Fit Chicks: Katie Ringley of Katiefitscript
Photos courtesy of katiefitscript.com
In our series Fit Chicks, we chat with female fitness bloggers and trainers from all over the country. Equipped with their collective experience, expertise and practical tips, you’ll be happy to know that a healthier lifestyle is right around the corner.
Name: Katie Ringley, 27
Business/Blog: Katiefitscript
City: Shelby, North Carolina
Katie started Katiefitscript in 2014 and has been running hard (literally) ever since. Her and her husband, Tanner, are based in North Carolina with their two adorable teacup yorkies (see below). Now a pharmacist, Katie strives to combine medicine and fitness, along with encouraging women to find passion in honoring their bodies.
Paste Health: Where did your love of being fit and active come from?
Katie Ringley: It’s kind of a long story, but honestly I think over time I had done a lot of extremes on both sides. My husband (boyfriend at the time) was like, “How about you just try to be healthy and live the lifestyle?” It was just this light bulb moment. I started researching more and I’ve always had digestive problems, so I started looking into that. It led me to just really wanting to eat better and drink more water, just those things naturally over time. Being from North Carolina, my family, still to this day, is still very unhealthy (laughs). I’m the odd one. I’m the “health nut” as everyone says. It’s been the natural progression of after all of these extremes, just wanting to take care of myself.
PH: Describe the moment when you decided you wanted to start Katiefitscript?
KR: After I graduated from pharmacy school, we moved to New York City for a year and I was working as an intern at a store in the Bronx to get licensed for pharmacy. So we were living in New York and there are obviously lots of entrepreneurs there. For some reason, I just felt like I was supposed to [start the blog]. So I just decided to take this leap and it was seriously the best thing ever I could have ever done. Not that it just took off or it was easy – obviously it was super hard work. But it gave me so much faith in what I can do and how you can be an entrepreneur and how you can do this blogging thing full-time if you really work at it.
PH: In what ways do you see fitness and nutrition changing?
KR: I feel like there’s more acceptance of people. People understand that [being healthy] looks very different for every person. Even me, I was gung-ho macro-trained but I understand that the more people I work with, they’ll say, “It’s just not working for me.” And I’m like, “how could it not?” Because for me it seems, not easy, but so cut and dry, I thought everyone would love it. But some people just don’t operate or are wired that way. Everyone is recognizing that it doesn’t have to be Paleo, or vegan, or whatever your “thing” is. Also accepting that every body is different. Health doesn’t always look skinny.