When I was five months pregnant with Samuel, my first child, Julie Hoang-Clayton, the owner of multiple Dallas private training studios, reached out to me to work together toward my health goals.

Before getting pregnant, I would work out with Sean Lowe, who was a former personal trainer and fitness model and we would go hard on our workouts. Like really hard. Once I got pregnant, I kind of lost the understanding of my personal fitness, because I was confused on what to focus on. I went from working out to look good in a bathing suit and gowns to wanting to transition so I could be healthy for childbirth and the newborn phase.

Julie was the perfect partner for me. She was a mother of two, looked at my health as a whole and was my therapist and teacher during our sessions. She taught me that it was important to work on endurance for the intensity of birth and to work on my “abs” to hold up the baby and, of course, kegels. She was very vocal about kegels. Instead of just telling me to do certain exercises, she made sure I understood why those certain exercises were important.

All of those exercises paid off and I gave birth to a healthy baby boy in July 2016.

I enjoyed the first 2 months of doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing – soaking up precious newborn cuddles, eating enough fuel to breastfeed and trying to stay alive with no sleep. If you’re a mom, you know how it goes. After two months, Julie wanted to get me back for at least 30 minutes between feeds so that she could help me with the struggles of the chapter. My posture was bad from feedings and holding sweet Samuel, my insides were slowly trying to reposition themselves in my body and my pelvic floor was soft, soft, SOFT.

We were patient and kind to my body, honoring it for the wonderful blessing it had just gifted us. My goals were ever-changing and I didn’t want to push my powerful body to do things that weren’t thoughtful. After slowly asking more of it and listening to it daily, Julie helped me reach my fitness goals safely and nine months later, I was super confident in the way I looked and felt.

I’m still working with Julie (how could I not be?!) and giving her two days a week to help me strengthen my body and work on my health.

She shared her top postpartum tips with me and now I’m sharing them with you!

Sign up HERE to receive a FREE download to your inbox that contains a fitness and health routine created by Julie and I! Inside you will get a step by step guide to your daily workout and nutrition advice for making sure that your body is as healthy on the inside as it is becoming on the outside! I can tell you, from experience, taking care of yourself as a mom is worth it and it will not only make you feel better, but will make you a better mom as well! So make sure you head over to our sign up page and get it!

Be patient with yourself and if you do things mindfully, you will be exactly where you should be at exactly the time you’re supposed to be there. Now go strap your baby on you and take a walk, kissing that sweet-smelling head the whole 20 blissful minutes.