Blogger Spotlight: Lisa Johnson

Join Food Network's Healthy Eats in discovering the best healthy bloggers around the web. Today we're talking to fitness professional Lisa from Lisa Johnson Fitness.

Photo by: Lisa Wymer

Lisa Wymer

Lisa Johnson is a highly regarded personal trainer, fitness expert and writer. She considers herself a “pilates geek” and has traveled the world in an effort to learn everything there is to know about piltes. By running an award-winning Pilates studio in Boston and helping people achieve their fitness goals on a daily basis, she offers a unique, approachable perspective to her blog Lisa Johnson Fitness.
How did your passion for fitness begin?

I was just so easily inspired! As a kid, I watched the Olympics and started doing gymnastics because I wanted to fly through the air, then I watched a movie about soccer legend Pele and I started playing soccer. Once I start moving I almost always like what I'm doing.

What can people expect to find on your blog?

The food section is a mix of healthy living, recipes (even from celebrities!) and the latest in green news. We think about our reader as smart, self-educated about food and someone who wants to feed themselves and their families well. They care about the politics of food but they like to have fun in the kitchen too. And the recipes better taste good! All of ours are kitchen tested.

My fitness section is a mix of fitness news, and a lot of how-to's that you can use immediately. I'm also known to throw in a rant every now and again when something hits mainstream media that drives me crazy! My big passions are to get people moving and feeling better about themselves. Any time I get a thank you from a reader in the comments I smile for days.

How do you balance work, family, and staying healthy on a daily basis?

It's definitely a day-by-day struggle. Despite the fact that I train in a Pilates studio 5 mornings a week at the end of the shift I usually just want to go home. I have to talk myself onto that Reformer at least twice a week! But I'm always grateful after I've done it, nothing makes me feel as calm and centered as exercise. From a practical point of view, I negotiate with my husband a lot for who gets to take a run when, and I have an exercise bike in the TV room that I use when all else fails.

What tips do you have for those struggling with getting motivated in adopting a healthier lifestyle?

Just pick one thing, one thing that seems to easy you can't possibly fail. Then pat yourself on the back a month later when you've aced it and then pick another thing. When I started living a more healthy lifestyle the big thing for me was swapping out a bad food for a good food. So I'd ditch the french fries for a sweet potato, or the white bread for whole grain. The changes are nearly painless and you can look back in a year and see how far you've come. For exercise, think about what worked for you when you were a kid, is there a piece of that you can do as an adult? I'm not flexible enough to do gymnastics anymore but I can play my iPod and boogie around my living room and have a lot of fun while I burn calories. Think about how you can adapt old passions in new ways.

What are your favorite pre- and post-workout foods?

I work out all over the place and at all different times depending on my schedule for the day. I have a steel stomach, so for me a pre-workout snack doesn't matter. I just make sure I have my water bottle and go sweat.  For post-workout foods I tend to reach for a handful of nuts, but if it's dinner time, then I'll eat a full meal.

What is the one kitchen gadget that you can’t do without?

My meat thermometer!  I still don't trust myself when cooking meat, especially roasts, so I use my meat thermometer all the time to make sure I don't kill anyone! I live by the adage, "trust but verify." I've found I'm better at judging a meat's doneness but it's always good to have the peace of mind of knowing, yes I did cook the chicken to 165F.

Lisa can most often by found on Twitter, @LisaJohnson where she might have a teensy social media addiction problem. 

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