Update: Jillian Barberie Reynolds talks about about postpartum weight loss
Update: Added photo of Ruby.
Originally posted January 4th: Growing up as a child adopted by her parents and going on to become a mom, herself, has clearly been both transforming and cathartic for Jillian Barberie Reynolds. Describing the process as "amazing," Jillian recently opened up to OK! about daughter Ruby Raven, turning 6-months on Sunday, and how her own adoption has affected her view of motherhood.
It’s been amazing. It puts everything into perspective — how loving people have to be to take in babies that aren’t theirs, like my mother and father did and now that I am a mother, I mean, my birth mother was very young.
It was different for her. I can’t even imagine how hard it would be for her. For me, it’s put into perspective that at five months old, here [Ruby] is and I think how innocent and sweet and how protective I am of her, and when you’re adopted, if you’re very young, like I was her age and in foster care, you think, you hope that you rely on the kindness of strangers and thank God there’s some incredibly kind people out there because it’s amazing to look after someone else’s baby. Babies are such a gift to the world. They’re so innocent, so sweet and it really puts it into perspective.
For more of Jillian’s interview, including the secrets behind how she returned to a size 2, click ‘continue reading.’
Jillian reinforced earlier statements that for the longest time, she "never thought" she would have kids, telling inquiring minds, "sorry to tell you, I just don’t want them," and that,
It’s not in the makeup for me. I’m a total career girl and I’m single. Just wasn’t in the cards for me, but it turns out it was!
It was after the Good Day LA host met her husband Grant Reynolds that she softened her outlook on motherhood. Pregnancy was an emotional time for Jillian, as it is for most women.
Just the fact that I never thought I would have a human life inside me like that, and just kind of marveling. It really made me think about my birth mother situation and how sad and hard that must have been to her. It brought out a lot of emotion. I met Grant and fell in love. He wanted kids, and I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ I was thinking it would be a little harder on my end than it was for him — but apparently not!
The 41-year-old tells OK! that her favorite aspect of expecting was "eating everything I wanted." She says she took comfort in watching other pregnant celebrities as their bodies changed.
Because I’ve never been that girl. I’ve always had to be very careful with what I eat so I’d see these tiny girls like Salma Hayek and Naomi Watts and they got so big like me. I mean, I wasn’t all belly. I got [big] everywhere — arms and I was always thinking, this is for her.
When I got pregnant, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is a license to eat every carb that I haven’t eaten in five years!’ I ate potatoes, specifically French fries. If I was at a restaurant, I would eat the whole bread basket — and then order pasta.
Jillian wasn’t an avid exerciser before she became pregnant and she stayed that way throughout her pregnancy, per her doctor’s advice.
I wasn’t going to start! The doctor, in fact, said to me, ‘Do you exercise?’ I said, ‘No.’ He goes, ‘Good.’ Because I got pregnant at 40 and he said it’s not a good idea to start exercising with a baby in you at 40. If your body is not used to it, do not start now. And I didn’t.
When it came time to lose the 40-pounds she gained with Ruby, like Tori Spelling before her, Jillian turned to NutriSystem.
Well, at first it was pretty hard because when you give birth, you still look pregnant, so I gained 40 pounds and she was six pounds, 12 ounces so you give birth to that and the rest, you’re still carrying weight. I thought it would be a lot easier than it has been and it isn’t– it’s something you really have to work at.
I started doing Nutrisystem a month after Ruby was born, and that makes it easy. In December, I decided I had to have a trainer, too, because it’s one thing to lose the weight, which I’ve done and I have eight more pounds to go — but it’s another thing to be toned.
Ruby is the first child for Jillian and Grant, who’ve been married since 2006.
Source: OK!, January 14th issue, p. 56-57.
Photo by Caroline Greyshock.
- Posted on Jan 5, 08 at 3:33PM
- Permalink
- 12 Comments
January 4th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Missy: I emailed you a suggestion.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I hear so many people saying how terrible Nutrisystem tastes, I don’t know what to believe. It seems like the celebrities who are doing it never mention the taste. Maybe they are so used to not eating that they don’t notice. Does anyone have any experience with nutrisystem personally?
January 4th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I wish I could try nutrisystm but I just don’t have the money right now. It seems to work for so many celebrities! I had a friend who was also on nutrisystem at one time along with her mother, and they both lost weight. She never mentioned anything about the taste.
January 5th, 2008 at 9:35 am
I can’t help but identify with Jillian’s birthmother, since I, too, placed my firstborn child and only daughter for adoption back when it was demanded of “unwed mothers.” I hope that one day Jillian decides to seek out her birth mother to reassure her that her sacrifice was worth the pain. We birthmoms from the ‘closed adoption era’ live in agony, not knowing whether our relinquished children are alive or dead, sick or well, at peace or in turmoil. My daughter and I are so glad I found her; she is currently experiencing a medical situation that requires blood-kin involvement. Hopefully, Jillian won’t face a medical crisis, but she may one day need updated family history for Ruby.
Sarah’s note: She did meet her birth mom, and has two sisters as well that she speaks with, although she hasn’t spoken with her mom in awhile. If you click the source link at the bottom of the post, it will take you to the whole article where that is discussed.
January 5th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Just a comment about the Nutrisystem…alot of it tastes gross! My mom spent almost $500 on several months worth of food but she never stuck with it. So I recently used it to help loose some postpartum weight. I lost 8lbs in about 5 weeks but at that point I was so sick of eating it that I quits it too! I still have some weight to loose so I am sticking to regular dieting and exercise. Many of the food items taste very similar (pastas taste alike, the beef/steak meals taste the same, etc.) The desserts were horrible. I made one of the microwave cakes one day and it stunk up my kitchen! LOL
Just my two cents…..
January 5th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
NutriSystem does NOT taste good at all. There were only about 5 things in their entire menu that I could stomach. And, I only lost 6 pounds total on it. I don’t know how anybody could say that stuff tastes good.
January 5th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Ruby is absolutely adorable! I love the tutu!I bet she’ll have the same spunky personality as her mother!
January 6th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Yea in my gym a lot of ladies have done nutrisystem and they all lost weight, but I heard the food taste bad. More people are happier with weight watchers I noticed. Anyway ruby looks cute.
January 6th, 2008 at 12:59 am
I’m the same age as Jillian, 41, and I gained 40 lbs with my pregnancy. I initially lost 25 lbs, but gained 11 of it back. When my daughter turned a year old, I was finally fed up with looking pregnant still, so I joined Nutrisystem and started on October 13 of this past year. In 2 1/2 months, I have lost 23 lbs, and am 3 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight. Some of the food does taste pretty bad, but can be doctored up somewhat (adding Splenda, or I can’t believe it’s not butter spray). I am sticking with it for a few more months, since I would like to lose about 20 more lbs. It’s a little pricey at nearly $300 per month, but I was probably spending nearly that on fast food for lunch everyday! I’ve figured out what foods I like the best, and I can customize my order to get only the things I like! Once I lose a little more weight, I will try to keep it up on my own.
January 6th, 2008 at 4:45 am
What a gorgeous tutu! Anyone know where to purchase one?
January 7th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Love Ruby’s smile. That tutu is fabulous! It’s interesting for me to hear about adults who were adopted having their own children. My husband was adopted at 4 months, and his experience with having our son has been much like Jillian’s.
June 4th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I’m on nutrisystem now and I love the food I’ve always considered myself a picky eater and theres only a couple things I dont like. Its expensive but I’m full all the time and I’ve never cheated cause they give you chocolate bars cookies and cake to eat thats part of you diet. The only down side I think is that you have to buy filler foods(i.e fruits and vegetables) on top of buying NS foods.