Weight is a big issue these days, becoming overweight is really a painful thing.

Everyone wants to look good today, and they try hard to achieve their goals.

A woman lost 71 kilos and now she looks so different that she is afraid that her passport will not be accepted at the airport for her dream vacation to Bali.

Cassandra Sheldon, from Darwin in the Northern Territory, recently visited a Facebook group for advice on her changed looks and flying – but instead received hundreds of responses with awe for her incredible weight loss.

She was also convinced that facial recognition software is advanced enough not to cause problems at the airport.

I’ve always been overweight, although I was very active and grew up a lot of sports & said the 27-year-old office assistant to FEMAIL.

‘I use to do swimming training, netball and little athletics and had something to go to every day. But I was still an overweight kid.’

She remembers a friend at school calling her ‘fat’ when she was seven years old and felt as though that was the first time she was very conscious of her size.  

‘It wasn’t until high school when things started to really change and I felt more self-conscious and the bullying increased a little, but my friends were always there to help stick up for me,’ she said.

‘At around 15 I hit a real low point with my weight; I felt ugly and that no one would ever date me because of my size. I was around 105 kilos at this stage.

‘I became bulimic in order to try and shift the kilos and exercised every day which often took priority over my homework.

‘Through all of that I only lost about 20 kilos over the course of one year and I ended up falling back into old eating habits and put on even more weight than I had lost.’

Four years ago Cassandra was 146 kilos, was suffering from back pain and her stomach started hitting the steering wheel in her car so she knew something had to change.  

‘Everyone was really worried about me and I was worried that if I continued down this path I’d end up with diabetes or heart problems due to being obese,’ she said.

‘I came across weight loss surgery and was considering having this done and made an appointment with my doctor.

‘It took me another two years to commit to the gastric sleeve surgery. I did a lot of research into the procedure so I was 100 percent aware of what I was getting myself into and I ended up having the surgery done on March 15, 2017.’

Not wanting to waste the chance she had been given at having a better life, Cassandra stuck to the diet and exercise regime her doctor gave her with vigor.   

‘I was eating a lot of protein which was very important after surgery,’ she said.

‘I would have a protein yogurt for breakfast every morning or a protein smoothie with fresh frozen fruits, a bit of fruit for morning tea, tuna salads for lunch, meat and veg for dinner and I had an addiction to packet popcorn.

‘All my meals were very quick and easy which suits my lifestyle; the surgery made my portion sizes better and I never felt hungry.

‘I tried out a lot of different activities like water aerobics, vera flow (a dance-based stretch class), tennis, weight training, yoga, and Zumba, just to name a few of my favorites.’

In a little over a year, Cassandra lost 71 kilos and had reached her goal weight of 75 kilos.  

Now she follows a mostly keto-based diet to keep her results in check.  

Breakfast includes two slices of bacon, one egg and a quarter of an avocado or a protein shake and a bit of fruit.

For lunch, she’ll opt for a tuna salad or roast chicken, or a Greek salad with feta cheese.

Finally, for dinner, she might have homemade spaghetti bolognese with zucchini noodles.  

‘There is a lot of negativity from others about gastric sleeve surgery being the “easy way out” and they couldn’t be more wrong,’ she said.

‘This has restricted my stomach from being the size of a football to be the size of a tennis ball.

‘It’s major surgery and is usually done when someone is at their last resort of yo-yo dieting and losing and gaining weight.

‘There are enzymes in the stomach which send signals to the brain telling us when we are hungry and full, those are removed during surgery.

‘After my weight loss surgery I have a new life and I feel like my insides match my outside, this is who I truly am and I am the happiest I have ever been.’

 

 

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