Carrie Underwood’s honest realization about postpartum recovery is a great reminder to all new moms

Carrie Underwood and her husband, hockey player Mike Fisher, just welcomed their second child, little Jacob Bryan Fisher back in January, but as the face of a fitness apparel line, CALIA by Carrie Underwood, this mom of two is feeling a lot of pressure to get back in shape.

But she’s recognizing that a lot of the pressure is coming from within herself, and so she’s giving herself grace and time in her postpartum fitness journey, as it hasn’t been as easy to meet her fitness goals as it was after her first pregnancy.

“As I was working out today, I realized that for the past 11(ish) months, my body has not belonged to me. It was a perfect home for Jacob. And even now it belongs to him every time he drinks his milk,” she wrote in a recent Instagram post.

“I promise to stop analyzing every angle and every curve and every pound and every meal. I’m going to keep staying the path because it is a journey and as long as I’m always working towards my goals, one day I’ll reach them. I’m going to take it day by day, smile at the girl in the mirror, and work out—because I love this body and all it has done and will continue to do!”

Her words are inspiring, and so is her track record as a mom who cares about fitness, but cares about connecting with her family even more.

Back in 2018, before Jacob was in the picture, Underwood posted pics of her oldest, then 2-year-old Isaiah on Instagram, trying to work out with mom and dad. He uses a resistance band with his mom and tries push-ups with his dad, hockey player Mike Fisher. “My boys make workouts fun (and a bit less productive, but that’s ok)! #staythepath” she wrote in her post.

It’s totally okay to want to get back in shape after having a baby, but it’s not okay to beat yourself up for being human. Pregnancy and birth transform a woman’s body, and we cannot expect ourselves to run as fast as we did before or fit into our old jeans right away.

As Tone It Up co-founder Katrina Scott said on a recent episode The Motherly Podcast, Sponsored by Prudential, “We need to change the conversation with everyone and with ourselves and realize how cool it is that our bodies are different.”

It’s clear that Underwood is changing the conversation in her brain, and by sharing her thoughts with her 8.4 million Instagram followers she’s also changing the way her community thinks about postpartum recovery.

Thanks for your honesty, Carrie.

You might also like:

• Tone It Up’s Katrina Scott on why we’ve been talking about postpartum bodies all wrong
• Carrie Underwood reveals she had 3 miscarriages before baby #2 in emotional interview
• The physical (and mental!) benefits of working out with your kids