Giada De Laurentiis Credits Yoga, Diet for Postpartum Slim Down

Courtesy Shape for use on CBB

Having a baby changes everything, and for Giada De Laurentiis that adage holds particularly true. The 39-year-old celebrity chef tells the December issue of Shape magazine that her approach to diet and exercise has been irrevocably altered since welcoming daughter Jade Marie, 20 months.

A former gym devotee, Giada turned to yoga as an expectant mother and never looked back. “I thought, ‘Oh, this will be a good way to stretch’ but it turned out to be so much more,” she notes. “It taught me to breathe, it strengthened my muscles and it helped me relax.”

In fact, yoga has become so important to Giada that a private instructor arrives at her home every day at 4:45 a.m. for an hour-long session. The early start time might make some moms cringe, but Giada says it is crucial.

“If I don’t do it first thing, I simply won’t do it,” she admits. “With my crazy schedule, that often means cutting into my sleep.” She adds,

“But yoga gives me the energy and focus I need to get through my day. I’m not saying I don’t need a cup of coffee in the afternoon sometimes, but it’s the yoga that definitely keeps me centered.”

It also helps her maintain her enviable physique, which she says she reclaimed by giving up white sugar and cheese for six months after Jade was born. “I gained 22 pounds, which doesn’t sound like much, but I’m only 5’3″ so it was a lot for my height,” Giada points out.

“Because I had a c-section, I couldn’t work out for a long time afterward, so I knew the best way for me to lose weight was through diet.”

Jade is Giada’s daughter with husband Todd Thompson.

Source: Shape, December issue

Comments

I have a very good friend who works at Food Network in New York and apparently Giada had a c-section fairly early and only delivered a 5-lb. baby in order to avoid “getting big” and having her hips spread at the end. Of course this could be false, but it is a very reliable source. Just thought I’d share…

- ErykaWynter on December 15th, 2009

I have a hard time believing someone would put their babies health and life at stake so they don’t get too big and the hips don’t spread.

- melissa on December 15th, 2009

ErykaWynter… interesting story, but i would put money on it being a rumor. Sounds like Giada might have some jealous co-workers.

I don’t think any decent OB would agree to an elective pre-term c-section with a baby at 5 pounds. it would be considered grounds for malpractice. Also, Giada herself would have been held legally responsible for her decision if the baby had complications.

- fuzibuni on December 15th, 2009

I can’t comment on whether Giada had an early C-section or not. However I personally know of a women who did this- she found a doctor to do a section at 37 weeks so as not to gain any further weight. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility.

- Louise on December 15th, 2009

I met Giada a few years before she had Jade, let me tell you the woman is miniature. I’m 5’4″ and there is NO WAY she is 5’3″ She’s 5’0″ or under. She wore platform sandals that were probably 3-4″ high. I know someone who only gained 10lbs because she didn’t want to get “fat” her baby was only 5lbs, this woman is also really thin, I’m fairly sure she has an eating disorder, but she’s also short. I don’t think Giada would have been that cruel. She was really personable and sweet when I met her.

- Sandra on December 15th, 2009

From the birth announcement, Jade was only born 5 days before her due date and was 5 lbs 13 oz. http://celebrity-babies.com/2008/03/30/giada-de-lauren-6/

I dont think 5 days would make much of a different in the width of your hips would it? And Giada carried so small the entire time, people here were saying that she didn’t even look pregnant. It’s not a surprise she had a small baby.

- Brandi on December 15th, 2009

It’s not surprising her baby was small if she’s petite. It seems reasonable.

It’s a bit annoying to say ‘oh well, I’m petite, so gaining 22 lbs was a LOT’ because the healthy range for most pregnant women is 25 – 35 lbs… and if you start out underweight (which a LOT of TV people are) you should gain more.

