Leisel Jones has opened up about her 25kg weight loss.
During an appearance on Sunrise this week, the former Olympic swimmer revealed she used medical intervention to shed her unwanted kilos.
“It was a very hard, difficult decision to make in the first point because I did feel like it was cheating,” she explained.
“I’ve used a medical-assisted weight loss, which has been fantastic for me, and I’ve been working with (women’s weight-loss program) Juniper.”
The Order of Australia Medal recipient said she struggled with her weight after turning 40 and no longer having to adhere to a strict training schedule.
“I’ve been in the gym my entire life, I’ve eaten really well, but once I turned 40 something changed and I was really struggling in the gym,” she explained.
“I would try to burn 500 calories while I was at the gym. I would skip for half an hour, and I was just putting on so much weight.”
The former competitive swimmer, who split from her husband Damon Martin in 2023, suffers from high liver enzymes, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and subclinical hypothyroidism, which has made it difficult for her to maintain her weight naturally.
“PCOS in particular makes it very difficult to lose weight so, it didn’t really matter what I did, I just couldn’t get around it,” she said.
The 40-year-old said there’s so much judgement around medical interventions for weight loss when we should be applauding people for seeking out the support they need.
“We see so many people, and there’s so many judgments. … people are losing weight and they think, ‘Oh, you’ve taken a shortcut’,” she said.
“No, no, no, no. It’s not a shortcut. This is just giving you that little bit of assistance to get into that good routine and those good habits.
“It’s OK if you need medication to be able to assist you to do that. There’s no judgement around it.”
Leisel was just 14 when she joined the Australian swim team and she said the intense public scrutiny around her body only made her more self-conscious.
“We are in the tiniest bathers. In 2000, when I made the team when I was 14, I had these massively high-rise bathers. You could see absolutely everything,” she recalled.
“Throughout my career, I’ve been really conscious of what I look like, what my weight is, how heavy I was.”
Last year, Leisel opened up about her mental health struggles and the time she hit her lowest point during a training camp in Spain in 2011 when she began experiencing suicidal thoughts.
Thankfully, an unnamed coach knocked on her door and saved her from that dark moment. But 14 years on, Leisel says she’s still working on her mental health.
“I’d really like to talk about the hope and the light at the end of the tunnel,’’ she said during a speech at the Albury Wodonga Winter Solstice.
“And I distinctly remember sitting down with my psychologist after 2011 when I had contemplated taking my own life. I remember Lisa saying to me, she said there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“I was like, ‘who bloody blew it out because I can’t see it, and I just feel like it’s never getting any closer, but extraordinarily it does’. And that light will always be there, but you just have to find it, and sometimes you do have to light it yourself.”
“It’s a lot of hard work. You do have to work through it, but the first thing is recognising that you may have a problem and that you may want to work through it. It is incredibly brave to go and seek help,” she continued.
“Personally, I’ve got a mental health care plan. I’m about to start with a psychologist on Tuesday. It’s all about taking that first step, getting in there, really digging deep.
“It’s gritty, it’s awful, and it sometimes feels like it’s a waste of time. But trust me, it’s so worth it, because there is hope out there.”
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