And it showed.
The weight gain began after her mother called her to say she’d be leaving Aguilar’s father. “I was devastated to hear the family structure I had always known was going to be gone,” Aguilar says.
Hurt and angry, Aguilar had no contact with her mother for six years until shortly before Aguilar’s father suggested the two women enter the weight-loss competition together.
It was on the reality show that Aguilar, now 30, finally reached her breaking point.
“I fell apart with cameras rolling,” Aguilar says. It wasn’t long before she realized just how little she had trusted God to heal her. She finally said: “I’ll stop. I’ll walk this line. … I won’t retreat in fear, but I’ll trust You.”
Faithfully, God began helping Aguilar embrace her mother with the same kind of unconditional love He has for each of us. “Who am I … to withhold love and forgiveness?” Aguilar says.
She explains more of her journey to trusting God in her new book, Becoming Fearless. Today she travels the country, speaking and encouraging others to trust Him.