She is the founder of the Good Health Stokvel which works to combat obesity in South Africa.
She is also the ambassador of the Spiral Aloe Medical Lifestyle clinic, focused on addressing chronic lifestyle diseases.
They are working towards creating an obesity-free South Africa in our lifetime, through coaching and bringing information to the people.
House Of Zwide actress Lwazilubanzi Mthembu is on a quest to change her relationship with food while helping others beat obesity.
She was introduced to the tv screens in 2015 when she played Sihle in SABC 1's Thandeka's Diary. She has since performed in theatres and the small screen.
Her most treasured roles include Mzansi Magic's Ifalakhe and her current role as Nomsa on House of Zwide. As an actress, image is important, and she struggled with confidence due to weight.
“I have been trying to lose weight for a long time,” she tells Drum.
This is until obesity affected her health as well as her self-esteem and she needed to make a change.
“The industry, in the beginning, was not kind to fuller-figured women and that’s how I wanted to start losing weight,” she says.
As time went on, her reasons changed. “My knees started to hurt and I was only at 28," she says.
“Secondly my sister had a stroke, and she was significantly larger than me and it was all because of lifestyle choices. She is a single mom of two young kids, she really struggled because she wasn’t moving around enough and almost became disabled and that motivated me.”
In 2021, Lwazi lost her father got Covid-19.
“Doctors said had he not been overweight, he could have survived,” she adds.
“There were also many things I had to endure in the industry because I was overweight. My self-esteem was damaged, and I realised that I need to lose weight for my mental health.”
Lwazi says it’s all about changing our relationship with food.
“It’s all in the way we eat. How do we make sure on our busy schedules, we still have a quality life? It’s about how you cook that cabbage you have every day but make it healthy and making sure we eat food that is good but affordable.”
Lwazi attempted the weight loss three years ago. “When I started, I was terrible. I didn’t know anything about living well. All the advice I got was incorrect and I didn’t have the motivation, consistency, and drive," she says.
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She was born overweight and grew up thinking this would not change.
“I was 4 kgs at birth. The doctors had to break my shoulder to get me out of my mom. I always lived as the big girl, and I thought things would be that way all my life. I know I am always going to be of a bigger build, but I will always be healthy, “she says.
“My quantities were an issue. I was eating too much. Which is a big thing in our SA community. I was having too much pap and potatoes and little vegetables. I was also busy on the telenovela, and I started eating out a lot," she says.
With work and balancing being a mom well, she hardly made time to cook a healthy meal.
“There’s also the soft life of drinking champagnes, gin and I wasn’t moving enough. I had to change.”
With a healthy eating plan and support, Lwazi has also included exercise.
“Working out is a new thing in my life,” she says.
“In March this year, I started grasping that this lifestyle is possible, and I have lost 11 kgs since March and joined the clinic which has given me a personal trainer, dietitian, and a support structure and my target is to lose a further 25kgs.”
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Now, Lwazi wants to help women who struggle with weight and curb lifestyle illnesses like diabetes, heart attack, and high blood pressure. “I have a team of specialists, every two weeks we host social media live discussions,” she says.
“In January we will onboard women who want to lose weight as a new year’s resolution. We will coach them for six months. We will do walks, aerobics and a dietitian will help to sit down, “she says.
“We don’t want to take advice from people who have been skinny all their lives but having someone who has gone through the journey. I want to be a good example to these women to say it is possible, I did it.”
