Krista Large, Nutrionist, Living Large Wellness

Krista is a nutritionist who's mission is to guide you to discover the body, health, and lifestyle that feels best for you, which you can maintain while living life to the fullest. Living Large is about experiencing life, dreaming big, setting goals, and aligning your health with your unique values.

Troy: Hello, Austin. this is Troy Schlicker with the Austin spotlight, and I am happy to be joined today by Krista large. she is a nutritionist, amongst other many exciting things. We'll talk about here in a little bit, but really appreciate you taking the time to jump on and chat today.

Krista: Thanks for having me.

Troy: So, like I mentioned, your nutritionist, and like most Austinites, I don't believe that you're Nate you're natively from Austin. You're kind of one of the multitude of us who have kind of migrated here for a lot of different reasons. What's kind of a little bit about your origin story and background.

Krista: Yeah, so I am originally from Texas. I grew up in the Houston area from the Woodlands, Texas, and then I decided to go to a school very far away and Mississippi. So I lived there for five years. And then when I moved back to Houston, I lived in the downtown area was actually struggling to make friends while I was there. And Austin was just somewhere that I would migrate to on the weekends. And it seemed like I was coming here so frequently that I decided to find a job here and moved here in 2015.

Troy: Very nice. So you've been here seven years now, so that's, you know, pretty, pretty tenured as far as a lot of Austinites go with how fast the city's growing. It seems like so many people have only been here in the last, if I've only moved here in the last year or two. what, what, was there anything, I mean, obviously you mentioned kind of friends, but like how, what kind of kick-started that decided to go to Austin I'm sure it can't be, Hey, you know, I'm not, I don't have a lot of close friends here in Houston. Let's just automatically drive three hours away to, to go try and meet friends. What was kind of your initial in to Austin

Krista: So growing up and, you know, somewhat close to Austin had a lot of friends that went to UT or Texas a and M and then ended up some, a lot of them move to Austin too. So I had a relatives and then friends here and then also being a health net. I just found that there weren't as many options in Houston. I mean, there's a, a lot of things to do there and a lot of food there, but I felt like this was more of a place that it was more of a, a majority thing rather than a minority.

Troy: Yeah. Much more kind of a fabric of the community, right Like obviously both cities are so huge that you're going to have people on both sides of the health and wellness spectrum, but I would say Austin does, overall tend to seem to gravitate a little bit more towards being active, being outdoors, trying to be a little more health conscious whole foods, starting here, all those kinds of things. So totally were did. So when you went to school, did you go to the university of Mississippi then Or

Krista: Okay,

Troy: So did you nice. Yeah. Did you go there, with the, with the intent of becoming a nutritionist

Krista: I knew that I, yes, I did. I, I ended up starting out actually there is a, pharmaceutical major and then it ended up changing it. I would say halfway into my freshman year, I was really allured by the amount of money that they said pharmacists would make. I was like, okay, maybe I'll do that. And then, you know, a little bit through the curriculum, I was like, oh no,

Troy: This doesn't sound fun having to study for the next seven years and

Krista: Totally

Troy: Deal with that. Yeah. So nice. So, and had you always been into kind of health and wellness Was that something that you, had been in from an early age

Krista: Yeah, so, I mean, my last name's large, like that's my actual last name. And so just growing up like that, there was always a desire to not be large and not be overweight or anything. No.

Troy: I'm sure. I'm sure there's no kids that ever made fun of that being your last name because

Krista: Yeah, they did, but luckily I could back it up with, you know, generally being in pretty good shape growing up. And actually I had a little bit of a obsession with it when I was in high school. I remember being in a dance class one year and almost getting to the point to where I felt like I was going to fate. And I saw my self in the mirror looking back at me and I was just, I was very thin and I was working very hard to keep it that way to stay out a hundred pounds. I was also a cheerleader and I was a flyer. So I be starting to develop this obsessive relationship with, with being skinny and not eating. And I just kind of, it was one of those moments in life when I was like, wow, I, I really have a choice here. I can continue to go down this path and harm myself and harm the people around me, or I can see if I can do this in a way that serves me better and pursue an education and, and do this in a healthy way where I could still be lean and fit, but without it corrupting my, my brain and my body. Yeah, my life.

