Louise Thompson says her "pre-pregnancy fitness levels" saved her life after her traumatic birth of her son Leo last year.
The 31-year-old, who has been documenting her battle with PTSD, is still recovering from the "serious complications" she faced during labour.
She and her fiancé Ryan Libbey, also 31, welcomed their son Leo in November after doctors worked "through the night" to save her.
Taking to her fitness project Trtle's instagram page she shared a candid post about her struggles.
"I was also told by one of the consultants that saved my life that my pre pregnancy fitness levels are one of the few reasons that I survived. But I'll write more about that on my personal page soon," she wrote beside clips showing her fitness journey.
The former Made in Chelsea star said she "assumed" that she would be able to throw herself back into work almost immediately after giving birth, but found that wasn't the case.
"I had a few good days and I assumed I'd be jumping straight back into work and the world of Instagram - presumably because it was such a big part of my life before...
"The truth is when I have 'good' moments I don't want to post because I don't want to be reminded of everything horrendous that happened to me (I also want to capitalise on getting a few basic things done because I'm still SO behind on life), and when I have bad moments I still can't function, so I find myself posting when I'm feeling sort of ok and in-between."
The mum-of-one who suffers with depression said she was worried that exercise might worsen her anxiety.
She explained: "Whilst I know that exercise is good for me I don't feel the typical post-workout endorphin high that most people would."
"In fact I worry that the boost in cortisol (the stress hormone) might actually enhance my state of anxiety, which is one of the reasons I'm just doing very moderate exercise at the moment - no endurance stuff.
"I actually emailed one of my doctors to ask about activity levels and he replied saying "I think exercise does help overall but it is not a miracle worker if you are depressed".
She joked that she would "create a magic pill" if she could.
Louise has been sharing videos of her doing weight baring exercises, and is working on building up her strength so she can carry her son Leo.
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After being open about her struggles to leave the house, she shared a snap of her and four-month-old Leo on their "first proper family outing".
She said that she was "breaking the anxious cycle" by taking her son out for a rainy stroll in her stomping ground of Chelsea.
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