American Actor Zeeko Zaki is one of the unique personalities in Hollywood. He is famous for being part of the CBS television series FBI. Recently, he talked about his 100-pound weight loss. When you think of that amount, it looks like a drastic body transformation. But Zeeko Zaki’s weight loss is not something that happened overnight.
Instead, the American actor explained how he gradually managed to reduce his weight. In one interview, he talked about his interest in different physical activities that helped him remain consistent with his gym regimen.
Unlike many people that go through a dramatic weight loss transformation, he recommends slow and steady progress. Zeeko Zaki’s weight loss transformation lasted for eight years. He said he is a different person every year.
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Get To Know Zeeko
Born Zakaria Sherif Zaki in January 1990, he is famous for his role portraying Special Agent Omar Adom Zidan in the FBI television series. He was born in Egypt, but he is an American actor who spent most of his life in the United States of America.
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, he immigrated with his parents Emon Zaki and Sherif Zaki to the United States when he was only one month old. His maternal grandparents immigrated to the US before he and his parents arrived.
His extended family, however, remained in Egypt. During his childhood, he spent the summer with his aunt in a villa in Agami Region. Yet, he grew up in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His mother manages a salon in Wilmington, Delaware. Fun fact: his father is a stylist. He has two younger siblings, his brother Zeyad Zaki and his sister Zeina Zaki.
Similar to many celebrities in Hollywood, Zeeko discovered his passion for acting early in his childhood. It happened during his freshman year in high school. He graduated from Unionville High School and acted in the community theatre group Unionville Players.
In 2010, he moved to North Carolina where he worked in theater before auditioning for television roles. The Egyptian-born actor got his first notable roles in Six and 24: Legacy, portraying antagonists.
His first lead role and big break came in the TV series FBI. There, he portrays Agent Zidan in Dick Wolf’s procedural TV show. Fun fact: the role was originally written for a Latino actor, but Dick was impressed by his audition tape and changed the character’s ethnicity.
Speaking about his role, Zeeko says his intention is to prove to the world that Muslims and Arabs are not terrorists as commonly portrayed in television series.
He is a Muslim and speaks English and Egyptian Arabic. He spoke Egyptian Arabic at home until he was six years old.
Why Did He Lose Weight?
Zeeko Zaki’s weight loss journey didn’t happen overnight. The famous actor explained that the lengthy journey was intentional and lasted for eight years.
Speaking about it, he said, “The craziest part was just being kind of a different person every year. You get like 10 pounds a year, I wanted to do it slow”.
The Egyptian-born actor pointed to a book called The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss as his inspiration and motivation.
Speaking about his fitness journey, he said, “Keeping it fresh and new was a good way to sustain what was a gradual and hopefully healthy weight loss”.
His interest in losing weight began in high school. And everything began in 2019 when he began working out to P90X video programs and attempted different diets and workout routines.
Because he wants to keep things fresh, Zeeko gets obsessive about a different type of activity every six months. For example, sometimes he might get obsessive about yoga, and other times about CrossFit.
For the popular actor, staying fit is important. That helps him keep up with his grueling work schedule. He explained, “Your body will break down faster if you’re not keeping it fit”.
How Much Weight Did He Lose?
During his entire journey, Zeeko managed to achieve an amazing full-body transformation. He lost an impressive amount of 100 lb. He decided to have a gradual transformation over a period of eight years.
His biggest trick is consuming 30g of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. That is something he learned from the book The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss.
How Does Protein Help With Weight Loss?
As we said before, one of the biggest tricks Zeeko used for his weight loss journey is consuming a large amount of protein after waking up.
For many years, consuming more protein and less carbs has been a weight loss trick. But exactly how protein helps you lose weight? Increasing the amount of protein can help by regulating certain hormones.
For starters, protein changes the levels of several weight-regulating hormones. Higher protein intake increases the levels of satiety hormones that send signals to your brain that you are hungry. These hormones help process different types of information, including when and how much to eat.
High amounts of protein also help with weight loss by burning calories. Digesting and metabolizing protein burns more calories. Protein has a much higher thermic effect than carbs and fat. In simpler terms, protein has a thermic effect of around 30%, compared to 10% for carbs and 3% for fat.
Due to the high thermic effect and other factors, a high-protein diet can boost your metabolism and make you burn calories around the clock. Even when you are sleeping, you are burning calories thanks to a high-protein diet.
Last, but not least, protein reduces appetite and makes you eat fewer calories. Consuming more protein-rich foods can reduce appetite, leading to an automatic reduction in calorie intake.
In simpler terms, you end up eating fewer calories. There is no need to count calories or control portions because protein automatically makes you eat less.
When you increase your protein intake, you consume fewer calories. And it works on a meal-to-meal basis, and day-to-day reduction in calorie intake.
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- James Corden’s Weight Loss – Becoming A WW Ambassador
