A new mum who lost 25kg in a year after giving birth says her healthy lifestyle helped save her from postnatal depression. Priscilla Humado, 31, lost nearly four stone in just over a year and credits fitness for the huge mental and physical transformation she went through after the birth of her second child.
Speaking to Plenish, the fitness influencer, from Surrey, says she now "appreciates" and "loves" her body and is using her YouTube channel, where she has more than 3,800 followers, to inspire other new mums. She said: “I would like to put some kind of realness back onto the platform and say, you know what, I've always been into fitness and I experienced this [pregnancy weight gain] because it's only better for people to see that than to think she looks fantastic, she never had any issues."
The clinical researcher by trade gave birth to her second child in June 2021 and says the pregnancy was anything but easy as she struggled with medical issues and a Covid-19 lockdown.
She added: “[During] my second pregnancy, I put on a lot more weight because I wasn't able to do my usual gym training and moving around. I have a workout space at home but I just found myself really tired so I didn't work out as frequently as I used to before.
"I put on a lot of weight and then at 35 weeks, they found protein in my urine so I had loads of tests and then they thought I may have preeclampsia."
While training was hard during her second pregnancy, Priscilla maintained a high-protein diet that included loads of vegetables, brown rice, fish oats, nut butters, eggs and avocado - but also cheat meals in moderation.
“I'm Ghanaian so I love my Jollof rice but I have a balance now so I wouldn't just eat white rice Monday to Friday. I would definitely have it a couple of days a week and then balance it out with a lot of high-protein meals," she said. "I don't drink fizzy drinks and I don't drink alcohol so that in general helps my lifestyle."
While her pregnancy was hard, the delivery was relatively smooth with the midwives advising she could start exercising whenever she felt up to it. Two weeks after the birth, Priscilla started stretching to get movement back in her body before progressing onto home workouts and finally, the gym.
“When I went to the gym, initially, I wouldn't do certain exercises that I thought were extreme for my core. I had a bit of separation so I started with really simple, not as core-focused, body movements. As I hit four-plus months, I started to increase the intensity of my workouts,” she said.
Her initial goal was to build muscle while also focusing on using exercise as a tool for her mental health.
“Every time I feel down, I wake up the next morning and I'm back to 'okay, let's go, you can do this.' You have four hours of sleep and you’re completely feeling drained and you go to the gym and come back and you think, you know what, I've got this like I'm a superhuman, I can do this,” she recalled.
Due to Priscilla’s large baby bump, she had a lot of excess skin post-birth saying she was “heartbroken” and “shocked” at her body initially as she thought if you maintained a healthy lifestyle you’d have a smooth pregnancy and be able to bounce back but she learned this wasn’t the case.
“Now, I appreciate the body a lot more. That’s why I show it off because before I thought, you look great but now I'm like, wow, I did that [pregnancy] and I'm back here, it's great,” she says.
She’s now using her social media platforms to inspire other new mums and encourages everyone to take those first steps towards regaining their health. She said: “I would say to other mums that it's never too late to start and our body is beautiful after having children. Once you start training your mental health, the physical bit follows and you are unstoppable.
"Once you start fitness, you realise how much potential you have for other things such as your career and life. I think every aspect of your life becomes a bit more exaggerated and you can really achieve a lot more so I would say it's not too late.”
