Cassie Rogerson may be small at 5-feet-2-inches, but whatever she lacks in size she makes up for with an infectious smile and larger-than-life personality that puts most people at ease within minutes of meeting her. Despite her bubbly disposition, a recent accident temporarily changed her life and left her scrambling to regain her mental and physical health.
It started last January, when Cassie attempted to take her dog for a walk in a snowstorm. The dog turned the opposite direction and Cassie slipped, fell and hit her head on black ice. Although she didn’t lose consciousness, she saw stars. She was able to regroup and make it home without issue. A couple days later, serious symptoms began to surface that impacted her ability to perform the most basic everyday activities.
“At first I was fatigued and didn’t connect it to the fall, but then I almost passed out, and I knew something was very wrong,” she said. “After talking to my doctor, I realized my issues were due to a severe concussion.”
But that was just the beginning. As time passed, Cassie began to feel worse, and the side effects multiplied.
“I had constant dizziness, blurred vision, light sensitivity and sound sensitivity,” she said. “I couldn’t bear to be in a room with regular lights, and everything was so loud that I couldn’t concentrate.”
In addition, she couldn’t drive, ride in a car or talk on the phone for more than five minutes without feeling nauseous. Sometimes the only thing that made her feel better was sitting in a dark room to rest. Despite these hardships, Cassie was determined to use fitness as the solution to regaining her physical and mental health.
“I’m not going to lie; there was a time where I felt hopeless,” she said. “Like I was stuck, and being heavier might be my destiny.”
She had gained more than 30 pounds and even the most basic tasks made her feel exhausted. However, she began to make a plan for recovery, and she never gave up.
After her doctor cleared her last April, we began very short, low-intensity workouts designed to get her moving without aggravating her old symptoms. We started with one or two sets per exercise and kept the weight light with long rest periods.
In September, Cassie was well enough to sign up for our 12-week body transformation with the goal of losing the 30 pounds, and regaining her health and stamina. After starting the program, Cassie began to make steady progress. It wasn’t easy, as there were periods where she didn’t lose as much weight as she would have liked, and times where she slipped up with the diet, but she began to build momentum with each passing week. By the time she finished, she had lost a total of 31 pounds and 22.5% of her starting body fat. She was clearheaded, and had regained her physical and mental strength and stamina. She was not only back to feeling normal and healthy, but also better.
When asked what advice she would offer to anyone feeling stuck and out of shape, Cassie said, “There’s no plateau weight. If you are stuck at a certain weight, you are doing things that are keeping you there. You need structure and accountability, and that’s exactly what helped me achieve my goals.”
On a side note, Cassie’s husband Lincoln also decided to sign up for the transformation and they did the program as a family. Lincoln is a Type 1 diabetic who has had trouble regulating his blood glucose in the past. However, it wasn’t long before he began to experience a dramatic change in the way he felt as well as his overall health. His blood sugar quickly regulated to consistent healthy levels he had not experienced in years. He lost 12.5 pounds of pure fat and put on an amazing 16 pounds of solid muscle.
Cassie and Lincoln’s inspirational transformations are excellent examples of how working out and following sound dietary principles can dramatically change your physical and mental health without medication. Congratulations, guys, you did an incredible job!