Jillian Michaels Discusses Pressure on Women to Get Back to Pre-Pregnancy Bodies

Jillian Michaels looks gorgeous on the cover of the February issue of Redbook, on newsstands January 3.

Here’s what the 42-year-old personal trainer had to share with the mag:

On why she’s so committed to working out and being healthy: “I’m a 42-year-old. I still like skinny jeans. I still prefer a two-piece instead of a one-piece, but now I have two young kids. So for me, I want to be skiing down the mountain alongside my kids instead of waiting at the bottom for them. I want to see their children graduate from college. I want to meet my grandchildren’s children. These are my whys.”

On finding balance as a working parent: “Maria Shriver once said something like, ‘You can do it all, but not at the same time.’ I say, ‘You can do it all, but just a little bit more s–tty.’ And that’s got to be okay!”

On aging and why she’s in better shape now than she was in her 20s: “I care more, and when you care more, you train harder and eat better. People believe that aging is this slow descent into decrepitude. That’s not true. When people say, ‘Oh, I’m 40 now, and this is happening to me and that’s happening to me,’ it’s the cumulative effect of years of neglect, which – by the way – can still be turned around.”

On why she thinks there’s too much pressure on women to get back to their pre-pregnancy bodies: “I was just talking to someone who was breast-feeding and already on a diet. I was like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to chill. If you start dropping more than two pounds a week, you’re going to compromise your milk supply.’ The reality is that you can bounce back better than ever, but time frames vary for everyone. Everybody and every pregnancy is different. If it takes you a year, who cares?”

For more from Jillian, visit Redbook.com.