Brandy Norwood Fights Fat with Tae-Bo

Brandy Norwood
Brandy Norwood

Brandy is a stunningly beautiful and very fit R&B singer. She was born in 1979 and is now 31 years old. She keeps herself in great shape and is a great role model for young black women all across America. She is not just a singer though, she is also an actress with roles in the movie I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and has featured in made-for-TV films Cinderella and Double Platinum.

Brandy went to Hollywood High Performing Arts Center where she learnt to dance and act as well as sing. She still keeps herself in great shape through a combination of dance and tradition cardio fitness routines.

Brandy’s Diet

Brandy has said that she is a great believer in the methods of the zone diet. However, she has not always been a healthy eater. There was a time during 1996 when it was thought that she may have been anorexic after she was admitted to hospital during filming Moesha. She had become exhausted and dehydrated and is thought to have been underweight at the time.


After this time she took part in Bodywise, a scheme to educate young Americans about health, eating disorders and fitness. The scheme seems to have vanished with few references to its existence past 1999, but while acting as a role model on the scheme she has been quoted as saying:

“Eating the right foods and staying active are ways to stay fit. It isn’t what others say about you, it’s what you say and do to yourself. Being active, like playing a sport, dancing, or exercising are all ways you can keep fit. I take tae-bo classes to maintain a healthy body and spirit.”

The zone diet is about eating a well balanced diet ensuring that you eat highly nutritious food and limit the intake of empty carbohydrates such as, bread and pasta. The zone diet focuses on controlling insulin levels to improve health, but the foundation of the diet is about healthy eating to help you to keep slim.

Although the zone diet is considered to be a low carbohydrate diet, it is not anywhere near as restrictive as the induction phases of Atkins. In fact it is more like the maintenance stage of Atkins, in that the aim is for you to eat a diet which allows you to control your weight, sugar intake and insulin levels.

Some people say that the zone diet is not a healthy diet, as the focus is on the balance of fats, carbohydrates and proteins that you eat and not on eating healthy versions of each of those. However, Brandy ensures that she mostly consumes the healthiest fats, proteins and carbohydrates.

Brandy’s Fitness Workouts

Brandy enjoys running to help maintain her fitness levels, but also does some intensive martial arts style training. She is said to be a great fan of the Billy Blanks Tae Bo fitness system. Tae Bo provides a full body workout with a combination of high intensity cardio training, bodyweight circuit training and many aerobic movements derived from the martial arts. If you wish to workout like Brandy then the best option is to do this 1 week workout program:


If you do not fancy the martial arts workouts, then do more circuit training with an emphasis on training hard to a high intensity level, then take a short rest. High intensity interval training is one of the best ways to get fit and lose weight. Workout for 3 minutes at high intensity then take a 1 minute rest to mimic a boxing match, or workout at a more gentle intensity for 3 minutes followed by 1 minute of very high intensity. Using a cross trainer or exercise bike is useful in these workouts, as you can more easily control the intensity at which you exercise.

Brandy’s real key to managing her weight is really in ensuring that she does not over eat, and that she only eats nutritious, healthy foods. Exercise plays an important role in keeping fit and healthy, but ultimately you can replace sensible eating with intensive exercise. Only professional athletes such as Michael Phelps are capable of doing enough exercise each day to allow them to eat a lot of calories. For the rest of us, we need to eat less (but not under eat) and stay active.

Photo by Timothy M. Moore

3 Comments on “Brandy Norwood Fights Fat with Tae-Bo”

  1. I am overweight, recently the doctor sent me for ECG. The problem is too much Fat. Please help me. I need to lose this fat.

  2. MotleyHealth says:

    Hi Janin, there really is only one way to effectively, and permanently, lose fat. That is to make a total lifestyle change. This means:

    1. Improving your diet – smaller meals, healthy foods, no junks, no snacking.
    2. Regular exercise – can be gym workouts, running, swimming. Really does not matter, so long as you do it daily.
    3. Get more active in general – walk more, sit less.

    If you would like to follow a plan I could recommend one but would need to know more about you first, i.e. your age, diet, weight, height, when you last exercised etc. In the meantime you may wish to start reading here: Lessons In Weight Loss – Get The Facts!

  3. @Janin do a low carb diet. Cut out processed foods. Don’t eat any fast food or refined sugar. The weight will fall off. I promise. When you get to comfortable weight, think about changing thing up. Also do not skip out on your fruits and veggies during the low carb diet. Stay away from a lot of cheese and fatty meats. Eat lean protein. Fish and Shrimp is good because you can eat a lot and it is low in calorie.

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