Troy: And that's awesome. You were able to, to have that self-realization at such a young age, because I think that's, can be a challenging thing. Right There's unfortunately, a lot of people who go the other way for, you know, while overall Americans tend to be, you know, overweight or, you know, not exercise enough now you're healthy enough as a general rule. There definitely are plenty of people who go to the other side of the spectrum and at such young age to kind of realize that you were headed down that road and make that shift is awesome that you, were able to do that.

Troy: Yeah. It's such a blessing. Yeah.

So with having, you know, so you get your degree, you're living in Houston for a little while. Did you initially start your own business right off the bat Or were you, did you go into, you know, another corporate company or how did, how did that kind of come about

Krista: Yeah. Great, great question. So the goal for any nutrition student who wants to complete the entire path of nutrition and become the goal is to become a registered dietician. And the way that it works is similar to doctors, basically you graduate from your undergraduate and then you apply to an internship program, and this can be within a master's degree, or this can be at some sort of hospital or a clinical program. The way that it works is you have to apply to, I think it's just a few and they also have to want you to, so it's a matching system. And because there are, at the time, there were half a number of internship positions as there were applicants, it became very competitive. So I just remember, you know, it was April 21st, 2014, when I got my letter that I didn't get matched. And I thought that it was one of the worst days of my life.

So I decided, okay, I don't want to go to, I don't want to be done in college. I'm just going to move to Houston. I just want to get a job. And I had some family members who worked in oil and gas. So there was this job as a document control specialist that I was like, okay, it's a job. I'll take it. You know, making, I think it was $19 an hour. And, actually tried to work my way up that corporate ladder for awhile. And then quickly realized, you know, this isn't, this isn't my path. But throughout that time, I, I live really close in Houston to Lakewood church, like the huge church. And I went one time with one of my family members and I saw it a pamphlet. They were looking for a health educator as part of a volunteer program. Like once a week, I applied for the program and I ended up getting the job.

And so every week on a Monday night, I co-taught a health and nutrition class that grew from basically like five people all the way up to 75 people. And it was, you know, 90 minutes of material every week. And I was like, wow, I feel super passionate about this. I definitely want to continue my journey with nutrition. It doesn't have to stop here. And I knew I wanted to move to Austin. I was searching around on the job forums and found this company called on it, which is based in Austin, looked in their job portal and saw that they were looking for a document control specialist. I was like, okay. My name is all over that. I ended up applying for that job, got the job on day one. They changed my job title from document control, quality assurance. So I ended up working at, on it for a solid four years of my life. And while they're working for the supplement company, I quickly became very infused with their fitness curriculum and ended up starting to teach classes at the gym and started to train clients personally, ended up racking up over 15 certifications while I was there. And shortly after that, you know, that's when, when I moved on from the gym, that's when I decided to start my business, which is about two, a little over two years ago at this point.

Troy: So yeah, that's like say very cool that you got to come here, here and work for a company that's definitely based around health and fitness, but you're in, was your job as a quality control specialist, that position. So that's, that's very unique. That's so cool. you mentioned about two years ago is when you decided to start your own, your own company, doing nutrition, you know, for yourself, for clients, what kind of prompted you decide to make that transition Was it something you were, just super passionate about Was it the fact that you were kind of doing the same thing within the, on it, system anyway

Krista: Yeah, several reasons. So at the time I was a full-time personal trainer and that job was super hard on my body. Just, you know, like having a 6:00 AM class and then like classes throughout the day, clients throughout the day, going all the way until, you know, 9:00 PM that like a lot of the days it was just, it was rough on my body. Like wasn't getting a lot of sleep. And so I knew that it was a very short term thing anyways for me. And then I was noticing with my one-on-one personal training clients. Yes. They were getting stronger. Yes. Their posture was getting better. They were building more confidence, but they weren't getting that, lean fat loss type of results that they wanted. And so I was like, okay, if I really want to make a difference in people's lives, we gotta be able to fix this nutrition piece. And that's what really prompted me to start it. So yeah, having just the rough life and not really making the kind of money that I wanted to make too. And then also being able to also knowing that I could help people in a very impactful way too, with food.

