What No One Tells You About “Getting Your Body Back” After Birth
If you’re newly postpartum or nearing the end of your pregnancy, you’ve likely heard some version of the phrase “I can’t wait to get my body back."
Maybe you’ve even said it yourself. It’s everywhere: in casual conversations, fitness marketing, and scrolling through social media posts of other new moms “bouncing back.”
But here’s the truth: your body didn’t go anywhere. It expanded, adapted, endured, and created life. The idea that you need to “get it back” not only misses the mark, it can actually make healing harder.
In this post, we’ll talk about why the “get your body back” message is harmful, what most people don’t understand about postpartum recovery, and how to approach movement in a way that sets you up for strength, resilience, and long-term health.
1. “Getting Your Body Back” Implies That Your Current Body Is a Problem
This phrase assumes that your body—right now, after birth—is something to fix.
But your body didn’t go anywhere. It transformed. It protected and nourished a baby. It did its job.
When we frame the postpartum body as something “to get back from,” we ignore its wisdom, its work, and its need for care. Instead of chasing a past version of yourself, what if you focused on supporting the version of you that exists right now?
2. Pushing Too Hard, Too Soon Can Make Things Worse
One of the most damaging results of “bounce-back” culture is that it encourages new moms to rush into intense workouts without proper recovery. And here’s the reality:
When we skip the foundational healing steps, we’re more likely to experience pelvic floor dysfunction, incontinence, prolapse, and long-term injury.
This isn’t fear-mongering, it’s biology. Pregnancy and birth (vaginal or C-section) impact your ribs, core, pelvic floor, posture, joint stability, and so much more.
These systems need to reconnect before they can safely support exercise again. And when they’re ignored, the consequences aren’t just uncomfortable… they’re long-lasting.
3. The 6-Week Clearance Myth
Many women are told: “Just rest until 6 weeks, then you’re cleared for exercise!”
But this advice skips a crucial truth: the time between birth and 6 weeks is a crucial rehabilitation window. There’s so much we can (and should) be doing during those first weeks, such as:
Gentle breathwork
Core & pelvic floor awareness and activation
Mobility for the hips, upper back, ribs & chest
Regular short and simple movement sessions are a great way to encourage blood flow and healing, while bridging the gap between birth and the return to more formal exercise around the 6 week mark.
4. Your Postpartum Journey Deserves a Plan—Not a Pressure Campaign
When fitness is framed as a race back to your pre-baby self, it becomes something punishing instead of supportive. Can we instead allow our postpartum movement to be centered around healing, rebuilding, and reclaiming strength in a sustainable way?
That’s exactly what my 4-Phase Postpartum Program is designed to help you do - gradually recover from birth, restore your core and pelvic floor, and regain full body, functional strength so you can move through motherhood with confidence.
You can start as early as 1 day postpartum with gentle, foundational rehab (breathwork, mobility, pelvic floor reconnection, etc.) all delivered in short, repeatable videos designed to fit real postpartum life. As you heal and get cleared for formal exercise, the program guides you through progressive phases that rebuild core stability, restore functional strength, and eventually reintroduce cardio and impact, all without skipping steps.
And if you’re already well into your postpartum journey - no worries! It's never too late to start.
“My pelvic floor therapist told me about the Playground App. I wish I had known about it sooner! I started around 6 weeks and was hooked on the videos - Meredith is calm, simple, and clear, exactly what I needed in postpartum. I loved that they are organized by each week postpartum, and that I knew what I was doing was safe for my body. I really liked the feeling of progressing through the core activities and now that I am finished, I am doing the Recess program and it is so cool to feel how much stronger my core is now. I typically have a really hard time moving my body at home but with the Playground app, I feel so motivated because of how it is organized - I look forward to doing the videos! I highly recommend the Postpartum program to anyone who is in postpartum to be able to follow the videos and perform safe and effective exercises that feel good!”
Final Thoughts: You Don’t Need to “Get Your Body Back”
This incredible new version of you deserves support, care, and strength that lasts far beyond the newborn days. Let’s retire the “get your body back” narrative and build something better.
