If you’ve ever wondered what Pilates before and after results actually look like, I’m sharing my personal experience with my 8-Week Pilates Body Challenge and how it helped me rebuild strength, reconnect with my core, and transform my body after pregnancy.
After having two babies, I know firsthand that postpartum weight loss is about so much more than the number on the scale. From rebuilding my deep core to improving muscle definition and feeling stronger in my body, Pilates played a huge role in my postpartum journey.
In this post, I’m sharing my Pilates body before and after experience, the results I noticed, and what I learned about using Pilates for postpartum weight loss and recovery.
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Inside: My before and after results (and photos) from my Pilates 8-Week Complete Core & Booty Challenge, and my journey to achieve a Pilates body during pregnancy and postpartum (twice).
From the moment we find out we’re expecting, we immediately start making changes to our lifestyles to help us be healthy moms and have healthy babies. Whether those lifestyle changes are our nutrition, sleep habits, work schedules, or fitness routines, we do our best to care for our bodies as we grow our little miracles inside. While I try to do all of the above, I really like to focus on getting in daily movement through low-impact exercise and Pilates.
During the nine months of pregnancy, with guidance from our doctors, midwives, families, and friends, we prepare our bodies and minds for one of the biggest moments of our lives—becoming a parent. And no matter how much we prepare and plan for our births, we have no way of knowing how our labor and deliveries will actually go. It seems this is just the beginning of a series of more unknowns. For example, not knowing how our bodies will feel postpartum, and how and when to exercise postpartum!
So let’s get into my personal journey to a Pilates body during pregnancy and postpartum, plus my before and after results (and photos) from my Pilates Body Challenge.
Our babies’ entries into the world are unpredictable, and our bodies are unpredictable after labor and delivery. The postpartum experience is different for every mom, but many of us feel like we’re starting over from scratch in a body we don’t recognize. So much happens as we begin the healing process after all of the bodily and hormonal changes we went through during pregnancy and birth, and have yet to go through as we nurture our babies earthside.
Staying healthy and working out during pregnancy can help ease the transition into postpartum life as we rediscover our amazing, new mommy bodies and appreciate all they’re capable of. However, we have to learn how to get to know ourselves on a new, deeper, and more loving level. And Pilates can help us to do this!
After my daughter, Bobbi Rose, was born, I couldn’t wait to get back into working out and reshaping my body. I worked out my entire pregnancy with Bobbi and did Pilates-focused core workouts religiously. Because everyone kept telling me how babies destroy our core, I was determined to not have that happen to me! Well, like I said, you can only prepare so much.
My core was so weak after my first birth, exactly how I hoped it wouldn’t be. I thought to myself, I need to do exercises that are progressive, and safe, to get my body back to where it was pre-pregnancy without doing any long-term damage.
I didn’t want to rush back into exercise, but I did want to challenge my new postpartum body and build muscle throughout my whole body. So I started designing a workout calendar filled with daily Pilates ab and glute workouts.
I mapped out my daily workout calendar into a Pilates program that I could do for eight weeks straight. After performing the workouts I created, I was so impressed with my results, and even more excited with how I felt in my new postpartum body. I knew this workout challenge could help other moms achieve similar results and love their postpartum bodies too! Because of this, I decided to professionally film all of the workouts and turn them into a Pilates On-Demand Challenge called the Pilatesbody Challenge.
The Pilatesbody Challenge is designed to strengthen your core, tone your glutes, and support a 360° approach to living a healthy(ish) lifestyle. It guides you through daily Pilates on demand workouts 6 days a week, entirely online, on any device. I specifically designed my challenge to be achievable for busy moms, like you, having the workouts averaging only 30 minutes a day with minimal equipment needed. The workouts consist of a variety of alternating Pilates ab and glute workouts with a weekly rest day.
I have coached hundreds of women (100% online) though the Pilates Body virtual challenge. Specifically, newly postpartum moms who needed help understanding their core as a whole, or guidance on how to step away from high-intensity workouts and do low-impact workouts instead. I revamped the Pilates Body Challenge when I became pregnant with my second child, and I went through the 8-week challenge when I was 8–16 weeks postpartum!
I started my Pilates Body Challenge for the second time when I was roughly 12 weeks pregnant with Nash. I wanted to know how the workouts felt while I was pregnant compared to when I did the challenge postpartum after my first pregnancy. I learned a lot from doing this! Now I am better able to advise those taking the challenge during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Due to the amount of lying down and abdominal flexion in the challenge, many of the challenge’s workouts become unsafe and ineffective beyond the 20-week pregnancy mark. Because of this, I did not complete the full 8 weeks of the challenge while I was pregnant with Nash. In the future, I will redesign this challenge to be prenatal-friendly for all trimesters to make it more inclusive.