Troy: Nice. Yeah. Me being a personal trader in any kind of gym setting is a lot more challenging than a lot of people realize that you say you're really on a lot of other people's schedules. Not, not that you still don't have to do that a little bit with where you're currently at, but like you also mentioned, the more we're learning about exercise science and health and wellness, like the more exercise is just one piece of the puzzle. And so, you know, and that's where really, probably as far you can go, in that within a company, right. We're now being kind of on your own. Now you can do those other components of it, which are just as crucial as making it into the gym. So do you have kind of a favorite component of that Like, do you, so you know, is the, obviously you have the degree in nutrition, you've been a personal trainer. Is there kind of one area that you obviously have to focus on all of them, but one area that you kind of enjoy, digging into more than the others.

Krista: I actually really enjoy the consultation process and the sales process. And then of course I love what I'm doing, but my favorite part is when I, I really get to know somebody for the first time and hear what they're struggling with and to just like, hear from them, like, Hey, I'm so ready to change. And they are essentially reaching out and like holding out their head. And so that's my favorite part is just being like, yes, you know, I feel energetically, like this is a good match. I'm ready to help you. And then just getting them onboarded it's it's like the state stuff starts to change the moment they say yes. So I would say that that's really my favorite. My favorite part,

Troy: You, you can, you can foresee how this is going to impact them in a month, six months a year. And so that very first, the fact that they've crossed that threshold and, decided to start taking action is exciting because you know where it's going to, going to lead to where I think for a lot of people, it's still exciting to kind of take action. You're generally motivated when you first start something. But if you, if it's been a long time since you've really been in shape, or if you've never been in shape, it's a lot, it's much harder if not impossible to really envision and believe the end, the outcomes that are you're capable of.

Krista: Yeah. That's a really great perspective. It's like, it's like unlocking potential and just being able to see that within somebody's. No.

Troy: So one of the other cool things that you do on the side is you're a DJ. How did you, which I assume is why you got the big headphones, that's how you're used to kind of listening to what is, how, how did that come about Was it something that you've always kind of been passionate about and dabbled in or,

Krista: Yeah, so growing up, I always loved this particular style of electronic music called house. And my friends used to make fun of me in high school when I was 17, I would jam to it in my car. And it's just been a theme in my life. It's, it's what it means to me is, you know, listening to the music, it's generally positive. It's very inclusive. It, just the energy of house music is, is so loving and inviting and fun and high vibration. And, it's not really breakup songs, anything out about it, which I love about it too. And the BPM is really great. And, so I've always listened to it. And during 2020, I ended up getting linked up with somebody who became a nutrition client of mine, got to know this man a little bit more. And it turns out he was a DJ out on sixth street, like played in Austin has a really good name for himself for about 20 to 25 years.

And he, we ended up throwing a party and had him come DJ. And just having him right there in proximity, like sparked my mind backstory on this. I have a list of a hundred things that I want to do at my life, like a hundred goals and accomplishments and DJ a party was one of them. So anytime I see an opportunity come into my life, that's on that list. I, I know that it's, there's a reason for it. And so I asked him, Hey, I would love to learn from you. Would you be willing to teach me And he ended up yeah, like saying yes and spent quite some time with me, allowed me to come play on his equipment. So I knew that if I was actually going to get good at this and go anywhere with this, I would need to invest in all the equipment too. So bought all this stuff. And this is around the time when things just started to open up a little bit more in Austin, people started to throw their own private parties. So right off the bat, I was able to get a couple, you know, free gigs and then a couple of paid gigs and then just started throwing our own parties to

