What does “toglie di torno” mean in Italian?

The Italian for “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is “una mela al giorno toglie il medico di torno.” Swap the apple for a plank and the doctor for “la panza” (the belly) and you get a fitness-coach joke that only works if you know the original. The reusable building block is “X al giorno toglie Y di torno” — a template Italians bend for any daily habit. “Togliere di torno” means to get rid of something.

“Panza” is a relaxed, slightly comic variant of “pancia” (belly/paunch), common in central and southern speech and perfect for self-deprecating fitness banter. Fun fact: the apple proverb feels ancient but the Italian form only settled in the 1970s, calqued from the English saying first printed around 1913.