for it!

What was my motivation?
The most important for me has always been that I love myself when I look myself in the mirror. But I also believe that to have a peaceful life; it begins with self-love. My husband says: if the mother is happy, then everyone in the family will be happy – including the dog!
Love yourself girls and do not give yourself any offense to anyone, especially if you are overweight! A beautiful woman is first and foremost a woman who has peace in her soul and is in complete harmony with the world around her. Therefore, it is important to be fulfilled not only internally, but also externally!

I love motivation like this!
Demivika is proving a point that it’s entirely possible to look your best, even after pregnancy. It’s all about dedication and sticking to your plan. I know at times it’s easy to lose the motivation, especially when training and healthy eating can get dull. But if you’re disciplined and stay focused on your goal, you will be able to achieve this. Sometimes it’s how badly do you want something that has to be the fuel to keep you going.

By Jetset Babe