Troy: Nice. Very cool. so I'm going to have to backtrack. So you have a list of 100 things that you want to accomplish in my way. What was the Genesis for that Like went around, what time did you kind of decide to put something like that together and what prompted that

Krista: Sure, sure. So I wish I could say that it was originally my idea, but it's not. I was going through a little bit of a rough time in life where I was feeling like I needed to be somebody else who I was not like I needed to fit into this box of being this smart, sexy trainer that like works, you know, at this place and needs to fit into this kind of box. And I actually drove myself crazy, trying to be someone that I was not. And so when I heard this podcast from this guy, I think his name is Sebastian and I'm pretty sure he wrote the book called a hundred things. His whole premise was that he was younger and he wasn't really sure what he wanted to do with his career, but at least he knew he wanted to do this. And some of those things where, like, I can't remember any of his specific examples, but you know, like silly things, like some things on my list is like squash wine grapes with my feet and learn to saber champagne with like a cool knife and, to ride in a hot air balloon.

So I was, you know, kind of in that same spot where, Hey, I, I am, don't want to fit in this box anymore. Like, what do I want, what do I want to do What kind of life experiences do I want to have And so I started just, I made an Evernote and just started writing the first 40 came to me really easily. And then I've generally just left it open, anytime that something sparks my interest, I write it down. So I have about 69 things that are on there and, you know, hopefully I have a lot of life left to live and I just keep adding and attacking. And anytime I'm feeling bored or uninspired, or maybe there's like extra time on my plate, I referenced the list and I'm like, okay, what can I, what can I tackle this year, this month

Troy: You know, again, so like, for time reference you about how far along, how far into that journey are you as a being in a company in a year or 2, 5, 10 years

Krista: Yes, I am 31 now. I believe I created the list when I was 27 or 28. So maybe three or four years.

Troy: And then out of the, you say roughly 69 on there, do you know, do you know about how many you have accomplished

Krista: 10. Okay.

Troy: Nice. That's a good, yeah, a couple. And again, cause they're not, not that you couldn't do potentially multiple them in a day, but like I say, they're a little bit bigger things. So, you know, knocking off a few of them, each year, and I'm sure that I'm sure it probably will start to gain steam and momentum for you as well, to add even more focused on. So that's, that's super cool. so with being a DJ with, kind of your focus, your website, you know, living large wellness, I know one of the things we've talked about, and when I say talk about basically emailed her or DGM back and forth is kind of that whole kind of that holistic wellness approach. You know, it's something, I think that obviously you have a huge passion for you to turn it into your career. I have a passion for it because I, it's definitely a big part of my life, but, what are some ways that people right we're in February So we're people are maybe starting to lose some steam if they haven't already on some of those new year's resolutions that, or they're thinking like, time is right around the corner. So I need to get in shape to have my, you know, lake body. What are some things that you use to try to help stay motivated, in your health and fitness and wellness journey

Krista: Yeah. So the, I think that there's different types of motivation styles that we have. So it's just a matter of like crawling into someone's head and asking a few simple questions. So one of them is like, do you fear what may happen if you don't do this So I consider that to be more of a consequence based motivation. So for that person, it'd be really advantageous if they set up some sort of accountability agreement that has a consequence to it. So I'm thinking right off the top of my head money. So maybe if they were to, you know, if I was like, all right, I'm going to give you $500, Troy. And if I don't reach my goal, I want you to keep it. Like, that would be really, that's a pretty big consequence that in my mind would make me take a little bit of action.

So that's one of them. another one would be like a mentorship motivation. So some people just love having, like paying for a coach or having someone else they're like, I'm investing in this and I'm bypassing all of your mistakes and all of my mistakes to hear what I need to do. And I follow rules when I'm being told what to do. So that's another motivation style. Number three would be partnership. So maybe that is, you're one of those people that puts everybody else first. And you're more likely to show up when you know that someone else is going to be there too. If you tell your friend that you're going to run the lake at 7:00 AM and you wake up, but you know that they're going to be there and you don't want to let them down. That's another way to stay motivated is to have that accountability partner do that thing with you.

