Sophia Strydom She Lost 44 Kg!

At a crossroads, Sophia chose the more difficult path, but one that ultimately led to success and happiness

As someone who constantly struggled to control her weight Sophia Strydom had tried numerous diets throughout her adolescent and early adult years. “Occasionally they worked but I always seemed to put the weight back on, each time adding a little bit extra.”

Her growing desperation at the situation meant that she became obsessed with finding ‘quick fix’ solutions. “From starvation diets to the ‘magic pill’, I tried them all but none ever worked. My weight and insecurities soon began to overwhelm me. I felt lost, and I certainly didn’t feel confident or happy with my condition.”

Forlorn and exasperated with a complete lack of inspiration to keep going Sophia eventually gave up. “I had always been the ‘big one’ in the group, so I decided to settle and embrace my perceived place in life. I decided that my weight defined me. It was, to me at least, clearly who I always going to be.”

Life carried on this way for Sophia until, in 2011, she found herself stuck in a bad relationship. “I didn’t have the courage or the self-confidence to end it. My relationship with food, much like my relationship with my partner at the time, was also going from bad to worse.”

At that point Sophia was about to turn 24 and she realised that she had come a crossroads in her life. “I couldn’t stay where I was. I knew I had to step up and make a change. It took a lot of courage but I finally broke things off with my boyfriend. I had never broken up with someone before; I had always been the one who got dumped.”

After all the emotions and emotional eating subsided, she discovered that she had lots of extra time on her hands. Spurred by her confidence to tackle the things in her life that were making her unhappy Sophia decided to forge on.