Obese mum sheds seven stone after finding cruel messages her cheating husband had sent to his lover about her weight
Betsy Ayala, 34, weighed 18st 7lb after the birth of her daughter Isabella
AN obese mum whose cheating husband labelled her a 'fat f***' has had the last laugh after shedding seven and a half stone.
Betsy Ayala, 34, weighed 18st 7lb after the birth of her daughter, Isabella, in 2013.
Six months later, the marketing manager, from Houston, Texas, discovered her husband was having an affair - and mocking her weight in cruel messages to his lover.
Vowing not to be defeated, Betsy started to hit the gym six times a week - and is now a slender 11st 3lb.
And she's not the only one. Alvina Rayne lost 10st and found love with a new man after her bullying ex called her an 'ugly fat piece of garbage' who 'know one would want'.
Betsy considers her husband's infidelity a blessing in disguise, because it gave her a kick-start to a healthier life.
She said: "I didn't know what to do with myself at the time.
"I was still over 14st with a six-month-old and everything that I had worked for had just vanished.
"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 not 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."
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As a child, Betsy always struggled with her weight - after suffering from anxiety.
She said: "I had pretty much had weight issues my whole life.
"I was always the chubby kid, I never played sports or wanted to take in physical activity 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."
At university, Betsy weighed 15st - and by the time she gave birth she had reached 18st 7lb.
She said: "After I had my daughter I was the heaviest I had ever been.
"My 14 year relationship was very strained and I was in a very severe postpartum depression and anxiety.
"I couldn't sleep and I had no desire to function at all but I had a newborn so it was a very difficult time."
Betsy lost 4st 4lb in her first four months after giving birth - but the tipping point came when she discovered her husband's affair.
In an attempt to get healthy, Betsy turned to Herbalife shakes in 2013 and lost 60lb in four months, but the real tipping point came when she discovered her husband's affair.
She said: "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 OK 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.
"I was devastated. I found out through some messages I read on his Facebook where they were calling me a cow and a fat f*** and just trashing me and my whole world fell apart.
"He would always tell me I looked fine or would try to get me to eat junk all the time which is why I was so devastated when I read those messages because it was almost like he enabled me or wanted me to stay that way."
Betsy says she is now a completely different person both inside and out, while her weight loss has made her more confident and a better mum.
She said: "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."
Meanwhile, when Meryem Davies' son drew her as a fat blob in a school picture, she signed up to Slimming World the very next day.
And Crystal Blackwell was also spurred into action, losing 15st, after being fat shamed by her own son.