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Keke Palmer is getting real about her toned physique.
On Sunday, July 6, the multi-hyphenate star, 31, spoke to PEOPLE exclusively at Essence Fest, where she shared how she got back in shape after having her 2-year-old son Leo.
“You have to get back to yourself after the baby. It’s really, really hard. Anybody with kids knows sometimes it can take 3, 4, 5 years,” she tells PEOPLE. “It really wears your ass out.”
The biggest thing that helped Palmer was waking up in the morning and getting active before she goes to work.
“I’m a Pilates girl down, I don’t care. It’s the Pilates. And I need people to know it doesn’t matter what that scale says. It matters about the muscles. That’s what I love about Pilates. It don’t matter what your size is, your body is going to be snatched with Pilates.”
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The Creme of Nature Chief Brand Officer says finding a workout class is the best option because figuring out what to do in the gym on her own is difficult and too much to deal with.
“So if you could find a dance class, Pilates class, a yoga class, a cycling class, whatever class that you like that can happen at the top of your day before you go to work, it will do wonders. The consistency of that will do wonders,” she explains. “And then I’ll say, make your own food. I know, I know it’s a lot. Nobody wants to do the meal prep s—, but making your own food and knowing what you put in it, it does wonders.”
“Making your own meals, keeping it consistent with some type of activity. It really does transform your body,” Palmer continues. “And then fun stuff. Sometimes we forget that everything don’t have to be a serious workout. What if I just go play tennis or pickleball with my girl? What if we just go swimming for a day? You know what I’m saying? Let’s walk around an amusement park with the kids.”
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The One of Them Days actress admits that, like most people, she has days when she deviates from her nutrition plan. However, keeping her mind focused on her goals is key.
“It is a mentality and it’s really just about knowing what our goals are,” she says. “I think for me, I really wanted to be strong and active in whatever way that meant for me. And it came from consistency and knowing that I had time for myself.”
Palmer says that her physical transformation happened just this year, and she’s proud of how she’s been able to feel like herself again.
“I think most people see the visual change of like, ‘Oh, she been in the gym.’ It’s happened this last year since my son turned 2,” she tells PEOPLE. “I felt like I was able to just start thinking about me a little bit more seriously because before then it was just really hard. And I think we’ve got to really understand with us mamas, it’s not easy…it’s really hard to get back to you.”
