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Summary
On episode 369 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Kathleen Trotter, a personal trainer, nutritionist, life coach, and fitness writer whose work has appeared in the Globe and Mail and Huffington Post, to talk about her book Your Fittest Future Self.
Kathleen argues that falling off track is not a deviation from the wellness process, it is the process. Her “Kathleen cycle” (act, learn from the act, then act again) replaces shame with reflection, so a bad choice becomes information instead of a reason to quit.
The conversation also covers her 13 goals for a fitter future self, including awareness, self-compassion, and “finding your kiwis,” which is her term for healthy choices you are genuinely pulled toward instead of forced into.
Links
- https://kathleentrotter.com
- Episode 189 – Making fitness a lifelong habit with Kathleen Trotter
Key Takeaways
- Falling is part of the process, not proof you failed. Kathleen's cycle is act, learn, act again. Every slip is just information: was the cookie something you love, or a sign you skipped lunch and got hungry? Treat it as data, not a verdict on your character.
- Awareness brings choice. Most people are not actually paying attention to what they eat, how they move, or how they sleep. Keeping a short journal surfaces patterns, like eating sugar on nights you are under-slept, and gives you a pause before you act instead of after.
- Live as if you love yourself. Kathleen points out that people who would never let their kids skip lunch will starve themselves all day. Parent yourself the way you would parent someone you love, with the same attention and forethought.
- Watch for the “I deserve it” trap. Wanting a treat because you love it is fine. Eating it because you “earned” it after a hard day is a self-sabotage pattern that lets you off the hook, since what your health actually deserves is water or a walk, not a reward food.
- Be curious instead of certain about who you are. Kathleen spent years insisting “I'm not a yoga person” until a 21-day challenge changed her mind. Trying something new costs nothing; you can always decide, like her mother did after one spin class, that it is not for you.
- Only eat from the top two tiers of the cake. Picture a wedding cake: the top tier is one treat, the bottom tier is a multi-thousand-calorie binge. Staying near the top keeps a treat recoverable in a day; sliding to the bottom tier is what turns one bad choice into a lost week.
- Thrive in your own lane. Comparing your plan to someone else's is pointless. Work within your own genetics and your own version of fit, whether that looks like CrossFit or, as with Kathleen's mother, walking the dog and doing yoga.
- Kathleen's three strategies to get and stay well: find your own grounding recipe (for her, daily motion, some form of journaling or reflection, and meaningful connection with a partner or friend); always believe there is a solution, even if it takes small steps to find it; and stop comparing your messy insides to other people's curated outsides, since comparison is the thief of joy.
“What's the point of sort of being active and fit if you hate every single moment of it? Like it's supposed to enrich your life, not detract from your life.”
Kathleen Trotter