Jaime Seeman was an “ideal” Mrs. Nebraska 2020, said Matt Bills of Aspects & Angles Photography, who manages her media—from photography and videography to podcast production.
“First and foremost, she’s born and raised in Nebraska. And she’s not just a Husker fan, she was an actual Husker athlete,” Bills said. “She’s also someone who embodies the picture of inspiration for a lot of people out there. She lives what she speaks and is incredibly authentic.”
It’s all true. Seeman was a standout softball player at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (she was then Jaime Borg). Seeman is an obstetrician-gynecologist with Mid-City OB-GYN in Omaha. She is a devoted mom to three girls, ages 6, 8, and 10. She serves as the co-medical director for the health and fitness business she and husband Ben own called UPGRADE Performance Institute. She’s built a popular health and fitness brand, “Doctor Fit and Fabulous,” with thousands of social media followers. She was selected as Mrs. Nebraska 2020, then finished in the top 15 at the Mrs. America pageant in March 2021. She also competed on NBC’s The Titan Games, hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, in 2020.
Six years ago, however, Seeman was far from being in top condition. Pregnant with her third daughter, she was diagnosed with prediabetes and hypothyroidism.
“I am supposed to be this steward of health, I have a background in nutrition and exercise science, and here I am living with two preventable conditions,” she said.
A friend of Seeman’s was also pregnant in 2015 and the women were due a few weeks apart. Seeman’s friend contracted a rare fungal infection of the lungs that took her life and that of the infant boy she delivered prematurely. Seeman was devastated at the loss, and it prompted her to start taking a critical look at her own health.
“I really gained a lot of perspective through the loss of my friend that life is really precious, and I wanted whatever amount of time I had left on this earth to be really quality,” she said. “I wanted to start leading by example. And then I thought, ‘I could change a lot of lives by getting the message out there.’”
Seeman practiced better nutrition immediately, and after delivering a healthy girl, headed back to the gym. She felt better physically and psychologically as she began achieving her fitness goals. Her athletic past and medical training was a good base, but Seeman dove into the latest research on health and nutrition and made good on her intent to reach others by developing the Doctor Fit and Fabulous brand.
“Fast forward to 2019, I applied to be Mrs. Nebraska,” Seeman said, explaining that no matter how she placed, she knew the pageant would be a great platform for her message of improving health through better fitness, nutrition and self-care.
“I was really on a mission to prove to my three daughters that we have no limits in life and that women shouldn’t be afraid of being strong…I was on a mission to inspire other women, other moms, to take control of their health. Because when you feel healthy, you can pursue so many amazing opportunities in life.”
The Mrs. Nebraska America pageant was originally scheduled to take place in April 2020, but the pandemic forced delays through spring and summer, with the event finally taking place in late August in front of a masked audience. As the winner, Seeman advanced to competition at the national level, but the event date was a moving target as gatherings everywhere were postponed or called off and travel was curtailed.
“Mrs. America was in limbo,” Seeman said. As the date was pushed back further and further, the busy OB-GYN had to coordinate and then cancel arrangements several times as speculation grew that the Las Vegas-based event might not happen at all.
“The 2020 pageant finally took place in March 2021. We did have to wear clear masks,” Seeman said. “It’s a story I’ll tell my grandkids someday: ‘Grandma competed for Mrs. America with this mask on her face.’ It was surreal but we were able to get it done.”
Seeman said she enjoyed presenting her fitness and nutrition platform to a national audience. She was especially proud that the public chose her as the pageant’s “Fabulous Face.”
“The ‘Fabulous Face’ award is not awarded by the five judges; it is voted on by America and the world online,” she said. “That means the world to me.”
Being “fabulous” actually predated the Mrs. America designation, because Seeman really does seem to have it all.
“My life is not for everybody. I wake up every day at 4:30 [a.m.] and I head for the gym. The mentality with doing that is that you have to ‘pay yourself first.’ There are a lot of things and people in my life asking for my time and energy, but I always say that you can’t fill people’s cups if your pitcher is empty,” she said. “The first thing I do is work out. Then, whatever happens—people might go into labor or my kids might have activities—I’ve created a level of resilience that I can live my life.”
Visit doctorfitandfabulous.com for more information.
This article originally appeared in the January 2022 issue of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Photo by Bill Sitzmann
