If you have watched The Real Housewives of Atlanta at any point during the past 15 seasons, you likely recognize Kandi Burruss. For 14 seasons (she joined in Season 2), Burruss showcased her life and work with Bravo viewers in a way that was always open and honest. While she rarely instigated any drama, she also knew how to be a part of the series in a way that made her a fan favorite.
However, after the extended break following the 15th season of RHOA, Kandi decided to take a step back from the series. And it makes sense since she is already quite famous beyond being a housewife. After all, she is a businesswoman, dancer, singer, and songwriter. She’s part of the group Xscape and has been acting in such productions as the holiday movie Whatever It Takes and even the show The Chi. Basically, Kandi Burruss is a busy woman.
Being busy also meant neglecting herself in a lot of ways. And this led to some added weight that Burruss struggled with. This led to her learning about Hydroxycut and making the decision to change some things in her life.
We had the opportunity to chat with Kandi Burruss about choosing herself and why Hydroxycut has changed the way she is approaching her health journey. And as fans of hers from RHOA, we were excited to chat with her about both her health journey and work life.
Kandi Burruss talks about her health journey with the help of Hydroxycut
Culturess: What was it about Hydroxycut that made you want to work with them and use them as someone who's been in the public eye for a really long time?
Kandi Burruss: "Well, I had tried a few different trendy weight loss products, and they didn't work for me. Basically, it wasn't working. I wasn't losing. Nothing was changing. Matter of fact, I was getting bigger gradually. And one of the things, I don't know if you remember, but a couple of years ago, Kenya Moore did a Hydroxycut challenge. And she looked so good after she did it, she had lost a lot of weight, and so my team had came to me and they mentioned Hydroxycut to me. So I was already kind of open to it. I was like, okay, that might be great, because I already saw the results and how she looked. I just was like whatever is gonna work, because everything else is not working for me."
Culturess: Have you noticed a change in your routine since starting to use the Hydroxycut?
Kandi Burruss: "I feel like I totally changed a lot of things. I totally changed my eating habits. I have way more energy now, because Hydroxycut naturally just gives you more energy to feel like you can conquer the world. Basically, you just feel like I'm ready to go. So I love it for multiple reasons. I was highly motivated to get myself together in May, because that's when I started the, what I always call the Hydroxycut challenge. My birthday was in May. I was the biggest that I had ever been, you know, other than when I was pregnant, let's say that. And I had a tour with my group Xscape. Speaking of Xscape, we had a tour this summer with SWV. We did the Queens of R & B tour. So I knew I wanted to slim down, for the tour. But at the same time, after leaving Housewives at the top of the year, I was like, 'okay, I want to better myself,' but realistically, I gained even more weight because I'm not really filming. So I felt more comfortable to just eat whatever. I was kind of just doing the most. But I wanted to be a better me. After leaving the show, I didn't want to look like I fell off."
Culturess: Do you find it challenging working with the restaurants and also doing your weight loss? Because I know you have multiple restaurants that you guys work with and that are yours. So is that a problem?
Kandi Burruss: "I can tell you one thing, the other day, we were trying to add new items on the menu. And normally I'm there for the taste testing, but this time Todd had to do it by himself. I was like, you are not going to have me sitting up there eating all that fried chicken, french toast, all this stuff. Because that's going to totally take me out of my zone. So unfortunately, I couldn't participate in our update of our menu, but it's little things like that. It was really hard being on the road, to be honest with you. For a lot of people who don't know what goes on behind the scenes, when you're artists, we go from city to city on these tour busses, but in every city we go they have catering set up in the venues. They have it in your room, they have it in the main room, and then they're making you multiple meals a day. They have a table full of desserts, all different types. They have every cookie that you ever dreamed of or wanted. You know they have all the sodas. They have all the fruit drinks. They have everything that is not good for a diet. So I had to make a promise to myself that I wasn't going to allow that to make me fall off. Whereas normally I would gain weight on tour, but I was like, Yeah, nah, I'm not doing that this time. I'm sticking to the salad table. I'm sticking to just the protein and vegetable or whatever. You know, I really was strict about it."
Culturess: So for this journey, is this something that you see yourself doing for the rest of your life, like just staying on this kind of a journey?
Kandi Burruss: "I actually asked them, and I checked in with them to see how long can I continue Hydroxycut? Is it okay to keep using the product after a certain amount of time? And they said it was fine. Because realistically, I really love the ultra shred packs. I like the way they taste, and naturally, they give me energy, you know. So for now, I'm going to stick with that. Because, listen, I lost all that weight through the summertime and got to my end goal at mid to late September. This body cannot be wasted on the winter. So I have decided that I am sticking to it, and because I want to still have the same size coming into next summer so I can show off."