4:45 AM? Yuck. Wouldn’t do it, even if it did ‘center’ me. Sleep is higher on my priority list (but then again, my guy is only 4 months, and I have a 3 YO too…)

- Mrs. R. on December 15th, 2009

22lb is not “a lot”, even for a 5’3″ frame. I am 5’2″, was 110 pre-pregnancy, gained 30 with each of my kids, and am back down to 110. It wasn’t a lot for my body. Geez, talking about gaining 22lb, and it being a lot sets a great example. In fact, it’s under the recommendations for normal-weight women to gain, and a lot under what they want underweight women to gain (which I’m sure she is, as I was). Ugh… Let’s make pregnant women feel fat now when they’re right on target. BLARGH

- Sarah on December 15th, 2009

I think she looks great! I can imagine it must be hard to diet when you are surrounded by food all day long, so I give her credit for doing it.

- Lila on December 15th, 2009

I give her credit for the early A.M. workout, there is no way I could do it. There is something about super thin cooks that I don’t trust, LOL. How good can their food be? That’s why I love Paula – you know she loves her food!

On a side note, wasn’t their a supposed trend in Hollywood a few years back called “To Posh to Push” that was about celebrities setting early c-sections?

- Jenifer on December 15th, 2009

Elective C-sections are generally scheduled 2-3 weeks before the due date to avoid going into labour. Not sure if this was Giada’s case, but she does seem very weight conscious (with her going on a diet as soon as she gave birth, I hope she wasn’t breastfeeding). 22 pounds is like 10 kilos, which is below every medical recommendation.

Didn’t Madonna have C-sections at like 35 weeks to avoid gaining weight?

Frankly, I find it sad and feel sorry for her. She just had a baby and all she could think about was her weight:-(
Not to mention how mad this kind of stories make me with all those eating disorders young women have.

- Sonya on December 15th, 2009

22 pound is just fine for a small women to gain. My sister is very tall and slim and only gained 22 pounds and her babies were a good size. Every women’s body is different. I am tiny too and with my first I gained 45 pounds and with my second only 23 pounds. Both of my girls were 2 -3 weeks early ( do to hight blood pressure ) and they weight 7 pounds. So it’s normal.

- Cat on December 15th, 2009

I was 100 lbs. pre-pregnancy and I’m 5’3″. I only gained 20 lbs. but would have probably gained more had I not been diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 27 weeks. Up to that point, I had gained 17 lbs. The strict diet I had to follow made it so I only gained another 3 lbs. in my last 12 weeks of pregnancy. I delivered naturally at 39 weeks and my daughter was a healthy 7 lb. baby. Everyone gains weight differently. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Giada was very weight conscious during her pregnancy.

- mrsh on December 15th, 2009

Some of these comments are a little ridiculous. “She just had a baby and all she could think about was her weight” – you do realize this was an interview with SHAPE MAGAZINE, correct? A publication that focuses on physical fitness, workouts, diets? Of course the interview was going to be about her return to pre-baby form. What did you expect?

- Courtney on December 15th, 2009

I’m 5’2″, and was 108 when I got pregnant. I sit naturally at 100 lbs, but gained weight in preparation for getting pregnant. I gained 24 lbs, gave birth to a 7.5 pound baby, and I didn’t look like I had gained a lot at all. It was evenly distributed and lots of times when people saw me from behind, they were shocked when I turned around and was pregnant.

Sounds to me like Giada is trying to justify her diet and exercise routine.

- Jen on December 15th, 2009

“To posh to push”, whoa. That’s pretty disturbing.

- Jessicad on December 15th, 2009

I don’t care how much she weighs, how much she gained…I just wish we could see a picture of Jade! I do respect Giada’s decision to keep her out of the spotlight. Has anyone seen a pic?

- Kristin on December 15th, 2009

I think it’s so wierd that we so often see cover stories on magazines of how people “amazingly” lose weight after the birth of their babies. Pregnancy is a temporary state and the body goes back to a pre-pregnancy size afterward. (Boob changes and stretch marks, now that’s a different story! Lol)

Shoot, when I think about almost every single pregnant mother I know, they pretty much go back to a similar size after the bubs is born.

