‘FBI’ Star Zeeko Zaki Talks 100-Pound Weight Loss in 8 Years

Zeeko Zaki is opening up about his 100-lb. weight loss after dropping the pounds gradually over eight years. The 32-year-old FBI star, who plays Special Agent O.A. Zidan on the hit CBS show, spoke candidly about his transformation with Entertainment Tonight, explaining why he decided to lose the weight on his own time schedule.

“The craziest part was just being kind of a different person every year. You get like 10 lbs. a year, I wanted to do it slow,” Zaki explained. “But my biggest tip and the thing that I walked away from was a little trick I learned from The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss – 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. So give it a shot.”

“The fact that we kind of got to reveal whoever this guy is with you guys here was pretty exciting because until I look in the mirror, I just still feel like that old kid,” he told the outlet. The actor previously opened up about his experience losing weight in 2019, saying that his interest first peaked when crewing in high school in an interview with Delaware Online.

Since then, he’s tried a number of different workout routines and diets, regularly switching things up from exercise programs like P90X to activities like yoga and Crossfit. “Keeping it fresh and new was a good way to sustain what was a gradual and hopefully healthy weight loss,” Zaki told the outlet of his workouts, which he does between four and six times a week, waking up at 4 a.m. to get the “juices flowing” with a workout before getting to the set of FBI at 6 a.m “Your body will break down faster if you’re not keeping it fit,” he said at the time of the 12- to 14-hour filming schedules. 

Monday to Entertainment Tonight, Zaki commented on his co-star Missy Peregrym’s announcement Friday that she will be taking an extended maternity leave before returning to filming sometime in September after welcoming her daughter in June. As for if the FBI cast has any special plans to welcome her back, Zaki cryptically answered, “We’ll see, we’ll see. Maybe her and the kids will enter undercover in an episode and we’ll get to kind of do it on screen. That’d be great.”