Meet Cassie! Here's Her Story

Ahem… Hello, my name is Cassie and I am 26 years old. I have 2 awesome girls, a wicked awesome husband and the coolest dog in the whole world. I really have a great life, but I have never felt comfortable in my own skin. When I was younger, my mother and aunts would talk badly about themselves, and critique their bodies. I grew up to be the same way, and now with 2 daughters of my own, I’ll be darned if they see me whining about every wrinkle or roll that I have.

Cassie and the fam

When I was a kid, I was naturally chubby. I have a memory of hoarding Captain Crunch under the table because my mom wouldn’t let me eat it. At friend’s houses I ate beef along with the best of them, but at my house it was contraband. When I entered high school, I slimmed down a lot because I got active in marching band. I ate trash all the time, and looked like a toothpick. I remember eating a Snickers bar, Cheetos (still my favorite), and a Coke for lunch every day. I worked at a smoothie place, and had smoothies that could total up to 700 calories in one cup for dinner many times a week. I was still a rail. I weighed 130 pounds at my lowest, and I’m 5’7.  

When I got married, I was 18 years old. My husband is military and I flew to El Paso to see him over the weekend. I missed my flight to go back so I asked him to marry me instead (because we know how thats the natural order of things…). I moved to El Paso 2 months later, and immediately started packing it on. When I got married I was up to 150 pounds, and by the following year, I weighed 175. I still looked ok, so I didn’t worry too much. That year, he was given orders to deploy for 13 months to Korea, and I moved back in with mom and dad (Awesome!!!...Not.) I worked a full time job at the hospital, and came home to good home cooked meals nightly, and I just chipped in for groceries. I gained 10 pounds in 3 months and kept it all year.

Cassie on her Wedding Day

When he got home, I weighed 185, heaviest I had ever been. I got a job as a waitress at an awesome steakhouse in El Paso and lost a  little bit…right before I got pregnant. I guess looking hot again really spices things up. I was 21, and preggers at 170. I gained 50 pounds with Charlotte on account that I ate a king size Snickers bar daily and drank massive amounts of Coca Cola at work. I after she was born, I kept 20 pounds to myself (190).

He deployed again to Qatar for 15 months, only 2 weeks after Charlotte was born. I moved in with my grandmother and feasted on her southern cooking all year and hung out with my baby. When it was time for him to come home I ran the treadmill to the ground determined to lose something so that it wouldn’t look like I sat around on my butt all year…which I did. I squeezed off 15 pounds then quickly put them back on when we started to go out all the time (which is a common thread in my weight gain).

Cassie, Stuart, and Charlotte

We then moved to Oklahoma. This town has not one solitary salad bar anywhere. (Speaking of business ventures Liz…) As wonderful as some of the people here are, they are totally comfortable being ignorant to health issues arising from obesity and smoking. I truly felt welcome here in my new, “curvy/lumpy” body. Unfortunately, my body was starting to kick back. I was up to 196 when I found out I was pregnant with my second daughter Lucy. I went into the hospital with a headache that had lasted 2 weeks, and was diagnosed with pregnancy, hypertension, and pneumonia. When they tested my BP, I was 165/96 resting. It was truly scary. I didn’t really look that bad in my eyes. I mean, my husband still swooned me, I didn’t feel sick, but I just had no energy, no libido, and no self esteem. When I topped out with Lucy I had gained 40 more pounds and after birth and water loss, I tipped the scales at 214lbs all on my own. I tried to breastfeed thinking that I could eat the hamburger and the baby would suck out the calories for me, but obviously that naive thinking was false. So we bottle fed the baby all the while I was still mad about the lack of my ability to “passively” lose weight through breastfeeding. I started student teaching in January (Lucy was 8 months old), I slipped off 14 pounds due to the amount of moving around I did in the classroom and now at her first birthday, I weigh 200-199 depending on my supper last night.

Cassie and Baby Lucy 1 year ago

I am tired and hungry all the time. I have no energy and no libido. I am looking forward to the next 12 weeks like a kind of personal experiment to see if Liz’s idea of health truly builds a better picture of the real me. I know that I’m a super hot chic and have a winning personality, but if you can’t see it on the outside, then I’m stuck having my own party all by myself. The most important thing I want to get out of this endeavor is the ability to teach my daughters how to be happy and healthy. I want to break that cycle of self hate that I saw in my mother and show them that you can be happy with your body. The amount of stress that I put myself through because of my lack of self esteem is just disgusting. I want to SHOW them how to love themselves, not just tell them. I have no idea if ill really see a huge change in my cravings for sugar, or my love of steak, but I know that after the next 12 weeks ill have no excuse to say “I can’t” anymore. I hope that you guys see an awesome transformation; I know I am looking forward to it. Gaining weight is way too easy, and this may suck for a little while while I’m adjusting to my new eating habits and exercise patterns. But mark my words, I’M BRINGING SEXY BACK!!!!! Lord help me.

Cassie went back to school and recently graduated. What an awesome future she has before her.