Even though I couldn’t complete the Pilates Body Challenge safely and effectively beyond 20 weeks pregnant, I still continued Pilates workouts up until I delivered Nash at 41 weeks. After he was born and our family of four (plus two crazy dogs) was settling into our new normal, I found myself feeling excited to get started in my Pilates Body Challenge postpartum again. But I wasn’t prepared for the exhaustion and new challenges of mom life with a two-year-old and a newborn!
I began my second postpartum run of my Pilates Body Challenge when I was eight weeks postpartum with Nash. The challenge is safe to start six-weeks postpartum. But if you decide to start the challenge this early into postpartum, make sure you’re in a good mental state to drive your self-motivation to stay committed. Because us moms know all too well how tough and sleep-deprived those first weeks of newborn life are! And, of course, you will need clearance to workout from your doctor too.
Before I started my challenge, I wanted to set myself up for success. I printed out the daily workout calendars for the challenge and posted them front and center on my refrigerator as an accountability reminder to myself. I was able to see what workouts were happening each day, allowing me to mentally prepare ahead of time for the workout and allocate how much time was needed to complete it. For me, I only needed to commit to a 30-minute time block daily.
I crossed off each workout day when I completed it, which was another action that really helped with my personal accountability. Throughout the 8 weeks, I was able to stay fully committed. I did not miss one single workout! If you end up needing to switch up your rest day, or double up on a day if you missed one, that is allowed and recommended.
My Pilates Body Challenge is unique in that it has a Core Assessment, something that many on-demand fitness challenges do not have! We go through five different movements, scoring each one on a numbered scale, to assess all of the muscles that make up your abdominals as a whole: rectus abdominis (think of your “six-pack” muscles), internal and external obliques (muscles that make up that “deep V”), multifidus in our back, our spinal erectors, and the transverse abdominal muscles (deep abdominal muscles). According to Shape, “Transversus abdominis: The deepest-down of all, it does a complete wraparound of your midsection and pulls it in like a corset.” We spend a majority of the challenge strengthening this muscle. “Yes, there are separate muscles, but they all work together.”
We start the challenge with a core assessment (to see your core starting point), and finish off the challenge with another core assessment (to evaluate your core growth and results). During my starting core assessment, I scored a “9” and measured a 1-inch abdominal separation (diastasis recti), or 2 fingers width of space.
As I started my journey to rebuild and rediscover my new postpartum body, the first 2 weeks of the challenge started out slowly with core foundational work and breathing.
In weeks 3 and 4, the Pilates on demand workouts moved from foundational workouts to progressive ones. Once I hit week 4, I noticed that the Pilates core workouts really picked up their intensity, but more so specifically the Pilates glute workouts – Talk about getting spicy!
According to the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, “Exercises like Squats (30%), lunges (42%) and bridges (56%) produced a statistically significant increase in Pelvic Floor activity than traditional (stationary) Kegel exercises.”
The Pilates Body Challenge explores all of these movements with increasing intensity throughout the 8 weeks. I noticed a dramatic change in my pelvic floor control around week 5 of the challenge.
Weeks 5 and 6 of the challenge really hit me hard, but this is also the point in when I began to see more of that Pilates body tone and feel more confident when looking in the mirror!
In weeks 5 and 6, I was often not able to complete the full Pilates on demand workout with proper form, so I had to pause certain workouts and hope I would be stronger the next time I did them. This showed me that I still had to build up the endurance in my body in order to perform them properly. Pausing the workout and hoping for strength the next time is okay. It is better to do this than to finish the workout with strained, poor form because doing so can cause injury.
When I got to weeks 7 and 8, I felt strong. I had more endurance, and I was able to pump my heart rate up and get that cardiovascular endurance in as well. I was determined to push myself at the end of the workouts because I knew it was safe to do. I wanted to see what my new Pilates body was capable of!
During my ending core assessment, I noticed a huge improvement in my abdominal strength and control. I ended my Pilates Body Challenge with a score of “14”! I was able to score a “3” on everything during the assessment, but the glutes. I still need improvement in muscle endurance in this area, as well as pelvic stability and stretch. Since my second pregnancy, my hips, pelvis, and glutes are always tight and need constant mobilization. One of my favorites parts of the challenge were the recovery days that specifically focused on hip mobility. I think this will be a work in progress for a few more months!
