'It's a Big Insecurity for Me'

Woman Who Lost 350 Lbs. Shares Her Excess Skin After Liposuction: 'It's a Big Insecurity for Me'

The Montessori preschool teacher, 31, lost 350 lbs. and now deals with excess skin, something she was body shamed for during two separate beach vacations.

 She’s undergone five skin removal surgeries — three on her upper body, one on the lower body and liposuction on her legs — but quickly learned that it isn’t an instant fix.

Adan has posted plenty of photos of herself since her surgeries, but for the first time, she decided to put up a video showing exactly what her legs — her biggest source of insecurity — look like now.

“This is getting very real, but I did want to be honest and open and share everything with you guys, so this is what we’re working with,” she said in an Instagram video on Monday. 

“They’re a lot more loose, as you can see. There’s a lot of it … There’s lots of dents, holes from the liposuction sucking out. This is kind of just what they are. They’re heavy, there’s a lot of it.”

Adan explained that she first had liposuction in January to get rid of some remaining fat in her legs, and is meeting with her surgeon this week to move on to the next step — skin removal.

“It’s a big insecurity for me, my legs, but at the same time, mentally it’s not just challenging, but physically,” she said. “As you can see, there’s a lot of weight. It’s heavy. Lifting my legs just to go up and down the stairs, in and out of bed, is hard because they’re so heavy.”

Adan said she decided to post this video to help her move past her insecurity.

“I wanted to share my legs with you because…well, because I am scared,” she wrote. “Even though I do not hate them anymore, I still feel very insecure with them. 

Even though I am insecure, I am not going to let them stop me from living my life or sharing them with you. This is real and this is me. This is what hard work looks like.”

And Adan — who certainly knows about body shaming — added that she refuses to be bothered by any negative comments about this video.

“You can call them ugly, nasty, big, fat, disgusting. Don’t worry anything negative you could ever say about them I have thought those things too,” she said. “I am now embracing my legs for what they are … I am not going to call them ugly anymore. These are my strong legs.”

It happened again. 
Last year on vacation, I was so nervous to wear a bathing suit and I was so nervous about how my body would look to other people.

 I was even pointed at and laughed at when I went to get into the pool. For a moment I froze, in complete embarrassment, before I decided to move on and not care. Guess what?

It happened again. It happened this year while I was on vacation again. 
Yes, I was walking on the beach and again I was pointed at and laughed and made fun of. 

As I was getting laughed at and pointed at something came over me. I was not embarrassed, I did not feel like I had to justify myself and I did not freeze or want to cry. I actually felt free! This time...I just did not care! 

I tried to go over every change inside my head as to why this year I just did not care. Then it finally hit me. I do not depend on the approval of others, and I do not care what others may or may not think about my body.

 I am so focused on living my best life, and I have been working so hard on loving me exactly how I am...loose skin and all- that I do not have time to worry about what others may think or say. 

I can finally say that I am at a place where I still have insecurities and a lot of loose skin, and yes mentally I still struggle at times, but I can finally say that my self love journey has been the focus of this past year.

And being at this place in my life where I can walk around in a bathing suit and genuinely feel confident, happy and not care what others may think or say, that is true transformation. That is true growth. 

So I am sharing this picture of me in a bathing suit for all of you. This is me. Right now. This is my body. This is what hard work, sweat, blood, tears, smiles, happiness, pain, love, and hard work look like.

 This is what it looks like to finally accept my body for what it is. This is me. And I am not making anymore excuses as to why I look the way I do...this is just me. Loose skin, cellulite, stretch marks and all. This is me. And I can finally say, I love me!

Head over to my YouTube channel to check out my full video where I share the exact moment I was made fun of and how it made me feel!