Keke Palmer Opens Up About ‘Unrealistic’ Body Standards

Keke Palmer is getting real about her choice to invest in her health and body. 

On the Aug. 1 episode of her podcast series, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, the host, 29, revealed her inspiration for staying fit. “It is my job. Let’s not get crazy — I don’t want people thinking that I am setting unrealistic standards. I can afford a trainer, meal prep and a lot of things,” she shared during the conversation with celebrity trainer Corey Calliet.

She continued, “It is expensive but I am investing in my career because it is my career to look good. Not even is it my career to look good, it is my career choice to have the kind of career that I want to have.”

The Nope actress maintained that it is a “personal choice” to stick to her routine. She detailed that it isn’t her intention to make fans feel pressured to live up to her standards — or Hollywood’s. 

“I never want to put it on anybody,” the mom of one began. “I always want to make it clear that when I am talking about fitness, health and wellness is that, ‘Your journey is your journey. You figure it out the way you can.’ And when you look at these celebrities and people in the industry, know that it is their job.”

Before that segment of the discussion, Palmer talked about how she’s had to readjust her focus since the birth of her baby boy. “It’s interesting — after the baby — to see all the extra stuff I have to work with, and how much my fear of having extra weight actually became a strength as it pertained to weight training and working out,” she explained.

In February, Palmer welcomed her first child, son Leodis “Leo” Andrellton, into the world with Darius Jackson. In April, she spoke exclusively to PEOPLE for the Beautiful Issue and opened up about the many ways she’s adjusting to motherhood.

“There’s always this thing of, ‘How’d they do it?’ And I think for me, the main thing I would say to any new mom is do what you can when you can, whatever it is that makes you feel good,” she said at the time.

While speaking about how she was able to “bounce back” after the baby, Palmer said: “If it’s important to you, then hell yeah put in the work Miss Girl. Get you whatever diet you want to do or whatever workout regimen that works for you. And if that’s not what you’re worried about, then don’t worry about it.” Although it may seem that the multi-hyphenated entertainer is a pro at juggling her thriving career and life with Leo, she insisted that wasn’t always the case.

“I didn’t want to do nothing. I didn’t want to talk to nobody,” she told PEOPLE about the weeks after giving birth. “Then I was like, ‘Now I want to get active.’ It changes, so go at your own pace,” Palmer continued. 

The Nickelodeon alum pleaded for fans who may see a celebrity “snap back” after pregnancy to not always think it was done in the name of vanity. “Anytime you see a celebrity doing a snap back or whatever like that, it’s part of the damn gig,” she said. “A part of our jobs is to look good and to look the part. So don’t think it’s this thing where it’s like, ‘We doing it because we got it like that.’ No, the job is on the line. If we want the checks to get signed, we got to be what we got to be.”