When I rechecked my abdominal separation, I could no longer detect the gap I measured at the beginning of the challenge. That was a HUGE milestone in my postpartum recovery! While everyone’s experience with diastasis recti is different, I was excited to see how much progress I’d made in just eight weeks.
I highly recommend assessing the severity of your abdominal separation prior to starting the Pilates Body Challenge. Check out my quick 4-minute At Home Self Check Diastasis Recti video on YouTube.
After completing my Pilates Body Challenge:
If you’re like me and want your body to not only look good, but feel good too, you have to put in the work. So simple, but yet so dang hard too. I found it difficult to stay committed to the challenge at times, but it paid off in the end. I stuck with it every single day and did not miss a single workout. Some days, I didn’t want to work out at all; other days, I was excited for my workout. Regardless of the situation or the excuse I had, I did it anyway. And I’m so glad I did, because I am so happy with my results!
Although this challenge is not designed for weight loss, it did happen naturally for me with a daily commitment to doing the Pilates challenge. I dropped 8 pounds and lost 2.5 inches overall! I didn’t make any dietary changes or restrict my eating during the challenge, and let’s face it… I probably overindulged in some of the good summertime food and drinks, and guess what, THAT IS OKAY!
The NEW Pilates Body Challenge includes a full recipe guide from my friend Lisa of 2 Hungry Daughters. These recipes are healthy(ish), something the whole family with eat, made with simple ingredients, and EASY! My personal favorite is the turkey taco lettuce wraps recipe!
The Pilates Body Challenge will jumpstart your postpartum weight loss journey, but consistency beyond those 8 weeks is really where your desired results will lie. It wasn’t until I reach the one-year postpartum mark, and when I ended breastfeeding around 15 months postpartum (both times with each of my babies) that I truly felt my best self again.
Remember to give yourself grace, Mama! Your first year postpartum might be one of the most challenging years of your life. We’ve all heard it time and time again, it takes nine months to grow a baby so it’ll take nine months to…. I think you know where that saying goes.
You’ve got this, Mama! I believe in you. I am here to help you and root for you as your certified Pilates instructor and your friend. Please reach out to me if you have any questions or if I can help you in any way to get started with your Pilates Body Challenge!
You may start noticing improvements in strength, posture, and core control within a few weeks of consistent Pilates workouts. Visible Pilates results often take longer, depending on your starting point, workout frequency, nutrition, and overall activity. My 8-week challenge gives you a structured way to build consistency and track your progress.
Yes! Pilates can improve muscle strength, endurance, and posture, which can change how your body looks and feels. Depending on your workouts and overall lifestyle, you may notice more muscle definition and improved body composition over time. However, Pilates alone doesn’t guarantee weight loss, and everyone’s before and after results will look different.
Yes! While Pilates may not burn as many calories as higher-intensity workouts, it can still support postpartum weight loss. A 2021 study found that Pilates helped reduce body weight and body fat percentage in overweight or obese adults. My Pilates Body Challenge takes a gradual approach to postpartum fitness, starting with rebuilding core strength and coordination before progressing to low-impact strength workouts that build endurance, strengthen muscles, and support fat loss.
It depends on your delivery, recovery, and any complications. Some gentle breathing and pelvic floor exercises may be appropriate early postpartum, while more structured Pilates workouts require a gradual return. After an uncomplicated delivery, many women can begin gentle activity when they feel ready, but more demanding exercise may need to wait. If you’ve had a C-section, significant tearing, or other complications, follow your healthcare provider’s guidance. For more information about safely returning to exercise, check out my guide to postpartum Pilates.
Pilates is a system of exercises designed to strengthen the body from the core out. When working with a certified Pilates instructor, make sure they have experience in prenatal and postpartum to know when to look for signs of abdominal separation, as well as teach you how to use your deep core muscles to aid in strengthening both pre/postnatal. I always recommend all my clients to consult with a pelvic floor physical therapist during their postpartum journey. I also insist on not rushing back into exercise too quickly.
I’m so happy with the results this challenge has given me by healing my body from the inside out first. Now that my ab separation and pelvic floor have been repaired, and I’ve built strength and endurance in my core and glutes, I can pick up the intensity. Through the consistency of the daily workouts, my commitment and determination, accountability, and ease of the online, on-demand challenge, I achieved the Pilates body results I was looking for as I began my postpartum fitness journey. And I know you can too!
It starts with healing first. Join me in the Pilates Body Challenge to begin your healing journey with Pilates!
Your Friend & Pilates Expert,
Kayla Brugger
Founder of PILATESBODY by Kayla
Founder of PILATESBODY On-Demand
Hi, I'm Kayla Brugger. Certified Pilates Instructor & Minnesota Mama of 2.
