A girl who needs no introduction. She is a beast on the road, in the gym, in a kitchen and pregnant. Health and Fitness are just part of her standard of life.
She has been my strength through many times in my life, Marathons, adventure races, CrossFit competitions, partners in crime and best friend. She is one of a kind.
Nothing slows her down, including pregnancy. There are no excuses. When your health matters, you get it done.
You can follow her at http://www.fitpaleomom.com on the web, Instagram, or Facebook.
Just to say, you can!
Find what moves you.
FITPALEOMOM STRONG – Kathryn Gassiott
My fitness journey began at a very young age. For as long as I can remember, my parents exercised and were members of a gym. I remember summer days hanging with other kids in the nursery at the Courtyard in the 80’s! It was always part of my life.
Seeing my mom in exercise classes and my dad running or jump roping with a weighted rope on the back porch was normal for me. I fondly remember those things.
I also vividly remember my mom having a cooking school when I was growing up. There were certain nights that our kitchen would be filled with people and my mom would be demonstrating the latest meal from bon appetite or whipping up pasta from scratch. Food has always been a big part of our lives.
When we traveled as a family, our meals and reservations at restaurants were a top priority. My mom would study restaurants weeks before we went somewhere and the trips were planned around our meals. I believe this is where I got my love for food and cooking.
After graduating from LSU, I moved to in NYC and packed on a few extra pounds. Too much good food and fun in the city! When I moved home from NYC to get married, I started running and working out all of the time. This led to half marathons and eventually to marathons. Soon after, I was having kids. I would have a baby, run a couple of marathons, have another baby, run some more. I had the running part down, but I still had the eating part all wrong. I would eat lots of pasta or bread the night before a run to carb up and I thought this was what I was supposed to be doing. I wasn’t getting any faster, and I wasn’t getting any leaner.
After having my 3rd child I found CrossFit. I began CrossFit 6 weeks to the day after giving birth. I had no idea what I was signing up for ; but I was so excited for the change. Before having the baby I had qualified for the Boston Marathon and I had 4 months to prepare for it. I was convinced that CrossFit would help me run it. It did in fact help me. My body immediately began to change.
While training for Boston I heard the word Paleo for the first time. This changed my life. I started reading about Paleo and what it was. I literally one day said, “I’m going to start eating Paleo,” and that’s what I did. It’s now been my lifestyle for almost 6 years. I started my fitpaleomom blog soon after and have been doing it ever since. Now I can share the combination of my love for food and fitness with the world. Trying and coming up with new Paleo recipes has been an adventure. I love to convert some of my moms old recipes from back in her cooking school days to Paleo.
Fitness and Paleo aren’t just a fad for me. This is my life and will continue to be. I want to raise my children to know how to live a healthy life and to take care of themselves. I want to set an example for them every single day. They already know that exercise and eating right are important. I want my kids to grow up to be healthy and active adults and I want to be around to meet my great great grandchildren.
As for now, I am 2 weeks away from having my 4th child, and for the first time I’ve been able to incorporate CrossFit and Paleo into my pregnancy. I’ve never felt better and as a bonus, I’ve gained less weight than with any of my other pregnancies. Being pregnant definitely is not a reason to sit around and eat; if anything it’s more of a reason to get up and move. A healthy body helps to have a healthy baby.
Over the past few years I’ve finally found a balance with food and fitness in my life. I will continue to eat Paleo and I make it a goal to complete 2 whole 30 cycles per year while also continue my training as I have in the past. I hope to even run the New York Marathon this year.
