Not her USUAL footwear!

Sitting at my desk with the TV on in the background, Regis and Kelly are blaring away in the other room.  Most of it is just background noise, but then I hear Kelly Ripa declare “I love running!”   That’s my girl!  

At age 37, Kelly Ripa has done what many of us dream about: she’s given her abs, arms, and butt a total makeover. As Kelly puts it, “For the first time, I have muscles!”  But its her commitment to health and well-being that goes beyond crunches and curls.  

Kelly admits to exercising as much as two hours per day (despite her busy schedule), and typically alternates between cardiovascular workouts and deep-tissue toning group classes. That amount of exercise is probably a bit much for most of us, but this next is always great news: Kelly Ripa carries that dedication through to meal-time for herself and her family.   

“We’ve always been healthy eaters, mostly to keep our cholesterol levels down. There’s diabetes on Mark’s side of the family and my father had heart surgery, so we’re conscious on a level that we probably wouldn’t ordinarily be. It was my father having heart surgery 10 years ago that convinced me to get my cholesterol checked. I found out my number was 151, and the doctors told me, ‘Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it, because your cholesterol is low.’ That encouraged me to stay with a healthy diet, continue eating leafy greens, and try to cut back on saturated fat. Because it’s better to maintain what’s good now than try to fix what’s gone wrong later.” 

Most of us don’t have a personal chef, like Kelly, but we can choose naturally healthy foods and meals that are low in cholesterol and high in nutrients. Kelly chooses lean proteins like fish or steak, eats plenty of dark greens and salads, and chooses chickpeas instead of pasta when cooking on her own. 

Her focus was her image, and she got returns quickly.   “A month or two after I started working out, I wore a sleeveless turtleneck to work. Regis was like, ‘Ripa, your arm muscles look incredible!’ It was the first time anybody had ever said anything to me about my muscles. And because I am a vain person, that’s all I needed to hear to stay with it.”

Well, that and she does love running!