- Jen on December 15th, 2009

Wow! I would never be able to get up at that time. It would also make me very tired the rest of the day. I wonder what time she goes to bed at night? Must be quite early.

- Anna on December 15th, 2009

Kristin – Here is a picture of Jade. Adorable girl! She’s also been shown on a few episodes of Everday Italian. I think she looks more like her father.

http://www.foodnetworkfans.com/forum/attachments/giada-de-laurentiis/306d1222801259-giada-de-laurentiis-shows-off-jade-today-jade_thompson.jpg

- Jessica on December 16th, 2009

22 pounds? I never know if that means before or after the baby comes out. That sounds like very little weight if that included the pregnancy/baby. The pregnancy alone (baby, placenta, amniotic fluid, extra blood volume, bigger breasts) is usually close to 25 pounds.

- DD on December 16th, 2009

Oh, I have to add that I was also surprised at how quickly my body bounced back after pregnancy. I am 5’2″ and baseline 100 lbs. I went to 133. I swear I lost more than 20 in the hospital and more in the following weeks (no exercise and no dieting — I was recovering from C-section and breastfeeding). I was 105 at my 6-week follow up. I thought I’d have to work out for a year but I was pretty happy with my body even the first weeks after birth (except for all the new spider veins!)

- DD on December 16th, 2009

It’s funny that people have said they don’t trust her because she’s skinny, so how good can her food be? Liking a food, loving it, whatever you want to call it, isn’t license to gorge yourself silly on it. I’m sure she eats all the food she makes, she just eats smaller portions and works out. Nothing wrong with that.

I do love Paula Deen, and find that Julia Childs and her husband lived until the age of 91 (2 days short of her 92 birthday) and 92 respectively, even with the huge amounts of butter and other fattening things in her recipes, amazing (even though Julia Childs’ husband had a stroke 4 or 5 years before he died.) It’s very interesting how people that use all these fat substitutes, and eat fat free foods are dying younger than the people who have bacon every morning, lol.

- Rebecca on December 16th, 2009

DD – I took it to mean she only gained 22 lbs. total. Like at 9-months pregnant, she was up 22 lbs. not that she had a remaining 22 lbs. to lose after she gave birth, she definitely didn’t gain that much weight! She was very small even just weeks before birth.

- mrsh on December 16th, 2009

Oh, and the “too posh to push” phrase actually started with Victoria Beckham, because she had c-sections supposedly to avoid labor. How true this is, we will likely never know. I do remember watching an episode of TLC’s A Baby Story that featured a young woman who scheduled a c-section because she felt pushing was “beneath her.”

- mrsh on December 16th, 2009

Rebecca, I am the only one who said it and it was a JOKE hence the “LOL” and

- Jenifer on December 16th, 2009

I do have to say that I have all of Giada’s cookbooks and have made many of her recipes. Her food is wonderful! I met Giada a few years ago and she couldn’t have been nicer…she seemed genuinely interested in what I was talking to her about, and happy when I told her that one of her recipes is my husband’s favorite for his birthday.

Jade is regularly on “Giada’s Kitchen” (Everyday Italian is only on in reruns now.)

- Toni on December 16th, 2009

Oh I wanna see photos of her baby, too. I bet she is super cute.

- All Women Stalker on December 16th, 2009

I don’t know what her story is, but I’ve only gained a few lb with both of my pregnancies due to hyperemesis and my babies weighed 8 lb 9 oz and 9 lb 3 oz.

It could just be that her daughter was meant to be small just like my babies were meant to be big.

- Heather on December 16th, 2009

Jenifer,
There are those that say that, and don’t mean it as a joke. It wasn’t so much at you

- Rebecca on December 17th, 2009

I met her in person, she is most definitely not 5’3″ She is 5′ or 5’1″ at MOST.

- K on December 17th, 2009

ErykaWynter That is so sad to hear because I LOVE Giada! But I’ve heard it too….unfortunately many celebs do this and the doctor’s let them!!

- Mitta on December 17th, 2009