Keke Palmer is a mother and a fine one at that. The multi-talented artist shared the secret to her snatched post-baby body during a chat with PEOPLE at the 2025 ESSENCE Festival of Culture.
“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 told the outlet. “It really wears your ass out.”
Palmer did it in less time than that, considering her son Leodis turned two years old in February. The singer had her son with ex-boyfriend Darius Jackson, and they’re currently peacefully co-parenting. In terms of the type of exercise the One Of Them Days actress engages in, pilates is her go-to.
“I’m a Pilates girl down, I don’t care. It’s the Pilates,” she said. “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.”
Finding time to work out as a working parent can feel impossible some days, so the actress recommends looking for a fitness class you can do before the chaos of the day begins.
“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 said.
Seeing as fitness is only one part of the equation when it comes to getting snatched, Palmer, 31, also recommends meal prep. She’s not wrong–a healthy diet that comprises clean ingredients can help fast-track your fitness goals.
“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,” she explained.
“Making your own meals, keeping it consistent with some type of activity. It really does transform your body,” Palmer added. “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.”
In addition to working out consistently and eating clean, Palmer said having goals can help too. For some, those goals may look like wanting to look and feel better in their clothes. For Palmer, it’s about being stronger.
“It is a mentality and it’s really just about knowing what our goals are,” she said. “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.”
A lot can happen with a year of consistency, and the Nope actress is a testament to that.
“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.”