Carrie Underwood is urging fans not to workout with the sole purpose of losing weight. The stunning country music singer opened up about her approach to health and fitness in a new interview published this week where she encouraged people — particularly other moms — to get active in order to be healthy, not just to drop the pounds.
Speaking to Shape , Underwood spoke out about how her body changed in the wake of her second pregnancy (she gave birth to second son Jacob in January) while giving out a little advice to her fellow moms when it comes to bouncing back after having a baby.
“My advice for other moms? Don’t work out to lose weight. Treat your body right in order to be healthy,” the “Southbound” singer shared, admitting that she’s not a big fan of diets which restrict what can and can’t be eaten.
“When people talk about deprivation diets and all the things they can’t have, that messes with your mind,” the mom of two said. Underwood and her husband Mike Fisher share Jacob and 4-year-old Isaiah.
She added in the new interview with the health and fitness outlet that “focusing on all the good, healthy, yummy things you can have and can do, it’s so much healthier than thinking about workouts as a punishment.”
The star also shared how she felt different after giving birth to her second child at the start of the year and struggled when it came to feeling confident with her body again.
“[After I was pregnant] with Isaiah, I was able to get back to the gym right away, and it was exciting and fun, and I felt strong quickly,” she recalled of how she was able to start working out again almost immediately after her first baby. “After Jacob, it was a different ballgame.”
“My body had a different experience with pregnancy, in general,” Underwood continued, sharing how things were different for her the second time around.
She added that she was “down on” herself soon after welcoming the now 8-month-old into the world and would keep “putting [herself] down and wondering, ‘why isn’t this the same as it was a few years [ago]?’”
As The Inquisitr previously reported, the star has been very candid about her struggle to bounce back after baby number two and opened up in a major way back in March about how she tried to get back into shape soon after giving birth.
The American Idol Season 4 winner — who wowed fans on the East Coast with a sold out show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden earlier this week — posted a photo of herself decked out in gym gear from her own athleisure line, Calia by Carrie Underwood, as she showed off her post-baby body mere weeks after becoming a mom of two.
In the caption of the gym selfie, she detailed how tough it was to bounce back and also vowed to be not so hard on herself going forward, including stopping analyzing every meal she ate and counting every calorie. She also vowed to “smile” more and be thankful for all that her body’s done for her.