Then there's another one I call big scary goals. So the big, scary goals is something that really freaks you out and it has a timeline to it. So let's just say you book this trip and you have your flights, you have your hotel paid for that day. It's not moving. So that's, that's like this shiny thing at the end. And it, maybe it's not a trip. Maybe it's a race that can't move, or maybe it's a photo shoot or something like that. So some people need a wedding. Yeah. Yeah. So some people need that big, scary thing to push them a little bit more. And then the last thing would be reward driven, motivation. So some people love extra credit. They love having that prize. They know that if I do this, this is going to be a rewarding behavior. It's like saving money to invest later. Like you say, the money, you see the account rise it's wow. But you know, it doesn't have to be with money. It can be with, you know, working really hard that week and then buying yourself a massage or treating yourself to something nice. So those are just five examples. And it's fun to just answer a couple of questions and get into someone's head and see what actually motivates them.

Troy: Sure. Well, it's going to spread them. Yeah. It's kind of funny, as I was asking a question, I realized I kind of did a social media post yesterday. It wasn't specifically fitness related, but it kind of was it basically kind of mentioned that discipline overrides, motivation, kind of like you mentioned with that, you know, if you have that friend that, that you said you're going to be out there for, like, if you, it doesn't mean you may not be motivated every day to go to the gym. And I think that's probably something that people who maybe aren't as, or, you know, who want to be more physically fit or want to go to the gym more and stuff don't realize about people who do go to the gym is that we're not necessarily super motivated every day. It's just kind of become a habit and just what you do, right Because the same way you need to eat every day, you need to go work out every day because it's going to pay dividends in the long run.

Krista: Totally one book that I really love that I'd recommend to anybody who's looking to be more disciplined or just find inspiration that they can do. Anything that they want to do is tiny habits by BJ Fogg. He really breaks it down. And something that I use in my coaching practice is, you know, people ask like, how can I get motivated How can I stay motivated And one thing that I like to say is, you know, motivation generally, isn't the issue like motivation is simply a desire. Like you desire to change on some level. Sometimes it's generally a lack of clarity on what you're going to do, how you're going to do it, where are you going to do it and how you're going to do it And if we can get really specific with answering all those questions, then people like there's less questions and less ambiguity around it. It's like, this is your opportunity. Now it's just your, you know, decision to, to move forward and do it or not.

Troy: If you, if, you know, if you have a map for the path that you need to take, it's a lot easier to keep taking those steps, right Because you know how you understand where that journey is going to lead to versus again, it's another thing for people that are newer to the gym or new to health and fitness, is that it can be kind of intimidating. And so not really understanding how to put a program together, to work out or even nutrition-wise as well too. And then, like I say, there's a lot of people who also feel like if they have one bad day, you know, one day they miss the gym or one day that they have the, dairy queen blizzard that suddenly everything's for not, and that's not the case either, right Like it's, you're hopefully in LA, unless there's that specific goal, unless it's, Hey, I need to do this. Or I'm really wanting to do this because of, you know, getting married or going on that trip. But if it's really a lifetime goal, then that's a long race that you get to run. And so it's really about building those habits over time versus any one particular day.

Krista: Totally, totally building the habits, but also designing the habits too, like getting very, very clear on what you're doing and how you're doing it and when it's going to take place. And that's why, you know, coaching is great too, because it's my job to help someone figure that, those specific questions out.

Troy: Yeah. Very nice. one of the cool things that, you've been able to do is write for our digital magazine, the Austin spotlight. And I really loved your article this past month about, finding good places to go out and have fun, right Because no one is going to build a stick to very few people can stick to a health schedule. That's just chicken and rice all the time. Even the people who do chicken rice all the time, only do it for portion of the year type of thing. And so, so it's awesome to, hear about and see, recommendations from a nutritionist, from a health professional, places to go and have fun and not feel, that you're not still kind of staying on track. I don't know if you remember any of those specific places you were talking about or kind of the concept there, but I'd love to hear more about that, too.

