In my book, everyone is equally valuable and worthy of love, regardless of the way they look. But there are also people out there who seem to enjoy looking down on others and bullying them. That’s exactly the kind of people Jacqueline Adan ran into recently. But she had a reply for her bullies that silenced them.

American Jacqueline Adan has long struggled with her weight. For a while, she weighed more than 500 pounds (220 kg), and that was more than enough to draw the attention of cruel bullies.

But she managed to change her eating habits and start exercising. Now, she’s lost more than 350 pounds (150 kg), which is an incredible feat!

If you lose weight quickly, your skin doesn’t shrink down to your body’s new size but becomes loose instead. And that’s what happened to Jacqueline. As she lost weight, her skin became looser and looser.

At first, Jacqueline worried about how the excess skin looked on her body, and especially her legs. But she decided she wouldn’t let it hold her back, and she kept living her life as usual.

After losing so much weight, Jacqueline finally felt comfortable wearing a bathing suit during vacation for the first time in a very long time.

But when she went to the hotel pool, Jacqueline accidentally ran into some bullies. A couple at the pool started laughing at her legs and pointing.

Jacqueline later wrote a powerful post on Instagram about the event and included some close-ups of her legs, writing, “It does not matter what others say. That’s ok. Love your body.”

Her post has received more than 30,000 likes and tons of encouraging comments in just a short time. I hope Jacqueline’s bullies read it, because it would silence them and they’d realize how wrong their behavior was. Read this!

“When we were on vacation in Mexico a few weeks ago, it was the first time I had worn a bathing suit in a long time, and it had been even longer since I wore a bathing suit without a 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.

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? 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. Yes I still have a lot of loose skin, I may still feel insecure at times, and yes I may still get made fun of.”

“To be honest, yes it bothered me. But I was not going to let people like that affect me anymore! I am not going to let what other people think of me stop me from living my life.”

“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.”

“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!”

Strong, wise words from a strong and wise woman! Share if you agree!