This Is How Kelly Ripa Stays So Fit

Kelly Ripa may have gotten her start as an actor, spending an impressive 12 years playing Hayley Vaughan on ABC soap All My Children, but these days, she's known as one of America's most famous (and successful) morning show hosts. In 2001, she joined the Live franchise opposite Regis Philbin, officially replacing longtime co-host Kathie Lee Gifford. Following the announcement, the Washington Post dubbed Ripa "a Kathie Lee Gifford look-alike soap star," but the actress-turned-host held her own and went on to prove all of her doubters wrong.

Nearly two decades after she first joined Live, Ripa is still on the show and is now at its helm. When Philbin officially retired in 2012, she took the reins, first with Michael Strahan by her side, then with Ryan Seacrest as of 2017. With a reported $120 million net worth and six Daytime Emmy Awards to her name, it's clear Ripa knows what she's doing when it comes to the entertainment world. But she's also no novice in the fitness realm. As the host's fans are sure to already know, her strict exercise regimen and unfaltering healthy eating habits are seriously impressive — and are often featured on Live. Here's how Kelly Ripa (who turned 50 in 2020!) stays so fit.

Kelly Ripa is devoted to staying fit. As she told Good Housekeeping in 2012, "I work out every day. It's part of my life." Explaining the appeal, she revealed, "I feel like my mind is a little quieter when I exercise." What's more, "I don't have the best family history heart-wise, so I really try to keep my heart strong." She does so by making her "heart beat out of my chest, hard-core, once a day for at least a half hour."

Breaking down her go-to workouts, Ripa told the outlet she teams up with her trainer, Anna Kaiser, to do "cardio ballet and power yoga." She also runs in Central Park ("I think it's so gorgeous") and takes SoulCycle spin classes on weekends, according to The Cut. Kaiser herself spoke with Women's Health in 2018 and revealed she has Ripa doing grueling 60- or 90-minute sessions four to five days a week during which "every exercise we do works your full core — the butt, the abs, and the back — at the same time." Calling the morning show host "consistent" and "committed," Kaiser added, "It's something that she does for her."

Kelly Ripa wasn't always such a fitness devotee, however. As she recalled to Good Housekeeping, "I started out three days a week, walking for a half hour on a treadmill; then it was five days a week, and then I started jogging." She went on to joke that the treadmill is a "gateway drug."

The alkaline diet may not be as popular as some other nutritional fads, like the keto diet, but Kelly Ripa swears by its benefits. She first referenced it in 2015, telling Live With Kelly and Michael viewers (via People) that a high-alkaline cleanse was "responsible for me not being in pain." Noting that it "changed my life," Ripa batted away misconceptions, saying, "You're not hungry [...] I actually eat much more on this cleanse than I do in my actual life, but it's what you eat and how you eat it."

The Emmy winner was first introduced to the alkaline diet by celebrity nutritionist Dr. Daryl Gioffre. In an interview with The Beet, Dr. Gioffre said Ripa is pretty much the perfect client. "She defines balance," he gushed. "She lives an 80/20 balanced lifestyle, where she eats alkaline 80% of the time, and never more than 20% acid-forming foods." According to Dr. Gioffre's website, the main concept behind the diet, which is plant-based, is that foods which are high in acid (like grains, dairy, animal proteins, and anything processed) cause inflammation and are "secretly destroying your health." As Ripa told People in 2020, she believes there's truth behind the theory. "I believe inflammation is one of the great killers of people, in different ways," she explained. "Whether it's digestive problems, or heart health, or brain inflammation. Inflammation really affects your body in totality, so I try to maintain a really alkaline diet."

You won't find Kelly Ripa enjoying a hearty breakfast before she takes the Live with Kelly and Ryan stage! As she told Harper's Bazaar, she has zero solid food before taping. Instead, she wakes up and "the first thing I do is, I take a glass of water and I have something called Get Off Your Acid Daily Greens, which is spirulina, spinach, kale — all ground into a powder that you mix into water," she said, explaining, "It is for [alkalizing] your digestive system."

After that comes "a large coffee with ghee. I blend it in the Bullet." As she enjoys her ghee, she also takes her "Persona morning supplements, which is my foundational vitamin, my multivitamin, ginger, and my probiotic." Speaking with The Cut about her go-to "Bullet Coffee," she revealed it's made of "coffee, two shots of espresso and a tablespoon of ghee and then a packet of collagen powder," which blend into a "frosty thick beverage." As Ripa once explained to Bon Appetit, she shuns breakfast because "I can't seem to focus my mind if my stomach is digesting."

Ripa won't have her "first chewable food of the day" until after she and Ryan Seacrest finish filming. At that point, she told Harper's Bazaar she'll cut up a green apple, blend it with "two tablespoons of almond butter and a teaspoon of cinnamon [...] and I eat that like a porridge, if you will."

Kelly Ripa's personal trainer, Anna Kaiser, is the inventor of AKT InMotion, a "unique combination of toning, interval, circuit, and dance-based workout," so it's no surprise that the TV star swears by it. She's been a firm believer in the benefits of Kaiser's workout method since 2010 and, as Kaiser herself told Shape in 2013, Ripa has been doing AKT InMotion classes "four to five days per week" because "her work ethic is more insane than anyone I've ever met."

Breaking down their fitness routine, she shared that they like to mix things up. "Two days a week it will be high reps, low weight. The other two days it will be high weight, low reps. If we fit in one more day, then it will be a flexibility/recovery day," she explained, adding that all sessions feature "both cardio and flexibility" and they always target different areas. "Sometimes it's full body, another time it might be upper body or biceps/triceps. It always has to change," she continued. "If you're always doing the same thing, your body will start getting used to that."

