Ivanka Trump loves to flaunt her toned figure, and every time she does, her fans are left wondering: how does she stay so fit?
The soon-to-be first daughter, at 43, has dedicated herself to achieving her impressive physique through a disciplined diet and a rigorous workout routine.
However, this wasn’t always the case. She once confessed that during her 20s, she didn’t prioritize healthy eating and instead indulged in carb-heavy meals like pasta and pizza three times a day.
Her mindset shifted once she became a mom, and flash forward a decade later, Ivanka is in better shape than ever.
Despite her efforts, the fitness journey was challenging. She recently shared that despite years of practicing yoga, cardio, and Pilates, she struggled to attain the desired outcomes.
She explained that it was when her focus switched to ‘resistance training and weight lifting’ that she really saw a change.
The mother-of-three is now fiercely dedicated to her health, and she works out four days a week and consumes 30-40 grams of protein in every meal.
‘It’s that pairing of protein and resistance training and weight lifting,’ she said during an appearance on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her podcast this week.
‘For a while I was doing weight lifting and I still was not consuming nearly enough protein, and I was not seeing the change. It’s when I married those two things that I started noticing a difference.’
She also wakes up at 5:30 every morning, meditates daily, and consumes an ‘excessive’ amount of water.
Despite her dedication, the 43-year-old does cheat on her diet once in a while, and has been open about how she loves ‘stews, sausage, noodles, and anything that involves melted cheese.’
As Ivanka continues to showcase her impressive abs, FEMAIL has rounded up everything Ivanka has ever said about how she stays in shape, from her diet to her exercise routine.
Ivanka’s strict diet: She ‘ate like a teenager’ before becoming a mom, but now focuses on consuming 30-50 grams of protein per meal
Ivanka admitted in 2016 that before she became a mom, she didn’t focus on eating healthy at all.
Instead, she confessed to Shape magazine that she consumed food ‘like a teenager,’ feasting on ‘carbs three times a day, usually in the form of pasta or pizza.’
She also never cooked meals at home, as she once told Oprah, ‘Until I got married, the only pieces of cookware I owned were a couple of pots and a George Foreman grill from college.’
But after getting married and welcoming her daughter Arabella in 2011, all of that changed.
She began focusing on a protein-rich diet, and in October 2024, she revealed on Instagram that she ‘consumes between 30-50 grams of protein per meal.’
‘Slowly, I started to actually enjoy, if not crave, these healthier options. Now healthy eating is the norm for me, especially at breakfast and lunch,’ Ivanka told Shape in 2016.
So what exactly does the former First Daughter usually eat? Well, she has dished on some of her go-to meals on numerous occasions over the years.
She previously told Oprah that she cooks a ‘feast’ for her family ‘every Friday night,’ which usually includes ‘two entrées, like veal Marsala and spinach kugel.’
She also revealed to Fit Pregnancy in 2013 that she loved to consume fresh produce.
‘It’s such a pleasure to open my refrigerator and see all kinds of fruit,’ she gushed.
While chatting with My Morning Routine in 2015, the mother-of-three explained that one of her favorite breakfast foods was something she called ‘fancy oatmeal,’ which includes ‘chia seeds, berries, flaxseed, goji berries, cinnamon, walnuts, and almonds.’
Some of her other favorites are fish with veggies and Greek yogurt with berries.
In addition, the mother-of-three seems to be a huge fan of Italian food, as she listed the New York City Italian restaurants Antica Pesa and Lucali as her go-to spots to dine at back in 2015.
But there’s one thing she isn’t a fan of: juice cleanses.
‘I tried a juice cleanse, and it was a total disaster,’ she told Shape. ‘For the eight hours that I lasted, I felt like I was on the brink of starvation. For me, it’s about making the right choices.’
She and her family stick to a kosher diet, as Ivanka converted to Judaism in 2009 after getting together with Jared, who grew up Modern Orthodox.
The mother-of-three has tried to instill healthy eating in her kids, as she told Harper’s Bazaar in 2015, ‘Arabella is actually a quite healthy eater, and this is something I’ve tried to be really cognizant of.’
Ivanka has been open about how she sometimes cheats on her diet, admitting to Fit Pregnancy in 2013 that while she doesn’t really ‘have a sweet tooth,’ she enjoys her fair share of ‘savory’ foods.
‘I’m a salty-savory girl,’ she said at the time.
She also confessed to Oprah, ‘Thanks to my Czech-German heritage, I can’t get enough of savory foods like stews, sausage, noodles, and anything that involves melted cheese.
