The 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness
There are thousands of people working every day to revolutionize the way people think about health, fitness, and happiness, and every year we recognize those making the biggest impacts. Last year the focus seemed to be on changing American’s diets (and the never-ending attempt to reduce our consumption of sugar and processed foods), building a strong booty, and reducing stress so we can be happier and more productive.
When trying to determine the most powerful innovators in this space, we looked at several factors for each candidate: social reach, trends they’ve set, products they’ve created, research they’ve contributed to, media coverage, and professional certifications and degrees they’ve attained, among a few other things. After many discussions (and way too much math), here are the 100 people we determined to be the most influential figures in fitness, health, and happiness this year.
Curious who’s making their second (or third) appearance? Click here to check out last year’s list.
1. Michelle Obama
The First Lady of Healthy Eating
Mobama is one hot healthy mama. An amazing role model to kids and adults alike, the First Lady has been encouraging healthier habits since taking office with her husband in 2009. But more attention-grabbing than the White House Kitchen Garden, her toned biceps, and Let’s Move, the childhood-obesity fighting program she started, is how she’s captured our hearts on the likes of Vine and Saturday Night Live. Her six-second “Turnip for What?” video went viral quicker than Kim K’s attempt to break the Internet, and let’s not forget her stunning cameo with Jimmy Fallon and Will Ferrell where she reminded us all that exercise is super healthy, not “ew.” We don’t see her stepping off the stage anytime soon—and we’re pretty happy about it.