After months of being asked by her followers on social media about looking thin, Chynna Ortaleza has revealed the reason behind her drastic weight loss.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, June 13, 2021, Chynna uploaded an "honest selfie" and opened up about the digestive condition that has caused a sudden drop in her weight.
The 38-year-old celebrity mom started off by assuring her Instagram followers that she is now on the road to recovery.
She wrote (published as is), "I am 86 lbs as of today. But happy that my gut is recovering and that I am free of joint pains & headaches.
"The past 6 months have tested me. You know the saying, 'Aim for progress & not perfection?' Well.. I have to keep repeating this to myself so that I can celebrate my small wins."
According to Chynna, she lost around 23 lbs. over the past six months as a result of adjusting her diet to address her digestive problem.
She took the initiative to have tests done after she experienced some stomach problems. Her results came out normal but she did learn more about her food intolerance.
Chynna recalled in her post, "Before the pandemic I was 109 lbs. a steady weight after giving birth to my second child. When the pandemic hit, all of us had to make really drastic adjustments.
"I noticed I would always have gut problems. Feeling acidic, problematic stools, dull pain on my side.
"So I took all the tests & scans I could take (you name it, I took it) and decided to also get to the root cause of my issues. Thank God, all my tests are normal..."
She continued, "But I did learn a lot of things about my body because of my food intolerance test that was facilitated by my team @lifesciencephil (no this isn’t a paid post. I am so grateful to them really! They push me to take care of myself.)
"The test revealed my intolerances. Gluten, Dairy, Eggs, Corn, etc.."
Chynna admitted that it was a challenge to give these up, but she did it to keep her body healthy.
"I honestly felt sad because everything I used to eat & loved had all of this! I had to take them out of my system for 3-4 months!
"I had to reprogram for the best. I started eating what was right for my body.
"So yup, that caused a drastic drop in my weight but atleast I gave my gut the much needed pampering.
"Giving it probiotics, learning to masticate properly & trying to hydrate properly.
"The past months I have started to reintroduce the no-no’s on my chart.. and will also need to start building muscle."
Toward the end of her post, Chynna revealed that her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and grief after losing so many loved ones also affected her health.
"I pray that God will continue to light my way as I reconstruct the physical body that he has gifted this soul.
"I also learned that GRIEF & PTSD reflects on one’s body and I have to go through this to get through it.
"I am in the thick of this so please be kind. I lost so many loved ones.. and mourn for what we used to enjoy as beings.
"I have plenty of traumas that I am currently dissecting. Let’s all take it easy on each other. [emoji] Most of the time what you see is never ever surface deep."
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This was not the first time Chynna addressed her weight loss issue.
In February, Chynna first revealed that she was undergoing "dietary changes" after comments from netizens nitpicking her weight loss flooded her post.
At the time, Chynna left a message to her followers and told them to be mindful of what they leave in the comment section.
The celebrity mom underlined (published as is), "All I'm saying is we need to try to be impeccable with what we say. Mindful in the intention. Because people have scars and we do not want to add on to it.
"It's been a struggle for me to feel that I meet the seal of approval as they say.
But really who does?
"But again, back to my sharing.. you have the ability to [transform] lives through the use of tone & words. Speak kindly to yourself & one another. Yes even if its a hard subject to chew it can still be done with respect and empowerment."