Meet Zhivi

When I decided to started to come back to fitness, in December of 2012, I weighed 149 pounds and everyone told me I didn’t need to lose weight. That was nice of them to say, but my journey was really never about losing weight. It was about getting my stomach to look like it did when I was 27 years old. I had a photograph of myself when I was 27 and I told Tiffany Rothe [amazing Black fitness expert] when I joined the TRFC that this is what I want my stomach to look like. She told me that it would look better than what was in the picture. I believed her. So, I started my journey by following the workouts and eating plan to a T. I was determined to put in the time and commitment to get the results I wanted.

I started taking pictures of myself every four weeks so I could see my progress. This was the first time in my life I wore a bikini and let other people see me in it. I trusted the ladies in the TRFC, so I posted the pictures and shared them with the members. I would wear the same bikini for months. One day, Tiffany and one of the other ladies of the Inner Circle told me it was time for a new bikini because the one had been taking pictures in was too big. I did not notice bathing suit had gotten too big. I purchased more swimming suits to take picture in. The summer of 2013 was the first time I wore a bikini in public. The experience was a little awkward, but I did it.

This journey for me was filled with ups and down. My husband, co-workers, friends told me I was losing too much weight and wanted me to stop. I kept going because I have to live with this body and I wanted it to look a certain way. I kept working out and following the food plan that was given to me and no matter what anyone said I was going to keep going until I thought I was too small. The food plan given to me consisted of, eating a lot of raw and steamed vegetables. My carbs consisted of oatmeal, brown rice and sometimes red skinned potatoes. I love black beans now and eat them also. The only drinks I have are water, almond milk and lemon water. All of my meat (turkey, chicken breast and fish) is baked. I also eat 5 times a day. I eat three meals and two snacks.