Corpore Sano: Ivy Style Readers On Diet & Exercise

Last week an interesting discussion broke out on Ivy Style’s Facebook group. What do your fellow trads eat, and how do they stay fit? It’s not all squash and gin-and-tonics.

Here’s what they do. Chime in and let us know what works for you.

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Play football/soccer 3-4 times a week and watch what I eat.

I went on keto and dropped about 35 lbs and 3 pant sizes. For the past 1.5 years I’ve sort of been on and off keto (on it full time for the past 8 months which is where the 35 was lost) but even when I’m not on keto I try to cut out as much sugar as possible. I’ve found that I’m more sharp mentally and sleep/wake up with far more regularity.

Have been on a keto diet for six days and it’s bloody torture.

I dropped 50# on keto. But it is not a long-term solution.

I’ve been eating a low-carb diet for 24 years.

Going from an ex-drinking and smoking layabout to completing a full Ironman Triathlon 4 years ago the first lesson I learnt was change the term “diet and exercise” to “eat and train”. Make sure you eat carbs within 10-15 minutes of finishing any workout / training session. Last one is either you go Very easy or Very hard. In between them won’t get you results great results either way.

I want to dress like JFK and workout like a convict. I’ve been toying around with Paul Wade’s Convict Conditioning and have tailored a workout plan for myself out of that. On the diet side, I’m trying to keep it simple, just cut the carbs, refined sugars, additives and processed foods and be careful about portions and proportions. I have a tendency to put on weight so there’s still work to be done but I reckon I’m in better shape now than 20 years ago.

I go to the gym 3 days a week. Dirtbike 100 miles every weekend. Still wish I could lay off the cheeseburgers a little more than I do.

I’ve always been fat. I went vegan a year ago. I’m only down 20 lbs but I feel great. I’m planning on taking on some more things.

I’ve kept a food diary for five years and I’m down roughly 50 pounds during time. It can be a drag keeping track, but helps you realize when you’re falling off the daily reasonable calorie cliff.

Until the age of twenty-two, I had morbidly obese and my mother who was a nurse suggested that I see a doctor who set me straight about where the future of my health was headed if I didn’t lose some weight. This was back in 1988 and primarily what I did was eat 4 small meals a day and every meal had protein, carbs and fat and I lost 150 lbs by the time I was twenty-four. That was when I went to a gym and began putting on some muscle. Basically, in order to lose weight, there should be a deficit in your diet in conjunction with energy expenditure. It can be done at any age, but the main thing that is important is consistency.

I recently took up swing dancing, great exercise and complements the tenets of Ivy Style.

I did lots of “fasted” runs and bike rides at low intensity Great way of your body learning to use your fat as an energy source.

Cut out eating junk and do exercise, I currently cycle 100+ miles a week and eat mostly veggies and fish/chicken – minimal red meat, I’m 45 and have a 30” waist.

I play soccer on a Saturday league team, do jiu jitsu two days a week, and go to the gym to lift two days a week as well.

Low carb, lean protein and intermittent fasting and high intensity intervals work out. I’m 49 years old and fitter than when i was in college. Go very, very low on sugars. No desserts!

I’m all about Intermittent Fasting (usually a 5:2 cycle) with carb restrictions. IF has been found to be very successful in changing the body’s insulin production, allowing fat deposits to be real eased and burned. The best interesting thing is that the fasting, after a while, doesn’t become difficult as that the plan is sustainable over a very long period of time.

I turned 57 today. Keto worked two years ago and I took off 35 pounds. Regular tennis, squash, and golf (walking and carrying my own bag). If I don’t keep at it, I’ll turn into a desk manatee in no time.

Cycling and swimming, no potato chips and no soft drinks. Sixty years old, 34 waist, a couple lbs under my 25-year-old rugby weight.

Eat less. Made sure I ate less carbs. Lost 50 pounds in 5 months. Maintaining my college weight for the last 6 months. I’m 46.

Baby steps, it’s how I’ve lost 40 pounds and how I’m keeping it off. It’s impossible to change overnight. A friend of mine did a crash diet (more like starvation in my opinion). Sure he lost 50 pounds, then he gained it all back and all in the gut.

Meat, fish, poultry, and vegetables. Nothing white. I ride my horse 4 or five times a week, depending on the weather. This is both aerobic and muscle-building exercise.

49, 6’2″ – 34″ waist, don’t worry too much about fat … full-fat milk, real butter, full English breakfasts aren’t taboo either. just stay away from sugar and cut down on carbs … i used to cycle a lot, 200+ miles a week and a good few 1000ft of climbs (cycling) … but after a serious cycling accident in 2016, cycling is out of the window for at least another year … work prevents swimming regularly … i don’t own a car (epilepsy) so a lot of walking in the very hilly area i live in seems to have kept the weight off until im back on the bike (fingers crossed).

Not really a “diet” tip per se, but something I’ve tried in the last couple of months and it’s been really effective: intermittent fasting. Essentially, you eat all of your calories for the day between noon and 8 p.m. Which means, of course, that you are fasting for 16 hrs. The idea being that, instead of “topping off” your energy reserves with food every couple of hours, you’re giving your body the ability to reach into stored energy (fat) to fuel itself, particularly in the latter part of the fasting period. Supposed to help your body be more efficient in the way it uses energy, plus improve function of various organs, etc. And weight loss is almost automatic: I dropped 14 lbs in 6 weeks. It’s not for everybody – some don’t tolerate the fasting very well (nausea, etc.), but I haven’t minded one bit. And I can tell you: instead of saying “Ugh, what am I going to eat for lunch?” each day, when noontime comes, even a PBJ tastes like manna from heaven. Which I suppose is yet another benefit: you simply enjoy your food more, and are more ‘conscious’ of what you are putting into your body each day.

I cut carbs and went after healthier fats and stopped eating late at night to allow myself more room for bourbon.