Krista: Sure. So this, this list really came out of a personal journey that I went on this past fall when I was actually having some problems with my gut, something called dysbiosis, where that basically means that, you know, we have all these, this flora, this bacteria, yeast, whatever, we got a lot going in there it's like outer space, but sometimes that can become like, we have a lot more bad bacteria or we may have like viruses and pathogens and parasites. And so I was having a little bit of dysbiosis and did a food sensitivity test just to find out, you know, how can I call my immune system down What foods are triggering this Cause if we have gut problems and then we're eating a bunch of foods that are essentially inflammatory, it's like throwing lighter fluid on a fire. So when I did this test, I realized, oh my gosh, there's about 20 different foods that are inflammatory to my body.

And I need to cut these up for some period of time. You know, where, where can I eat Well, my friends asked me to go out to eat and just going to these different restaurants and finding just some places that were literally bring out an entire binder and say, okay, you have a, an avocado sensitivity. And one of those places with picnic and Austin, and, they're super accommodating. And they know basically every single ingredient that's in there in their foods. And they're able to really work with people who have food sensitivities or maybe just different dietary restrictions. Another place would be the well on second street. Let's see. And then a little bit more fast and casual places like honest Mary's, that's kind of like a Chipola style where, you know, you pick your bowl and you're able to pick and choose rather than it being a set menu. That was another one and I'm blanking on the others. But yeah.

Troy: so it's, it's just something it's like, it's just good to know. Cause I think, and I think a lot of people, when they first jump into the space, you hear, oh, you can't have this and you can't have that in reality, you can really kind of do whatever you can't, you can't do everything that you want, but you can kind of tailor in almost any specific thing that you want really to be really still, Hey, I've got, I can't get chocolate out of my life because I love sweets or I can't take, you know, I don't want to take this out of my life. Like life, like the point of living healthy is to have a good long life. And so a good long life includes the things that you enjoy, not, not, banishing those from your life.

Krista: Totally. There's always a solution. Yeah.

Troy: So I really appreciate you taking the time to, to jump on and kind of chat about it for people that are trying to ha might have there might want to start their journey or have kind of more specific information or questions what's kind of the best way to follow you or kind of get in touch with you.

Krista: Sure. So my Instagram at large Christus is it, I would say by both active platform at the moment and in there, you'll find a link to my website and my bio. And that is where you can find a little bit more information about what kind of work I do a little bit more about my journey, some of my client testimonials as well, and anybody listening, that's living large wellness.com, living with a G O and then one more plug if that's okay. Yeah. I have a mixed cloud for my DJ stuff. And so you can go to mixcloud.com and then search sista, Krista XL, XO, and just listen to this of my music. If you are throwing a party in Austin and are looking for a female DJ, that's where you can find a little bit about what I'm about.

Troy: Is that on the website as well too Is there like,

Krista: There's not, yeah, I could, I could write that down. Thank you.

Troy: Do you have, do you have any upcoming parties or DJ gigs

Krista: I do this. So I am a resident DJ for one of my friends in town. She, her name's Jen Veltri and she every week at almost every week at Antone's, she does a disco cardio dance class. So I play for her sometimes. And this particular weekend, she's collaborating with one of our other friends named Delaney McGuire, and he's throwing a woke brunch. So it's going to be basically a dance party and then a branch rooftop branch afterwards for people just to connect and I'll be playing music for the whole thing.

Troy: Awesome. That'll be fun. Hopefully the weather is supposed to be good, so that'll be even more

Krista: Fun. Totally, totally

Troy: Cool. Well, I again appreciate you taking the time and definitely check her out. it's been fun getting to know her and seeing all the cool stuff she's got going on. So appreciate it.

Krista: Thank you

Troy: Everyone. Have a great day.