At her heaviest Jacqueline Adan weighed over 500 pounds. That's when she decided to make a change in her life.
"I was unhappy, felt stuck and did not love myself," she wrote on her Instagram page that has almost 56,000 followers.
Through healthy eating, exercise and a strong effort, she has now lost 350 pounds and it didn't come easily.
"It took hard work, sacrifice and never giving up, even if it was challenging. It took blood, lots of sweat and many tears. But I would not have changed a thing. It taught me to fight. It taught me to never give up. And most importantly it taught me to believe in myself!" she wrote.
She says her journey is far from over and that she is in the process of having excess skin removal surgery.
Adan is embracing her new body that she worked so hard for. It was on a trip to Mexico that she wore a bathing suit for the first time in years without feeling the need to cover up.
"I was nervous to take my cover up off and to walk into the pool or walk on the beach. I still felt like that same 500 pound girl...then it happened," she wrote. "A couple sitting by the pool started laughing and pointing at me and making fun of me as soon as I took my cover up off. So what did I do?"
While the judgement from the couple was noticed by Adan, she did what she never would have done before.
"I took a deep breath, smiled and walked into the pool. That was a huge moment for me. I had changed. I was not the same girl anymore," she wrote.
But that wasn't her only response to people like that.
"They do not know me. They do not know how I have worked my ass off to lose 350 pounds. They do not know how I am recovering from major surgeries. They have no right to sit and point and laugh at me. That's why I smiled," she wrote .
Her advice for people that deal with this type of bullying is simple.
"It does not matter what others say or if they try to doubt you or try to bring you down. What matters is how you react to it. How you feel about yourself. Loving yourself just the way you are is hard. Others might not like that. That's ok. I hope you love yourself. Love your body. I hope you keep doing you and just keep smiling! ."
Well said!