Being cheated on at any point in your life sucks, but being cheated on when you have just given birth to a beautiful child must be even worse. Sadly, for one woman in Houston, Texas, this was the shocking reality she was faced with.
Betsy Ayala had just given birth to a baby girl when she found texts on her husband's phone that not only revealed that he was having an affair, but also that he and his mistress were mocking her weight.
While the majority people would go into a state of disrepair at the discovery, Ayala went down and different route and is now thankful that the whole ordeal happened.
The mother gave birth to their daughter in 2013 and at the time she weighed 265 pounds. She had been trying to shed some of her post-baby weight when she discovered the texts on her now ex-husband's phone.
“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,” Ayala said.
“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 fat and just trashing me and my whole world fell apart.”
The 34-year-old mom says that she was left feeling heartbroken by the situation.
“I didn’t know what to do with myself at the time. I was still over 220 pound with a 6-month-old and everything that I had worked for had just vanished,” she said.
But rather than fall into a pit of depression, Ayala began to transform her life. She started cutting out sugary snacks and started working out with her sisters, doing Zumba classes and channelling her frustrations through the gym.
A few years down the line and Ayala has lost 103 pounds and is now a wellness coach for others who are trying to lose weight. The mom feels like the affair was a blessing in disguise and is pleased that the whole thing happened.
“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."
“I would cry after every workout and it was then that I decided that this would not define me and I was going to change for me and for my daughter. I wanted her to be proud of her mom and I wanted to be an example for her,” she said.
She says that she is now hoping to transfer her love of working out to her children, saying that a passion for exercise is not something she had as a child.
“I was always the chubby kid,” she said.
“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.”
The mom now has over 70,000 Instagram followers and has been doing the round on TV, with her recently being interviewed by Steve Harvey.
“I’m a completely different person both on the inside and outside because of my outlook on everything. I was always very negative and had a chip on my shoulder because I was unhappy with me. I’m happier, I’m confident and most of all I’m positive,” she said.
Ayala's show of strength proves that, with the mindset, it's more than possible to make the best out of awful situations. Good on her!