What is Witney Carson’s workout routine? Postpartum weight loss

All the way through Dancing with the stars season 33, Pro Witney Carson has gone mega-viral thanks to some of her jailhouse moves. But for Witney – who took seasons off DWTS in 2021 and 2023 respectively to welcome her children with her husband Carson McAllister – it wasn’t always easy to get that confidence back.

After giving birth to her first son Kevin in January 2021, Witney “felt so much pressure to come back,” she exclusively tells Women’s health.

“As dancers, our bodies are always being picked apart,” she says. “We are constantly looking in the mirror since we are three years old, and therefore we are very critical of ourselves. It was very stressful to come out after giving birth and come back to dance.”

But after open up about her struggles on social media, Witney said she felt “an army of women” reminding her how incredible it is to give birth.

This helped her the second time in May 2023.

“(Those women) taught me to give yourself grace for all the changes that may happen, so with my second, I went back to remembering the core of what I just did, which is to grow a human being and give birth to a human,” she says. “I really didn’t focus on how I looked, but on how I felt.”

So what exactly does Witney do for self care and fitness? Here’s what you need to know.

For Witney, ‘movement is medicine’.

Under Dancing with the starsWitney is constantly in and out of rehearsals. But in the off-season, she trains “every day” except Sunday.

“I almost feel worse when I take more downtime,” she says. “So even though I don’t have a rehearsal, I’m still moving.”

Witney’s favorites include pilates, hot yoga and outdoor running. Even on Sundays – her days of rest – she loves to go for a long walk, “just to get some movement.”

She focuses on her core.

To get Witney’s rock hard abs (which are absolutely necessary now that she’s viral leg liftBTW), the 31-year-old has a simple hack: planks.

“People hate this, but planks are so good because they get everything—the obliques, the core abs,” she says. “So every time I work out, I always end it with a plank. My secret would be to try to do a plank as long as you can at the end of your workout.”

She follows a protein-heavy diet.

To support all this training, Witney eats a lot of protein, which helps maintain her energy levels.

“When I’m at practice and I’m as busy as I am, if I don’t get enough protein, I don’t have enough energy for anything,” she says. “I really try to make every meal protein-heavy, so make it as healthy as I can—I’ll get a vegetable in there and a carb like quinoa or Ezekiel bread.”

Typically, her family — which includes sons Leo, 3, and Jet, 1 — eat the same meals, hoping her kids don’t develop picky habits. And while she tries to make dinner as nutritious as possible, “of course there are days when we just eat mac and cheese, hot dogs and fries.”

During rehearsals, Witney makes sure she eats every two hours, snacking on beef sticks and protein shakes. She also loves a green juice for vitamins.

“It’s a lot about preparation and just making sure you have the right things with you so you don’t starve and then eat something that makes you feel terrible,” she says.

Her family grounds her.

When things get overwhelming in Witney’s schedule, she loves journaling, which helps her organize her thoughts.

But most importantly, she turns to her loved ones for comfort. For her, there is family time every Sunday, where she makes sure she doesn’t work so they can all come to church.

“At the end of the day, that’s why I do what I do. I love what I do, but I also do it for a reason bigger than myself,” she says. “If you go back to the core values ​​of why you work and do the things you do, it’s very helpful.”

For other moms navigating postpartum life, she says it’s most important to feel good on the inside before focusing on the outside.

“Really listen to your body and make sure it feels the best—for me, that’s my motivation to exercise and stay healthy,” she says. “I want to be my best self every day for my children, for my husband, just for myself. Give yourself grace as much as you can and try not to listen to the outside voices.”

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Charlotte Walsh (she/her) is an associate news editor at Women’s Health, where she covers the intersection of wellness and entertainment. Previously, she worked as a writer on The Messenger, E! News and Netflix. In her free time, she enjoys reality TV, tennis and movies starring Nicole Kidman.