Brodie MacPherson tells how she had three-quarters of her stomach removed and lost 66kg

The image (posted above) showed that she had lost 60kg over the past two years, which equates to five dress sizes.

When people on social media congratulated her on her weight loss, she wrote “as a woman at times it can be challenging talking about your body so publicly but this is something I really wanted out there because life’s too short not to wake up every day & celebrate being you!”

Now a new interview with New Idea reveals that Brodie — who once weighed 146kg — has lost a grand total of 66kg thanks in part to gastric sleeve surgery.

She said she had three-quarters of her stomach removed in November 2014 after struggling to lose more weight following a strict diet and exercise regimen.

“Gastric surgery is a bit of a taboo. There’s this idea that it is the easy way out for lazy people, but I couldn’t disagree more,’ she explained to the magazine.

“It’s a really positive tool that can assist you can reach your goal.”

Enlisting a personal trainer, psychologist and a nutritionist, she dropped an impressive 20kg initially.

But after getting down to 126kg, Brodie struggled to shed more weight and decided that gastric sleeve surgery was the only way she could reach her goal.

“I’d put in an enormous effort, but when you weigh 146kg, it doesn’t make that much difference when you lose 20kg. People just ask if you have had a haircut, or say you look fresher.”

“Surgery was never the first option, it was the last option,” she told New Idea.

The 25-year-old has in the past credited her Dancing with the Stars host brother for helping her slim down with a series of gruelling workouts

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Despite her success Brodie says she still “has a journey ahead”.

Sometimes she writes candid posts about her struggle to stay on track. On one before and after photo earlier this year, she wrote “just when I started to tell myself that I didn’t want to get up for F45 at 5:30am today, partly because it’s raining, partly because I’m not the fittest one there, partly because I have irrational fear about group exercise.”

“Life is about so much more than the number on the scales. For me, it’s about challenging yourself and fighting to become the person you want to be, not just in fitness and health — in all areas,” she told fans, adding that she intends to carry on in her healthy pursuits.

“I’m no Tony Robbins and I’ve still got a journey ahead. After all I’m just a former chubby girl who awkwardly loved leopard — but what I’ve learnt so far is that life’s too short not to keep growing, keep pushing, keep fighting your fears, keep loving yourself & having fun. 2017, we’re here to fight the good fight.”

Like his sister, Daniel MacPherson transformed himself from an overweight child to a super-fit adult over the years thanks to his dedication to fitness and health.

He is now a triathlete who has competed in iron man championships in Australia, China and Hawaii.

When Gastric Bands Go Wrong

In today’s society people can eat what they like and fail to exercise because there’s an answer to their fat nightmares – weight loss surgery. But when it goes wrong it destroys lives and future dreams.

Obesity and Depression

43 year old Deborah Salkeld weighs in at 36 stone. She piled on the weight after her brother committed suicide thirteen years ago. After years of being stuck in her bedroom, with depression and over-eating, she’s facing life changing gastric surgery: “the longer it went on the harder it was for me to come out .. for 7 months I didn’t see anyone.. I need this surgery to have a life”.