It should come as no surprise that Katie Austin, daughter of fitness industry icon Denise Austin, has grown into a health and wellness icon herself. The 31-year-old social media personality has been sharing her wealth of knowledge on physical fitness and healthy living through various platforms for years. Perhaps you’ve seen her on Instagram, where she shares her life with over 436,000 followers, or maybe you’ve even caught one of her TikToks, where she showcases her day-to-day to her over 741,000 fans. These days, however, she’s putting her decades of knowledge as a Division 1 lacrosse player, certified fitness trainer and recipe developer to good use with the Katie Austin app.
Austin’s platform features endless workouts ranging from cardio and Pilates to yoga and kickboxing—and that’s not all. Though the Katie Austin app features countless delicious recipes, you can also find them for free on her site. Whether you’re craving some succulent Crispy Tacos with Cilantro Lime Avocado Sauce or her take on an Apple Infused Tequila Cinnamon Sour (sign us up!), Austin offers something for everyone.
In an exclusive interview with FIRST for Women, the Sports Illustrated model dishes out her best advice on sticking to those New Year’s fitness resolutions, stepping out of your workout comfort zone, approaching food as fuel and more.
Don’t lose sight of New Year’s goals
The second Friday in January has been dubbed “Quitter’s Day” due to the fact that most of the population give up on the resolutions they hoped to achieve in the new year. For many of us, healthy lifestyle changes like a better diet and increasing physical activity are the standard ambitions—but when life gets busy or a slip-up throws us off-kilter, most will throw in the towel altogether. “I think if you can push yourself to make sure that you’re keeping up with your goals when you’re most busy, then that’s how you’re going to know you’re going to stick to it and be consistent,” says Austin, urging women to stick with their goals even when life seems to get in the way. For the fitness influencer, this boils down to three things: intentions, accountability and mindset.
When it comes to setting intentions, Austin likes to think of them as promises you can make to yourself to improve your day-to-day life. “When you break that promise to yourself, you kind of feel bad about it, but when you keep the promise to yourself, it gives you that extra boost of confidence to keep going.”
As for holding yourself accountable, she urges women to lean on their pals and loved ones to keep one another in line. “I think in a new year, if you have a partner or if you have your best friend to keep you accountable and do something with you, I think that’s a great tip.”
Lastly, Austin encourages women to look at their goals in a different light. Rather than think of your daily workout as something you have to do, instead, look at it as something that serves you. “It’s not always about weight loss. Maybe it’s about your mental health, not so much about physical, so whatever that is for you, shift that mindset to make it feel like it can fit your lifestyle more realistically,” she shares. “To me, my mindset shift is I work out because it makes me feel better.” Think about your own mindset as you approach your New Year’s fitness goals and rework them to better serve you! Will getting a workout in put you in a better mood? Give you a better night of sleep? Improve your mental health? Whatever it might be, cling to it and let it guide you!
Try something new
Fitness doesn’t have to include two hours on the StairMaster at your local gym or 5 miles staring at a wall on the treadmill. While there are endless options out there when it comes to workout classes and fitness communities, many women find themselves too intimidated to put themselves out there and try something new—and Katie Austin urges that you’re not alone!
“Even as a fitness trainer myself, I feel intimidated. I just moved to a new city, actually, and I was so intimidated to go to this hot yoga class alone, so I made my husband go with me the first time!” she shared. Austin expresses that there’s almost always someone who’s in the same boat as you, and furthermore, even the more experienced participants in the class were the inexperienced newcomers once! “Every great athlete starts somewhere,” says Katie.
Food is fuel—and deserves to be enjoyed!
If you take a look at the recipes on Katie Austin’s site, you’ll see everything from hearty, veggie-heavy dishes to indulgent desserts—and this accomplished athlete doesn’t believe in villainizing food groups. Bring on the carbs!
“I don’t believe in restricting myself. First off, I’m very blessed and grateful. I’ve always had a great relationship with food. I was a Division 1 athlete, and so I’ve always used food as fuel, and how it’s gonna fuel my body and how it’s gonna go hand in hand with the great workouts that I do and how it’s gonna help my brain focus, and all those other things that really, really help.”
Austin also urges that “healthy” food doesn’t have to equal unappetizing. “Eating healthy can be delicious and budget-friendly at the same time,” she shares, emphasizing that the recipes on her site consist of minimal ingredients as well.
Katie shares her go-to recipes
If you’re looking for an easy place to start when it comes to healthy eating, Katie loves a nourishing bowl. Start with a good grain or pasta as the base, a lean protein like chicken or turkey, two vegetables like some sauteed kale or roasted broccoli, and a topper like parmesan, pesto or avocado to round things out, and you’ve got a satisfying dinner in no time! The fitness icon also shares that she loves a “one-pan” meal.
As for her favorite on-the-go bite, Katie emphasizes the importance of putting the right things into our bodies when we feel like snacking. “One of the hardest habits to break in terms of if you are trying to lose weight or you’re starting a new fitness journey, snacking is very hard, because a lot of the protein bars that we’re grabbing are filled with alternative stuff that we don’t need in our bodies, or they’re just very high in calories.” Additionally, when three o’clock rolls around on a day in the office, if you don’t have a bite to eat prepared, you’re more likely to reach for something lacking any nutritional value at all.
In this case, when it comes to snacking, Katie encourages meal-prepping to ensure you can satisfy your hunger while also sticking to your goals. “Right now my favorite healthy snack is, it’s so delicious, it is mixing just a tablespoon of peanut butter, you put it in yogurt. So, I grab some Greek yogurt. I just throw in the peanut butter right there and mix it around, and I dip apples into it, and it’s literally like a dessert.”
Katie Austin’s New Year’s goals
With 2025 underway, Katie Austin is looking forward to enjoying life as a newlywed and growing her Katie Austin team. “I feel like the Katie Austin app and platform has just really grown a lot in 2024, so just focusing on growing the team more, but also at the same time, reaching more community girls and members,” she shares of what’s on the horizon for her. “Because my passion truly is to help other people and understand their inner power and how amazing life can be if you let it.”
