'My body is the site of a miracle now!' Kerry Washington..Check out her stunning photos..

While most women focus on bouncing back after pregnancy, the Scandal star has no intention of ever looking back.

Kerry Washington has wowed in a new fitness and health spread for Self Magazine revealing how motherhood and her on-screen alter ego Olivia Pope has pushed her to a new level.

Posing in a 80s-inspired leotard, it is not hard to see that the star looks a lot different to this time 18-months ago just before she had daughter, Isabella.

But the actress told Self while she has worked very hard in the gym - principally doing pilates - she was never trying to get her pre-baby body back.

The 38-year-old told the magazine: 'I've been really focused on not being ''back'' from anything, but being the best version of myself right now.

'My body is the site of a miracle now. I don't want to be pre-miracle.

'A few weeks ago my manager asked: ''Do you feel like you're back? I feel like you're back.'' She meant it as a total compliment but we had this great conversation where I was like ''You know what? I really try hard not to use that language because it is not about going backwards in life.'' 

'I think it comes from this culture of anti-aging which is not loving ourselves.'

Her little miracle, 17-month-old Isabelle with husband Nnamdi Asomugha, pushes her to be her best, the star said.

'I try to be a really conscious mom. I try to be the mom she needs me to be, not the mom I want to be.' 

Little Isabelle also ensures that her mom is in the gym early, which for the Ray star usually means a 6.30am pilates class in a dressing room which has been converted for her on the set of Scandal.

'I try to get it in so I can be with my kid early.' 

Her day starts with mediation before her pilates: 'I try to stretch, pray and meditate right after I wake up. I sit, bring my vulnerability and listen to what comes up. 

'I have to feel flexible and strong, like, yeah I can run down a hall with three cameras attached to me, or hold a gun with a negligee on.' 

A certified yoga instructor who trained in India herself, the star turns to personal trainer Julie Turner two to six times a week and has done so for the last five years and also hikes with her co-stars.

'With pilates I get to my true self. I cry, I laugh. I get to go: Where is my body today? What do I need today? How can I take care of myself and push myself past my comfort zone? How can I be both loving and challenging?'

'As far as food goes I don't have strict rules. I don't eat a ton of animal protein but I do eat some - I'm not a vegan or vegetarian. I try to eat organic and local and just listen to my body.

She doesn't - unlike her wine loving character - drink during filming: 'I'm such a lightweight that if I drink, it takes me a couple of days to recover. So I prefer to do it on a beach and not when I have to do a three-page monologue the next day.'

That said she was concerned about how she would be able to film day in and day out - and also feared that Scandal would not make it past its first season.

She turned to friend Ellen Pompeo from Grey's Anatomy for advice.

'Ellen said, ''You have to treat yourself like an athlete'' And luckily I have an excellent role model at home [her husband is an NFL player].You have to eat like an athlete, train like an athlete, sleep like an athlete. The only way you're going to get through an 18-hour day is if you treat your body like a machine.'