Betsy Ayala had just given birth when she found out that her husband was having an affair. She read through the messages they had exchanged and discovered that he had been calling her horrible names to his mistress like “cow”, because of the weight she had gained during the pregnancy.
Ayla said that she was devastated when she found out but resolved to make the best of a horrible situation. She put herself to work and lost over a hundred pounds and divorce her cheating husband. She explains:
“Now I honestly feel that what he did was a blessing because otherwise, I would have been the way I was forever. I prayed all the time for my life to change and my prayers were answered just maybe not in the way I envisioned but I got a second shot at a fresh start and I’m grateful for that. It’s changed everything in my life. I would cry after every workout and it was then that I decided that this wouldn’t define me and I was going to change for me and for my daughter. I wanted her to be proud of her mum and I wanted to be an example for her.”
Ayla discloses that she has been suffering as a result of being unhappy with the way that she looks for a very long time. She says:
“I had pretty much had weight issues my whole life. I was always the chubby kid, I never played sports or wanted to take part in physical activities because I was overweight. I did get bullied in school and got picked on. I think for me eating was like self-medication. I have anxiety and instead of dealing with the real source of my anxiety I would eat and then that would become the source of my anxiety and I would eat some more and it was just a vicious cycle.”
According to the mother, after giving birth she was the heaviest she had ever been in her life. She was dealing with her body image issues as well as postpartum depression and anxiety, meaning that she had a very difficult time sleeping. Add to the fact that she had a newborn to care for, and it all seemed to be crashing down on her.
She decided that she needed to change something about her lifestyle in order to become happier. That’s when she took to exercising and that proved to be extremely helpful. In four months Ayla lost 6 pounds. It was at this point that she discovered that her husband was cheating, which only motivated her to take better care of herself and work even harder.
She recalls finding out about the affair: “I started having more energy and losing weight, even though that wasn’t really my intention at the time and slowly started to get better. I started in September and was doing okay until two days after Christmas when I found out my husband was cheating on me with a co-worker. I had been with him since I was 17 and pretty much devoted my life to our relationship and him.”
Ayla said that though she was overcome with sadness at the discovery of her husband, not only cheating but saying extremely hurtful things about her, she says that she is much happier now and much more confident. She’s even found a way to forgive her ex-husband stating, “My ex-husband and I are actually good now. It took me a while to get to that place of forgiveness but what he did was about him and not me. My journey has really helped me understand that.”
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