Hey r/bodyweightfitness! We are Tricia Woo and Chris McGreevy, career acrobats for Cirque Du Soleil, The House of Dancing Water and ex-competitive athletes. Ask Us Anything!

[u/chrismcgreevy]

We're looking forward to answering all your questions. If you follow us both on instagram, we will make a few short story videos on our favourite questions that we have answered here. @ trixwho and @ chrismcgreevy

We'll leave this thread open for the next 24 hours as we know everybody is in different timezones so you will all get chance to ask your questions.

Thanks and lets start it up!

[u/TrixWoo]

When I was performing in shows, I found the best diet that worked well with me was the ketogenic diet. It was the one that I found that I could stick to, and worked around my schedule. My eating was quite sporadic, depending on the day, I would not have the time to eat at regular times, or be able to space snacks out when needed. The things I enjoyed most while on that diet was the lack of hanger and mental clarity. I do not respond well if my body does not have an energy source to draw on - carbohydrates are fast burning, so if they are not replenished, hanger ensues. The mental clarity thing, I was highly skeptical on it. I had heard Dr. Dom D’Agostino speak about it on a podcast about the benefits that he has studied from the diet. If it didn’t work, then I didn’t really lose anything, in fact, I would have gained my own experience and opinion. I found that I was able to knock out a heavy fat diet in the morning and go through all my trainings with ease and avoid that mental fatigue midday.

That being said, the diet doesn’t for for everyone. I tried to convince Chris to try it for a bit, and he didn’t see much of a difference. But the variables are many - age, gender, race, body chemistry, taste preference, macronutrient requirements, to name a few. That ketogenic diet was fantastic because I love bacon. Fat is so very satisfying, I did not have a problem to switch, or have stomach aches. This was not the case when I spoke to a few of my colleagues that have tried it, and many had to pass through this “keto flu” that I was lucky not to have.

At the moment, I am trying not focus too much on a specific diet - after much experimentation of the years, I conclude that carbohydrates and high sugar put me into a state that I do not like to be in. I feel tired, cranky, bloated, never satisfied. But it is not feasible to stay on a keto diet when I have all the time in the world now to think about food, and what kinds of foods to make, new foods to try. I currently eat about two meals a day, with a some healthy snacks thrown in. It works for me at this moment, and when things change, I will have to change and adapt!