Food, travel, and lifestyle expert Kelly Rizzo takes a deep dive on her body history! The host of the Comfort Food podcast opens up about the toll Special Forces took on her body, lets us in on her current fitness routine and how she trained for the World's Toughest Test, and even spills her daily eats. Plus, she reveals her most recent tattoo in honor of Bob Saget.
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00:00 Hey everyone, I'm Kelly Rizzo
00:01 and this is my Women's Health Body Scan.
00:03 What I love most about my body is the fact
00:06 that it gets me where I need to go,
00:08 that it has provided me with just aspects
00:11 of health and fitness,
00:13 and that it really does respond well.
00:17 You know, if I'm not doing a lot of great things
00:19 to my body, I'm gonna notice it,
00:21 but then when I can really tap into what's good
00:24 for my body, what's healthy for my body,
00:25 I also notice that, I feel the difference,
00:28 and it's very responsive.
00:31 I would actually say the part of my body
00:33 that I didn't used to be a huge fan of
00:37 and now it's grown on me a bit would probably be my nose.
00:41 I feel like it's something that so many people
00:44 have a problem with, you know,
00:45 it's always kind of a trouble spot,
00:47 and I did have it done when I was 19,
00:51 and since then I've always kind of felt like
00:55 it still didn't really fit my face or something,
00:57 and really just the last couple years
00:59 I've grown to just appreciate it,
01:01 and instead of even attempting to do something like,
01:05 oh, maybe I'll get it fixed again,
01:06 no, I'm like, this is how it's supposed to be,
01:08 I'm going to learn to love it and live with it
01:11 and just be happy with it and appreciate the fact
01:13 that it does what it needs to do.
01:16 So on "Special Forces," the entire point of the show
01:20 is that they strip you down mentally, physically,
01:25 emotionally to your absolute core
01:28 because they need to know what you're capable of,
01:31 because this is a very realistic simulation
01:34 of what they put the Navy SEALs,
01:37 British Special Forces through,
01:38 so they really do everything they can
01:42 to not only strip you down, but beat you down,
01:44 and you are not used to sleeping in a bunkhouse
01:48 with 14 people who are strangers on day one,
01:53 and who are snoring and wrestling about,
01:57 and it was very, very exhausting
02:00 because you're not getting sleep,
02:02 you're not eating how you're normally used to eating,
02:05 and just you're very depleted
02:08 because of the rigorous schedule
02:10 that they put you through as well.
02:12 So when I finally got to my final challenge,
02:15 which was carrying this Navy SEAL Zodiac boat
02:19 almost two miles through a field in New Zealand,
02:22 and I'm with actual Olympians and huge, huge men
02:26 who are in incredible shape and then me,
02:28 it physically broke me, but because I was so exhausted
02:33 and beaten down emotionally and mentally as well,
02:36 it's just everything came out.
02:38 So I did learn what my limits were,
02:40 but they really do a good job of pushing you
02:44 as hard as they possibly can
02:45 until you get to that point where you're like,
02:47 I just can't take it anymore.
02:49 I would say every day I'm doing something,
02:52 whether it's walking, swimming,
02:53 or working out with my trainer.
02:56 I've been really into a chin-up challenge lately.
03:00 I am up to 10 now, which is a very big deal.
03:03 The fact that I've made it to 10,
03:05 it has been this kind of lifelong goal
03:07 that I finally just accomplished last week,
03:09 and I'm very, very proud of myself.
03:11 But for Special Forces,
03:13 I did have to up the ante just a little bit
03:16 because you're training to be a Navy SEAL.
03:20 So I couldn't just go with my regular training schedule,
03:23 although I only had about eight days notice before I left.
03:27 Fortunately, because I'd been working out with my trainer
03:29 for months before that, I was at least in that groove a bit.
03:33 However, I started training extra hard
03:36 by filling up a backpack
03:38 with about 30 pounds of water bottles
03:41 and running up my hill.
03:44 So I trained for that, and I think it helped a bit
03:47 because when I got there,
03:48 even though these bags were so heavy and so cumbersome,
03:52 I was able to kinda hang with the boys
03:54 and carry these incredibly heavy bags.
03:57 Some go-to exercises that really helped me in targeted areas.
04:02 I do love squats.
04:05 I love squats because my trainer's always like,
04:07 "We gotta get that booty.
04:08 "Gotta get that booty tight.
04:10 "We gotta get it in shape."
04:11 And squats have really done a number, I've noticed.
04:15 And then also, as I've just mentioned,
04:17 I'm really into chin-ups
04:19 because I did just get this bicep tattoo,
04:22 and I'm like, "I can't let my arms get out of shape now
04:24 "because they have to look good because of this tattoo."
04:26 So the chin-ups have been helping with that,
04:29 and also push-ups.
04:30 I'm up to 30 strict men's push-ups.
04:33 So the push-ups and the chin-ups, I feel,
04:35 are really getting the arms in shape,
04:36 and that's always been a troubled part for me,
04:41 have been my arms.
04:42 They've kind of been a little disproportionately heavier
04:45 than the rest of my body,
04:46 so I have to work extra hard to make sure
04:48 that my arms stay in really good shape.
