Exclusive | I lost 85 pounds in prison the diet and fitness plan I followed while locked up

Getting buff behind bars.Filippo Cardone, 48, used to be able to eat a whole pizza by himself — and his workout routine was almost non-existent.But in August of 2024, he pled guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced to 37 months of confinement, including 13 months in Tucson Federal Prison and time in a halfway house and on house arrest.And he didn’t waste his time while locked up.Instead, he developed a “grueling” fitness regimen — including a “Mike Tyson”-like training routine — along with a strict diet that helped him drop almost 90 pounds.

He came out a changed man.“I was the healthiest I had ever been when I got out of prison,” he told The Post.Cardone launched his career as a floor trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he traded in the S&P futures pit and NASDAQ 100 futures pit.He went on to invest in real estate and buy commercial properties, including shopping centers and flipping thousands of homes across the country.But in November of 2023, he was arrested and charged with wire fraud in a scheme involving Bitcoin.

He ultimately pled guilty to one count and reported to prison in June 2025.When he got there, he was immediately confronted with the state of his health.“The first thing they do when you get to prison is they take down your name and replace you with a number,” he recalled.“I was at 278 pounds and my blood pressure was at 157/117, so I was already really defeated.”“Going in, I didn’t know what to expect — but I did know that this would be the perfect time for me to get in shape.”Inside, Cardone overhauled his diet.

On a typical day, he’d eat a packet of about two ounces of shredded beef — off of which he would rinse the oil — as well as a packet of tuna.They each cost $1.95 from commissary.“It wasn’t a nice tuna can, like a Chicken of the Sea, because you can use the metal to make knives or weapons and stab someone,” he said.He would put the tuna in a bowl with salt and pepper and mix...