Obese Brazilian Instagram star loses 100lbs after having gastric surgery but says she STILL feels overweight - because 'there isn't an operation for the mind'

  • Raina Trindade, 29, from Rio was bullied at school over her weight
  • The safety officer who's hoping to inspire people on Instagram tried diet pills but saw her health decline as she ballooned to more than 280lbs
  • She decided on tummy tuck and breast op, which gave her new slim body
  • But she says her biggest battle has been trying to lose her 'fat mind-set' 

A woman from Brazil who has shed a dramatic seven stone after gastric surgery says she still thinks she's overweight - because she has a 'fat mind-set'. 

Raina Trindade, 29, a technical safety officer, from Rio, once weighed 20.5 stone but saw her size plummet following a tummy tuck. 

Trindade says that while she should be delighted with the operation's results, she can't get her head around the idea that she's no longer obese - and says she's 'at war' with her mind. 

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Raina Trindade, 29, from Rio, shed a whopping seven stone after having gastric surgery. However, her new figure hasn't made her happy, because she says she's still overweight in her mind

Raina Trindade, 29, from Rio, shed a whopping seven stone after having gastric surgery. However, her new figure hasn't made her happy, because she says she's still overweight in her mind

Before: Raina as she looked prior to the weight loss. The safety officer said she had made herself ill trying different diet pills in a  bid to beat the bulge

Before: Raina as she looked prior to the weight loss. The safety officer said she had made herself ill trying different diet pills in a  bid to beat the bulge

While her curves look fabulous, Raina says she can't get over the fact that she's not a fat person, explaining 'there is no operation for the mind'

While her curves look fabulous, Raina says she can't get over the fact that she's not a fat person, explaining 'there is no operation for the mind'

Bullied at school over her weight and struggling with declining health, the 29-year-old initially turned to dangerous methods in a bid to beat the bulge, including taking diet pills.

However,  harsh warnings from doctors that she was at risk of a heart attack, Raina booked bariatric surgery two years ago and slimmed to a healthy 10.6 stones.

To complete her dream look, the brunette babe had a tummy tuck and breast implants in 2014 - all for free.

But despite her fabulous transformation Raina still struggles with her 'fat mind-set'.

She said: 'The bariatric is not a miracle cure. I realised that it is down to me to make sure the surgery actually worked. This is like a fight for me.

'I am at war with my body because even though I've had the operation my stomach I haven't had the operation on my mind.

A love of carbs and sweet desserts saw Raina pile on the pounds
However, bullying remarks over her weight made her determined to shed the stones

A love of carbs and sweet desserts saw Raina pile on the pounds. However, bullying remarks over her weight made her determined to shed the stones

Still hungry: Raina says she can't stop thinking about stodgy food, even though she knows it's bad for her

Still hungry: Raina says she can't stop thinking about stodgy food, even though she knows it's bad for her

'So I still think that I am fat and still think every day about eating the rubbish I used to love.

'I still believe that I am fat and in my head I still want to eat everything I see and still love because it is a daily fight with my mind.

'I look slim and I look healthy and fit but in my mind I am still fat and still greedy for the all the bad food that will kill me. I still have the mind of a fat person.'

Raina started struggling with weight as a child, and even raided her parent's fridge at night, eating crisps, chips, biscuits and lots of sweets.

'I'd get up in the night and stuff myself with food from the fridge and when I had some money I would buy sweets.'

HOW 29-YEAR-OLD  RAINA'S EATING HABITS HAVE CHANGED

DIET BEFORE

Breakfast: Bread, biscuits, chocolate

Dinner : Big meals full of carbohydrates

Dessert: Lots of sweet deserts such as chocolate cakes, ice cream and sweet puddings. Cakes, condensed milk, caramel and d caramel spread dulche de leche

Snacks: crisps, biscuits, sweets

Drinks: everything fizzy and with sweeteners

 

DIET NOW

Breakfast: Tapico made into a pancake with chicken or tuna. Orange juice

Snackprotein shake after the gym

Lunch: Salad with sweet potato, or yam, with some meat, chicken or beef.

Snack: Yoghurt with granola

Dinner: Similar to lunch, vegetables or salad adding proteins with chicken and fish but no carbs 

Snacks: fruit, mango, oranges, bananas

Drinks: anything without sweeteners and no fizzy drinks

Having ballooned to 17 stone by the time she was a teenager, Raina resorted to dangerous dieting methods.

 'People mistakenly believe that once you do gastric surgery that's it, you don't have to do anything more, the weight will simply drop off.
 Raina Trindade

She said: 'I started to take powerful dietary medicines, without consulting the doctors, to help me lose my weight.

'I was desperate to lose the weight and bullied at school because I was fat.

Raina adds: 'Later on because I had abused and used these powerful drugs to lose weight so much, by the time I reached 25 nothing I took made any different to my weight.

Once her body had stopped reacting to the drugs, she was left just feeling ill and lethargic. During a check-up, concerned doctors warned Raina she would die from obesity if she didn't lose some weight.

She said: 'At a check-up before I decided to do the surgery, doctors warned me I would die because I was too overweight.

'I had problems with my kidneys, I was constantly short of breath, I was suffering from heart palpitations because my heart was working so hard to keep me alive in my fat body.

Hoping to inspire others struggling with rapid weight-loss, Raina has her own Instagram account @projeto68quilos

Hoping to inspire others struggling with rapid weight-loss, Raina has her own Instagram account @projeto68quilos

At 27, the desperate dieter had reduction surgery in February 2014 to try and save her health. 

And six months later, when Raina had reached her target goal weight, she had a tummy tuck and 285ml breast implants because the weight loss left her with 'saggy and small boobs.'

Raina said: 'I was very scared when doctors said I had to do the surgery but the operation has changed my life.

'People mistakenly believe that once you do gastric bypass surgery that's it, you don't have to do anything more, the weight will simply drop off.

'That's not true - it was very hard in the beginning, because you become like a child again and have to learn how to eat properly and sensibly.

She says she now follows a healthy diet with a nutritionist and exercises six days a week. Raina hopes to encourage other people in similar situations through her Instagram account: @projeto68quilos.

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