‘I did feel like it was cheating’: Leisel Jones opens up about medical weight loss

Australian Olympic swimming champion Leisel Jones has opened up about her weight-loss journey, revealing on Sunrise that she used medical assistance to shed 25kg.

The nine-time Olympic medallist, who has built an online community based around honesty and authenticity, said the decision to use medical assistance was difficult but ultimately life-changing.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Leisel Jones opens up about medical weight-loss journey.

“It was a very hard, difficult decision to make in the first point because I did feel like it was cheating,” Jones said.

“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.”

Jones admitted she had struggled with her body image her entire career and, after age 40, despite her extensive knowledge of nutrition and fitness, she struggled with weight gain.

“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.”

Jones revealed she had been dealing with several medical conditions which made weight loss particularly difficult, including high liver enzymes, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and subclinical hypothyroidism.

“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.

Jones was thrust into the spotlight when she joined the Australian swim team at age 14, amplifying consciousness around her body image.

“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,” Jones said.

“Throughout my career, I’ve been really conscious of what I look like, what my weight is, how heavy I was.”

Jones is now on a mission to reduce the stigma around medical-assisted weight loss, shutting down anyone who considers it a shortcut.

“There’s so much stigma and there still is,” she said.

“We see so many people, and there’s so many judgements. ... people are losing weight and they think, ‘Oh, you’ve taken a shortcut.’

“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.”

With authenticity her trademark, Jones said it was of the utmost importance to her to be open and honest about her journey with her fans and social media followers.