‘Not great choices from a dietary perspective, but at the end of a long day I feel like I’m entitled.’
Her rigorous fitness routine: Ivanka used to mainly do cardio, yoga, and Pilates, but recently shifted her focus to weightlifting and resistance training
Back in September, Ivanka’s trainer Sandy Brockman spoke to DailyMail.com exclusively about the five exercises that she uses to get her enviable physique.
She explained that the former First Daughter works out four times a week for one hour.
‘The movements are always the same. They’re deadlifts, back squats, hinges, presses and pull ups,’ Sandy revealed.
She explained that Ivanka lifted a varied amount of weight – adding that it depended on the day and her body composition goals; however, she revealed that she always pushed the A-lister to lift at least her body weight.
One month later, Ivanka took to Instagram to dish on her workout routine, and explained that ‘like many women,’ she used to ‘focus primarily on cardio, yoga, and Pilates.’
But after moving to Miami, she said she ‘shifted her focus to weightlifting and resistance training.’
‘It has been transformative in helping me build muscle and shift my body composition in ways I hadn’t imagined,’ she wrote.
‘I believe in a strength training approach built on foundational, time-tested and simple movements – squats, deadlifts, hinges, pushes, and pulls. These are the cornerstones of my workout, emphasizing functional strength for life.
‘Weightlifting has enhanced not just my strength but my overall athleticism and resilience.’
Ivanka said that ‘prioritizing form’ is also ‘essential’ to her, adding, ‘Only then do I add weight.’
‘I also incorporate a couple of short (10 min), high-intensity interval training sessions (such as sprints) each week to keep my cardiovascular fitness sharp and dynamic,’ she continued.
‘This balanced approach has infused new energy into my fitness routine and yielded great results.’
In addition, the blonde beauty said she ‘incorporates mobility work’ within her sessions to ‘enhance her range of motion,’ and ‘still enjoys a weekly yoga session.’
The blonde beauty reiterated this sentiment during her appearance on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her podcast this week.
‘Something that I think has been a massive change for me since I moved to Miami, I started prioritizing exercise,’ she revealed during the episode.
‘Initially, that took the form of yoga and Pilates, these things that I had done at various points of my life, but now I had the ability, because I was on my own schedule, to make them more consistent and a more regular part of my life.
‘Gradually, I started doing more resistance and weight training, and that’s when I saw a massive difference.
‘That’s when I really noticed a massive change for me, and my body composition fundamentally changed.
‘I got stronger, I got leaner, and I could kind of get away with it because I’m really tall, so I can look lean even if I wasn’t strong.’
She added, ‘Yoga and Pilates, while I enjoy them a lot more, to be honest, than resistance training, I was not able to develop muscle through them. I really needed this… it’s been life-changing.’
She said what really works for her are the simple exercises, like ‘pushes,’ ‘pulls’ and ‘deadlifts.’
Ivanka has also been an avid runner for years, and she previously revealed that she ‘picked up the running bug’ after she participated in a half-marathon in 2015.
‘I had never run a half mile in my life, so [it] was a very daunting experience,’ she told People in 2016.
‘But in addition to having an amazing time with the incredible women [who did the marathon with me], I also picked up a running bug – like I really actually rather enjoy it.
‘So 1737209700 I go out with my husband every Saturday morning – we’ll run for an hour and we’ll just chat. It’s an amazing time for the two of us as well.’
Her strict schedule: Ivanka wakes up at 5:30am every morning, mediates daily, and ‘excessively’ consumes water
Ivanka has also implemented a strict schedule, telling My Morning Routine in 2015 that she wakes up at 5:30am every day to ‘meditate or workout.’
‘Meditation is one of the most important things I do each day,’ she said. ‘I meditate for 20 minutes, ideally twice daily.
‘Sometimes I miss the afternoon session, but I always make the morning one. It’s been invaluable in terms of calming my mind and allowing me to think more clearly.’
She has also revealed that drinking water throughout the day is extremely important to her.
‘It’s probably worth mentioning my excessive consumption of fluids,’ she told Harper’s Bazaar in 2015.
‘I pretty much only drink water, Tazo passion tea or coffee with half and half.’
She also told Fit Pregnancy in 2013, ‘I drink a tremendous amount of water. I get anxiety if I go for 30 minutes without a glass of water near me.’
In addition, the blonde beauty revealed on Instagram in October that she ‘loves spending time outdoors and playing sports, whether it’s surfing, padel tennis, swimming in the ocean, wake surfing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, hiking, walking, or golf.’
