IGTV Expert Chat: Healthy Living Without Dieting with Annie Kay

Annie Kay is a certified personal trainer and 6AM RUN-sponsored athlete. She gives us insight into living a healthy lifestyle without dieting. After a major running injury in college, Kay looked for other ways to stay active and healthy. That’s when she fell in love with strength training and exercise as a whole. You can watch our chat here.

What does anti-dieting mean to you?

Anti-diet for me is not following a diet, meaning there are no restrictions. Unless you've been told by a doctor, please don't eat this or that for medical reasons I don't think anything should be restricted from your diet. 

When it comes to having a healthy lifestyle and a healthy relationship with food, you want to pay attention to portion sizes. But if you think of cutting out a certain food group, for example, meat, sugar, carbs, that, in my opinion, is not part of a healthy balanced lifestyle. Because, I think, a healthy life includes all of the things that we love.

How do you pick your portion sizes and know what to eat throughout the day?

Our bodies are all unique. So what works for me might not work for you and what works for you might not work for me. It's about being in tune with your body and what your body needs. Since I'm very active I know that my body needs a little bit more. I just listen to my hunger signals. The other big thing with a healthy balanced diet is eating what you're craving. My one rule is that I try to eat three to four vegetables a day and at least one sometimes two servings of fruit per day. When I have those veggies and fruits, there's not a ton of room for junk per se.

Do you have any tips for getting more active?

When it comes to fitness, just find something you love. For me personally, I love running. I feel that runner's high after and it's something that I genuinely enjoy which is why it's something I can maintain. On the other hand, I hate biking, it doesn't make me feel good. I think it's irritating, and I just don't like it so therefore it's not something that makes sense for me to maintain. If you like what you’re doing then it's going to be pretty easy to get into.

I would start small. I always say start with an “on and off” -- do one minute jogging two-minute walking and repeat that five times. And then the next day, maybe flip it and do two minutes jogging one minute walk and repeat that five times. Then slowly build up to something you can maintain. Make sure it's something you love and it's something that's realistic for you, whatever makes you feel good. Find that exercise that gives you that mental freedom. 

How do you set goals for yourself? 

Number one, make them realistic. If you've never run before, having a goal to run a marathon next month is not realistic. Maybe your goal can be running three miles by the end of the month or running every other day. When it comes to goals, I would set a big goal for yourself, a long-term goal but set little checkpoints along the way, that way you don't get discouraged. Because if you say, I want to run a marathon, and you're taking forever to get there it's not really realistic. But, if you get those little checkpoints and you're constantly hitting those, it feels so much more fulfilling and makes you want to keep going for that next one.

How do you stay consistent in maintaining healthy habits?

It takes about a month for your body to get used to something. When it comes to pushing yourself when you don't want to, every morning is a new opportunity to wake up and better yourself. Maybe today you didn't workout or you didn't eat a vegetable or fruit, but you wake up the next day and use it as a new opportunity to better yourself! Every day is a new opportunity to get that much closer to being the best version of yourself and I think anyone's goal is to be the best version of yourself.

For the full interview, watch it on our Instagram IGTV Series linked here.