Priscilla Meirelles is now looking good more than ever despite the challenges she has faced in the past couple of years.
Not only was she then in a dark place, she was also not in her best form, figuratively and literally.
Then came a moment of epiphany.
“I couldn’t recognize who I was seeing. That’s not who I remember [myself] to be,” she recalled in an interview with PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal).
Around the same time, she was also experiencing the pains of her breakup with now ex-husband John Estrada.
Those moments of trials, Priscilla turned into motivation.
The Brazilian beauty queen worked on loving herself more to gain back her confidence.
Now at 140 pounds, not only was she able to shed off around 45-50 pounds, Priscilla has a better disposition.
Priscilla revealed to PEP how she was able to lose the extra pounds, which she stressed required hard work, but it was worthwhile in the end.
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MAKING THE DECISION
Priscilla emphasized that everything started when she made a decision to be a better version of herself.
So she changed her mindset and carefully thought about her next game plan.
She explained, “To start with, of course, I need to love myself again. And I found that I was not loving myself at all.
“To allow myself to be simply unrecognizable speaks volumes of what was my mind state at that time.”
She realized that she had to start on her wellness journey because she only had one body.
Adopting a better mindset, she said, “It was not about looking good. It’s about being healthy and longevity.”
Priscilla added that as a single mom, her teenage daughter Anechka is still young and she needs to be stronger for her daughter.
“I want to be able to enjoy all the stages of her [Anechka’s] life in good health. I don’t want to be someone that would be a burden to her.”
DOING THE NECESSARY WORK
Then Priscilla put the much-needed work.
She understood that she had to address a health issue that was an impediment to her goal toward health and wellness.
Priscilla referred to it as “hormonal issue” and a huge reason “why my body got so deformed, I got so big, and so bloated.”
She later identified it as an endometrial cyst, an ovarian cyst lined by endometrial-like tissue.
She underwent surgery and had it removed. Priscilla said it gave her relief.
Afterwards, she enrolled at a gym and exercised regularly.
The biggest challenge, Priscilla revealed, was changing her diet.
“I just ate four things every meal, which was eggs, sweet potato, animal protein—it’s either chicken or steak—and then ginger tea. That’s all I ate for six months.”
Little by little, Priscilla was seeing results.
“I felt proud of the things that I accomplished. It wasn’t easy.
“In five, six months, I was able to remove all the pounds that are extra,” she beamed.
It has been two years now since she started her wellness journey and Priscilla continues what she has started.
“It’s become a lifestyle and it’s really like self-love.”
Sharing her observations about others, the beauty-queen-turned-celebrity said that many people feel like giving up food they love for health is a sacrifice.
“Listen, you’re not supposed to live to eat, you’re supposed to eat to live,” she explained.
Furthermore, Priscilla said that binge-eating becomes an addiction when one does not monitor what he eats.
She continued that binge-eating is the result of lack of something deeper and people compensate that lack by uncontrolled eating. This leads to addiction, she said.
Speaking from her own experience, Priscilla elaborated: “So when I addressed what was wrong with my heart, what is going the wrong way, like my mindset, was wrong…
“I was trying to fulfill something lacking in my life through food.
“Then I realized I need to fix first myself, then everything is going to flow the way it’s supposed to flow.”
For her part, Priscilla said that she had to walk the talk, and so she quit eating foods that are not good for her.
While it is hard, she said that one needs to find the right motivation to overcome the problem of unhealthy eating.
In her case, Priscilla said she conquered this by loving herself more.
“And then when you love yourself, you’re happy with what you see; you are in good health; you’re mobile, you can do and go anywhere you want without limitations.”
She started changing her eating habits.
Case in point, she quit ordering fried food, such as fried calamares and fried mozzarella, that would usually make her happy whenever she would go to restaurants.
She also resorted to online shopping rather than personally going to grocery stores.
She explained, “Because when you go to the supermarket, you’ll see all those things [and] you’re tempted to put it in your cart.
“But if it’s online, I don’t buy anything extra.”
Until now, Priscilla said that she does her groceries online.
“Online shopping became constant in my life and it helped me because then, if I don’t buy it, it’s not inside my home. Obviously, I don’t eat it, so it helps.
“I think making healthier choices of food was the hardest.”
But she said that when it came to resorting to healthy diet, it all boils down to what she really wants and what she believes she deserves.
“I deserve a sexy Priscilla. I deserve to fit in 34-sized pants. I deserve that. I deserve to take pictures and be proud of what I see.