04:50 Anything weights-related or even body-resistance-related
04:55 I love doing, whether it's like Pilates, yoga,
04:57 any type of weight training, that I'm fine with.
05:00 I hate endurance stuff.
05:03 I hate running.
05:04 I hate being on a treadmill.
05:06 I hate it and I dread it, but I know I have to do it.
05:10 So I have a very well-balanced diet.
05:14 I just try to eat everything in moderation,
05:17 kind of whatever I'm feeling in the moment.
05:18 I will say if I had to lean towards some sort of diet,
05:23 it would be a little bit more of the Mediterranean diet,
05:25 because I'm Sicilian, so it's kind of in my blood
05:29 in terms of healthy fish and olive oil and lots of veggies,
05:34 but also in terms of the healthy aspect of it,
05:38 it's probably not recommended to have a ton,
05:40 but I can't not eat pasta.
05:42 So what I've done is I have adjusted my pasta intake.
05:47 So just on a typical day for breakfast,
05:50 maybe I'll have some sort of a smoothie,
05:53 a protein smoothie after a workout.
05:56 Don't really eat a ton of breakfast.
05:57 Maybe I'll have some eggs and toast,
05:59 and then for lunch, usually maybe yogurt and blueberries
06:04 and some sort of grilled salmon or something.
06:07 And then for dinner, I kind of just have whatever I want.
06:11 Sometimes it's pizza and a burger,
06:14 but usually I try to have a really high quality burger.
06:17 You know, I'm not going to get fast food,
06:19 although I used to love that growing up, but not anymore.
06:21 And then I do have a weakness for dessert.
06:24 So at night there has to be some sort of sweet treat
06:28 at the end of the night.
06:29 I can't just have my dinner and then go to bed,
06:32 whether it's a little ice cream
06:34 or some sort of, you know,
06:36 chocolate chip cookies are my weakness.
06:37 So some sort of like chocolate chip cookie.
06:39 I try to do it in moderation,
06:41 but it can get a little out of control.
06:43 I have so many tattoos that I offhand,
06:47 I probably couldn't count or know offhand exactly how many.
06:51 My first one I got was when I was 16 in 1995,
06:55 and I have the Pearl Jam Stickman tattoo.
06:59 It's like this big and it's the Pearl Jam Stickman,
07:03 which I'm still very proud of to this day.
07:05 I have like an Italian flag back here
07:08 that says Rizzo above it.
07:10 I have a bunch of stars.
07:11 I have a star here that's actually
07:13 covering up something else.
07:15 These are my nieces and my sisters' birthdays.
07:19 This is one of my more recent ones that I really love.
07:23 This is a little martini glass that I got in honor of Bob
07:26 because he loved martinis.
07:29 So that's just a very single needle.
07:32 It's all one line, the whole martini glass.
07:35 This is like my Italian arm.
07:36 I have a cross for obvious reasons.
07:39 It says, "Con tutto mio cuore,"
07:41 which means with all my heart.
07:42 And then it says, "Sciamina" here,
07:44 which is where my dad was born in Sicily.
07:46 This says, "Rinascimento" here,
07:48 which means renaissance or rebirth in Italian.
07:51 This is my most recent one, which I love.
07:53 This is a flight path.
07:55 Anyone who knows me knows I'm obsessed with airplanes
07:57 and everything air travel related and air industry related.
08:00 And it starts, the plane here starts in Palermo,
08:03 which is where my family's from, where my dad was born.
08:05 And then it goes to ORD, which is the Chicago Airport Code,
08:09 which is where I was born and grew up,
08:11 and then ends at LAX, which is where I live now.
08:13 So that's my favorite one and my most recent one.
08:17 And then I have a little bee here for Bob
08:19 that I got before he passed away, actually.
08:21 And he was like, "Why'd you do that?"
08:23 I'm like, "Well, I wanted to get a bee to surprise you
08:26 and, you know, a nice little bee for you."
08:28 And he goes, "Well, that was too spontaneous.
08:30 Why didn't you tell me about it?
08:31 I would have given you my signature bee.
08:33 I would have drawn you a bee."
08:34 I was like, "Oh, damn it.
08:36 Missed opportunity."
08:38 In terms of mental health, I'm pretty fortunate
08:40 in that I can at least make my own schedule.
08:45 So when I'm working really, really hard,
08:47 when things are a little crazy,
08:49 whether it's with events or press or traveling,
08:53 at least I know that it might be go, go, go
08:57 for a few days, a week, something like that,
09:00 but then there is going to be some downtime.
09:01 So I can always look forward to that downtime
09:03 knowing that I'm able to schedule a few days
09:06 where I can just relax.
09:08 I can just focus on me time, you know,
09:11 watch the guilty pleasure shows I want to watch,
09:15 just bedge out around my house, go on a walk,
09:18 just relax, spend time with friends,
09:21 spend time with my family.
09:22 That's what's important to me,
09:23 knowing that at least I can have that balance.
09:26 That's really something I've been trying to focus on
09:28 is that all things work together for good
09:30 and how can we take even the toughest times
09:32 and turn it into something positive.
09:34 (upbeat music)