Image: Instagram/@valeriebangsgarcia
Actress Bangs Garcia may have had initial reservations about getting her fit body back giving birth to her daughter, Amelia, via cesarian section in her 30s. But the actress did her best to prevent postpartum weight gain and shared her fitness secrets on social media.
“Start working out at least a few months before pregnancy, keep a healthy diet, wear a high-waisted panty about two to three months postpartum depending on your healing process (consult your doctor first),” Garcia wrote in an Instagram post she uploaded yesterday, Aug. 12.
Posting six photos of herself in the same printed bikini, she documented her figure from the time she was not yet pregnant, eight months pregnant, seven weeks postpartum, four months postpartum and up to her seventh month postpartum when she finally gained a semblance of her pre-pregnancy figure.
“When I was young, I used to hear that when a woman bears a child at 30 years and older, she cannot get back her pre-pregnancy body anymore,” recalled Garcia. She then said that her ideal age to get married was around 25 to 26 to give her time to have children before she reached the age of 30.
“But instead, I got married at 29, got pregnant at 30, now, I am 31 with an 8-month old baby; I strongly disagree that a woman can’t get back into shape at this age! It may not be exactly as it used to be, but it is possible. Perhaps, with perseverance, you could even be in a better shape than before.”
She said that her doctor in the Philippines told her she had prepared her body for pregnancy even before she got pregnant — she used to workout “really hard” from 2014 to 2015 to the point that she cried in the shower after her training sessions. However hard her workout may be, she was firm in her decision to complete her training and improve her overall health.
Because she had to do a surgical delivery and still needs to fully recover, she isn’t allowed to do any strenuous gym activity until eight to nine months after giving birth. Garcia shared that her exercise since her fourth month after delivering Amelia consists of brisk walking on a treadmill and a certain variation of squats.
Aside from ensuring she does cardio exercises, she admitted that she took care of her body by monitoring her food intake as well. Garcia listed the things she ate when she was pregnant: quinoa, salmon and mackerel, chicken breast, beef, vegetables, fruits (strawberries, in particular, helped her with her acidity), pasta, wheat bread, eggs (she said they contain choline which is essential to a baby’s brain development), and soy milk. She also inhibited herself from consuming rice, pork and sweets.
After giving birth to Amelia, Garcia shared that she eats “anything”. However, she only eats rice two to three times a month and rarely eats pork. She also said that she continuously eats vegetables every day and that fruits are the first thing she consumes in the morning. NVG
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