Speaking with InStyle, Kaiser pointed out that AKT InMotion is perfect for Ripa and her busy schedule because "she can get everything she needs — strength, cardio, power, stretching — in one place, instead of running to different boutique studios trying to fit it all in." She also noted that "the music is everything" and "really drives the workout!"

When Kelly Ripa told Yahoo! in 2014 that she eats "a very clean diet," she wasn't kidding! "It's everything you've read about or heard about in any diet book – don't eat too much crap, and I don't," she proclaimed. Following the alkaline diet means eating mostly vegan foods, which she's embraced. Sharing everything she eats in a typical day with Harper's Bazaar, Ripa told fans that her first meal of the morning is "like a breakfast-lunch" and is made up of "a big salad of microgreens with avocado and toasted nuts on top." For dinner, it's "usually a smaller version of the same salad that I had for lunch. And then I have either mixed grilled greens or whatever's in season." She follows that with "some sort of plant protein mixed in there, like a grilled tofu" or tahini. Other go-to dinners, as she told Shape, include things like sliced chicken breast "on a bed of simple sautéed spinach with a little bit of lemon and olive oil."

When it comes to snacking, she opts for the healthiest options as well. As she told Harper's Bazaar, it's usually "handfuls of nuts" or, if she wants to "indulge," she'll have chocolate-covered nuts or "delicious chocolate chia pudding."

She may be a super disciplined, super healthy eater, but there are some things Kelly Ripa is lenient about when it comes to her diet. As she told Good Housekeeping in 2012, "I'm not militant about anything [...] If I'm in the mood for something, I'll have it." That mood often includes Pepperidge Farm Goldfish. "I cannot give them up," she admitted. Echoing her love of the crackers during an interview with Bon Appetit, she gushed, "I love Pepperidge Farm Goldfish! And I get so anxious when I watch those weight-loss competition shows that I polish off a bag of chips. My behavior is insane."

She'll also indulge on special occasions. As she said to Harper's Bazaar, "On my birthday, will I have cake? Of course. I'm not a monster." And as for Christmas cookies? "Yes, I'm a human being!"

Other small concessions include straying away from her primarily vegan diet. "I occasionally will have fish," she revealed to People in 2015. She'll also add cream to her coffee. "I don't adhere to [the alkaline diet] strictly, but when I do a cleanse, it will be seven days, and then I go back to my normal life," she explained. "But my normal life, like I said, is not that different than the alkaline cleanse."

Though Kelly Ripa has said the alkaline diet makes her "feel so great," she also admits there are downsides to a vegan lifestyle. Speaking candidly with People in 2020, she admitted, "Because so much of my diet is so plant-based, I constantly have reflux, indigestion." As she explained, this is due to the fact that "these are foods that don't break down easily, [so] your body has to work for it." That's where supplements come in. Specifically, ginger and peppermint supplements from Persona Nutrition, which have done wonders for her stomach. "I feel the difference. It's really changed my life," Ripa (who is now a spokesperson for the brand) gushed.

Supplements have also become a part of her nightly bedtime routine. As she explained to Harper's Bazaar, "Right before bed, I have, like, a giant ginger turmeric tea. And then I take my evening Persona supplements, which I've recently incorporated a CBD supplement into." She also noted that the latter has done wonders for her sleep. "I truly fall asleep within 25 minutes!" she enthused. It took her a while to embrace the idea of CBD, however, as she initially "thought it was nonsense." Ripa previously told Good Housekeeping in 2012 that she also takes fish oil supplements, as well as vitamin C.

Kelly Ripa went viral back in 2013 when she tweeted a photo showing off her incredibly toned abs. While she thanked AKT InMotion and her trainer, Anna Kaiser, in the post, Ripa told Yahoo! in 2014 that she believes it's not just about the work you put in. "So much of it is genetic," she noted. "I work out a lot, but the place I find I don't really focus on is my stomach because I've always sort of had a very strong core." She pointed out that "genetics do play a role," explaining, "I have to really work out my arms and my legs, my arms aren't long and linear, and my legs aren't either." As she put it, everyone's got "their body part that's good, and everybody has their body part that's not so good."

Even so, making healthy choices goes a long way and Ripa's consistent commitment to diet and exercise has been a huge part of her success. She hasn't floundered from her routine in nearly a decade and it seems like she just keeps making more healthy lifestyle changes as time passes. In 2020, she revealed on Live with Kelly and Ryan (via People) that she gave up booze around 2017. Although she didn't explain what sparked the decision, Seacrest quipped that he "started the show and she quit drinking," but Ripa just gushed, "It's amazing!"

If you're thinking you'd like to give Kelly Ripa's workouts a try, you can do so by either signing up for an AKT InMotion class or attempting some of her go-to exercises at home. Ripa has shared a number of her favorite moves for an at-home workout with Shape, and her list includes the "triceps Can-Can," leg raises, thigh dancing, the pretzel, a rolling crunch, and squats done with a yoga ball.

Ripa's trainer, Anna Kaiser, has also revealed what it takes to get the host's toned arms. As People reported, Kaiser has her using a ballet bar and alternating between "pulsing in a half plank and pushing off the bar for a power move." Meanwhile, if you want Ripa's six-pack abs, Kaiser told Shape that "doing a bunch of crunches" isn't the ticket. "If you want to see your abs, you have to lose fat," she said. Kaiser also wants to avoid "misconceptions that specific abs exercises will give you abs ... Think about your abs and back working together to support your spine-that will give you an amazing physique!"

Kaiser recommends doing the side plank and plank jumping jacks while never forgetting "to hold that naval to the spine as hard as you can." And apparently, more is more. "As for reps, do as many as you can and try for more on your next workout," she said. Ghee whiz.