Rosie Mercado weighed over 400 pounds and was a size 34 when she hit rock bottom. “I was a mother-of-three, and I had reached a high weight of 420 lbs. I had a love / hate relationship with food that was made worse when I went through several traumatic life events over a short period of time,” she told HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. “I dealt with a broken heart, as I was going through a divorce for the second time, and I was single with 3 kids and no sense of direction on what was next.” Rosie told us, “I hit rock bottom! I started gaining a lot of weight and was very depressed. The worst possible news was that my son was diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy, and my marriage fell apart. Everything that could possibly happen, happened. I was discriminated against for being overweight and bullied so many times, even online.”
But Rosie took her life back, and now she is living her truth and helping others through her TV appearances and her Instagram. Rosie’s advice to those struggling? “I think this is to any human being that has felt broken, defeated, and just sick and tired of BS! Take responsibility for your life! Take ACTION! You are responsible for you — don’t make excuses! I have been there and I know the emotions, insecurities, and excuses and stories of why not! Turn your story of why not to why I can! I got sick and tired of the same problems, repeated lessons, and just being overweight. I was so tired and unhappy with my life — I hit the darkest moment ever! In life we get what we tolerate. I wanted a drastic change in my life, so I took massive action, got a game plan and executed it everyday, even the days I didn’t feel worthy or driven. I told myself these three truths:
I MUST do this! I CAN do this! I WILL do this!
The hardest step is the first one — the rest will follow, just keep walking!”
Rosie got bariatric surgery and her life began to change. Unfortunately, along with her weight loss came a new set of challenges. “I love keeping it raw, real, and relatable. I have lost over 200 lbs. — which led to a new problem. I had 20 lbs. of excess skin on my stomach, which led to rashes, pain and general discomfort. I had to be in Spanx the entire time. I couldn’t run without Spanx because of the weight of my skin. You lose all this weight, you’re excited, and then you take your clothes off and you have all this excess skin. New issues and insecurities start coming up.” She got a full tummy tuck to reconstruct her abdomen. “This was the most painful journey of my entire life. It was a long process, but worth it, and I changed the rest of my life. I learned so much about myself and the strength that it takes to transform. Even though it was a long and painful process, I have no regrets.”
As someone in the public eye, of course, she is inspired by celebs! “My favorite celebrities are Oprah and Salma Hayek! Beauty, grace and power! They bring so much inspiration to my life to become better, stay focused, and understand that we all have a story to share.”