Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition: Cassandra Dumas’s Story

Last night, the BWLW sisterhood watched Cassandra Dumas‘s amazing story on Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition (ABC).  In this episode, Cassandra, a former athlete and national champion, lost 175 pounds.  She started at 364 pounds so that’s almost half of her body weight!  It was a great show because you could tell that she was a loving person who deserved the help that Chris Powell is able to give.  They showed Cassandra at her job as a school counselor and the children at the school were able to be a part of her learning that she made it on the show and her reveal.  I know that so many of the young people at that school with be touched and inspired by her journey.  Here’s the video:

As we’ve been doing the past few weeks, we chatted and shared out thoughts on the episode on our Facebook page.  We watch the episodes together each week and the conversation is always great. Here are some of the comments from the Ladies:

• “Lord, I’m not supposed to be crying so soon in the show! I love how he got the kids involved in telling her she made it on the show.”
• “I’m so happy to see her family there to support her. She looks just like her parents.”
• “She has a great attitude and sweet spirit.”
• “That’s the key…don’t focus on the FINAL GOAL…take baby steps.”
• “My husband and I are both watching. I know she can do it. She just has that spirit in her.”
• “I need Chris and Rocco to move in with me to help me!”
• “Although I don’t have as much weight to lose as she did, I see a lot of myself in her. Watching her transform is amazing. She is such an inspiration!!”
• “Although she didn’t meet her goal, she still lost 116 lbs in 6 months. She should be proud! She got off track, but just needs to refocus. I definitely struggle with that!”
• “I love her positivity!”
• “About 1 pound a day! I think the fact they gave about having to have a calorie deficit of 3500 pounds to do that should make people happy about losing 1-2 pounds a week. Don’t be mad about slow weight loss  AND…90 days is still 3 months.”
• “What an amazing inspiration for me! Wow! She looks absolutely beautiful. Now she has a tremendous accomplishment with that positive personality!”
• “You see dad’s face when she got that gift card? lol”

Here are her before and after photos.

A couple of takeaways I want to note:

• Cassandra was dealing with emotional eating and the aftermath of a painful divorce.  It’s so common for us to  turn to comfort food and emotional eating when we are going through difficult situations.  I encourage everyone to really investigate whether they are eating out of emotions or hunger and to consider how you can find healing.
• As a school counselor, she would tell the kids that they can do anything and that she could do anything…except for lose weight.  I’m so glad she can take off the caveat and tell the kids to dream big in all areas of their lives, as a true example.
• In this episode, Chris realized that small term goals were better for this client than longer goals (weeks vs. 60, 90 day goals).  It’s important that we set goals that don’t become overwhelming.  You may be trying to lose weight for a wedding, high school reunion, or other event.  That looming deadline may be a little to overwhelming.  You may also be overwhelmed by the huge amount of weight you want to lose (75 pounds or more, for example).  Set smaller goals in terms of time frame and number of pounds.  You may see that the pressure is lessened and the goals feel more attainable.

She looks amazing and it was so awesome to watch her weight loss journey unfold.  Great job, Cassandra.  Your story will inspire so many other black women to fight the battle against obesity and get healthier.  It’s a daily battle but we can win.