I played D1 basketball, then spent over three years playing overseas, and my last season landed me on a small island in the Azores, out in the middle of the ocean off the coast of Portugal.
I played D1 basketball, then spent over three years playing overseas, and my last season landed me on a small island in the Azores, out in the middle of the ocean off the coast of Portugal.
I spent a lot of that season alone. I lived across the street from the market — local fruits and vegetables, a butcher shop, a cheese shop, a cafe that made homemade sourdough. At the time I was a candy reviewer, two million followers on TikTok, and I paid almost no attention to the quality of what I put in my body. I decided I wanted to leave that island a different version of myself, physically and mentally. So I ate only from those places, stopped buying anything that came in a package, walked 10,000 steps a day, did pull-ups by the ocean, and lifted three times a week.
As I changed the way I ate, I realized the candy reviews weren't who I wanted to be. So I stopped, and started over sharing my story and the food I actually eat. Today that's a community of more than 500,000 across Instagram and Facebook, all of it around real food and the life I actually live.
Here's the part that turned into KICKASS. I'd worked out my whole life and never had much muscle to show for it, so I dialed in my protein, and the muscle finally showed up. But I had no energy — I'd cut my calories too hard. So I started eating more good food, added carbs and fats back in, and found a balance. That's when I realized the real game changer was quality, specifically micronutrients, which is an easy way of saying I wasn't eating enough colors.
Macros shape how you look. Micronutrients shape how you feel. I wanted both, because what's the point of looking good if you don't feel good?
When I left professional sports, I went all-in on endurance — half marathons, marathons, and Hyrox. My nutrition had to do three jobs at once: keep the muscle on, fuel the training, and keep me feeling good enough to conquer the day. So I built recipes that did exactly that. High protein, nutrient-dense, real ingredients, organized around when my body needed what.
I pretty much only eat KICKASS recipes now. I don't get sick, I don't fight the afternoon crash, and I go into every workout with a full head of steam. I test every recipe myself before it goes up, because if I'm not eating it, I'm not posting it.
That's how I started kicking ass, and it's why I built this for you.
—KATE
