An Instagram influencer from Grand Rapids, Michigan is going viral after she shared the story of her weight loss journey online.  Gessica Parisi-Rodriguez is now a fitness influencer on Instagram, but this journey began partly due to the negativity she received from her family. When Gessica was 17, she weighed 252 lbs. and said she was eating 4,000 calories a day.  Her family would say things to her like, too bad you're so big because you have a pretty face, or that they had doubts about her finding a man to love her at her size. Gessica decided that she needed to make a change and she started to exercise and watch what she ate.  According to an interview from Daily Mail, Gessica said that she "had a life-changing experience with Jesus who helped me recognize, for the first time in my life, that I wasn't living to my full potential." She started her transformation slowly, by walking and tracking her calories and as she lost weight, she started to go to the gym.  Now, at age 25, Gessica has lost a whopping 122 lbs. and is now working to become a personal trainer and nutrition coach. But that's not the end of Gessica's story.  Now that she is fit, several family members say that she is 'too skinny' and some even have cut ties with her.  Gessica thinks that the family members who still pick on her are uncomfortable with her transformation after years of her being the "fat family member". But that doesn't get Gessica down, she is continuing on her fitness journey and you can follow along via her Instagram page @GessisFitnessJourney. https://www.instagram.com/p/B53Cv0mgF6P/

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