Top Chef star Antonia Lofaso doesn’t always feel like working out—but running four restaurants requires energy and strength. Lofaso, 47, shared a video of herself wearing black leggings and a shirt with Mangia e Statti Zitto on it, doing a mat workout with a roller. “I did not want to workout this am… 😭😭. Lots of work and travel and time zones and feeling tired. @xeamyers said get up it will make you feel better and it totally did ❤️❤️❤️. Also I could never do these and now I can!!!” she captioned the post. Here’s how Lofaso stays fit, strong, and happy.
Lofaso relaxes and unwinds with a day at a Korean day spa. “I am a big fan of Koreatown (in Los Angeles), and there are amazing Korean day spas there that do acupuncture and acupressure,” she told Mom.com. “I am a big fan of Chinese preventative medicine so once a week I see a natural doctor and I have cupping and acupuncture done to unwind and it’s amazing! Every three weeks I will go to the Korean day spa and have a two-hour acupressure, stretching and meditation session.”
Lofaso’s is inspired by her fellow chefs, and says her top meal of 2023 was something she will never forget. “You know what, actually I keep saying that my most memorable meal was at Zahav, it’s Michael Solomonov,” she told Tasting Table. “It was outstanding, that was probably the most interesting … he pulled out like a 45-day dry-aged veal that he was curing and it was unbelievable.”
Lofaso is always busy, so she focuses on quality time with her daughter. “The only way that I find balance is the constant reminder that it isn’t the quantity of time but the quality of time,” she told Mom.com. “Spending four days in Mammoth with my daughter over Valentine’s Day weekend and snowboarding with her—it’s that kind of experience. As soon as we step into Los Angeles, I was like, ‘Gotta go!’ But, when we were snowboarding it was like an excursion together and we have these hilarious fun stories to talk about.”
Lofaso has good advice for anyone who wants to work in the food world. “To make it in hospitality, you need to have grit and ambition,” she told The Table by Harry & David. “I am so proud that so many men and women have worked in my kitchen and had no strong background in cooking — some started as dishwashers — and now they are running things, making huge salaries because of hard work and determination. The simplest advice is just cook. There is no magic pill that is going to get you from point A to point B faster. You need to cook all the time, every night of the week, until you’ve mastered the dish.”
Working out and being strong impacts every aspect of Lofaso’s life. “In order for me to do what I do — run three restaurants, fly all over for cooking appearances, do television — I need to be in the best fighting shape,” she told The Table by Harry & David. “We look at fighters and the way that they prepare for their match. It’s the same exact thing. Too many times, chefs are pigeonholed into this unhealthy lifestyle. You’ve seen us being crazy drinkers and partying and eating large burgers. I just ate an entire donut—I don’t stop eating. You can’t work 80 hours a week in a restaurant and not drink water and not get sleep and not exercise and not eat healthy. My love of exercise and nutrition really just comes through years of me beating my body up in my work.”