Claire Castro says she used to be ‘chubby,’ struggled with body image

Scrolling through Claire Castro’s Instagram feed, one can easily see she’s confident with how her body looks. But that's not always the case.

In an online interview with the press on Wednesday, Claire said she didn’t have her dream body until two years ago, when she had a “major body transformation.”

“I was chubby,” she said. “I eat so much junk food before, as in, like [there were a lot] of fast food.”

Claire estimates having been around “double and a half” of her current weight, which is a “healthy 95” pounds.

When someone made a comment on how she looked — the first time she got bashed, she revealed — Claire decided to act.

“I don’t know why they reacted negatively to my size before. I’ve gotten sad over that. I struggled with it - not understanding why people were attacking me for my looks." she admits, but she's learned to turn the negative into a positive.

"It became a [force] to be healthy," Claire said. 

As such, among the first things she did to be better was to throw junk food away, and be on a calorie deficit. Fast forward to now, she just makes sure that everything she eats is healthy without restricting herself.

“I started calorie restrictions pero in the long run, that doesn’t make you happy so I’ve learned to eat even a lot as long as the food’s healthy,” she said. “Eat healthy food like protein.”

She would jog around her former apartment complex to keep those sweat and endorphins going.

With all the hard work she put into becoming a healthier Claire, she is now more confident than ever to show what she’s got - without minding what others say.

“I really worked hard for this so I’m proud to show off my progress,” she said. “I worked hard for this body so why not flaunt it?”

Having gone through that experience, Claire has this to say to those who have been struggling with their body images: “It’s okay to be proud of your body. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“If people have been making jokes about your weight, it’s best to not surround yourself with those [people] since they’re very harmful for your journey.”

She added that changing is more than just wanting to lose or gain weight - it’s feeling better from the inside. As such, she said: “When we’re healthier, we start to look better - inside and out.” — LA, GMA News