Woman body-shamed for wearing swimsuit in public reacts in the BEST way

A woman's swimsuit picture has gone viral after she responded to critical comments about her appearance in an incredibly empowering way.

Jacqueline Adan's 25-stone weight loss journey started five years ago, when she originally weighed in at 36 stone.

As reported on Shape.com, she has since gone on to lose a substantial amount of weight, but has developed some excess skin in the process, and was nervous about wearing a swimming costume during a holiday to Mexico earlier this year.

Her worst fears came true as she was met with laughs and points from others during a trip to the beach - but then she decided to regain control of the situation.

Taking to Instagram, where she's been documenting her transformation journey, Jacqueline shared the experience with her 44.4k followers.

The self-titled weight-loss warrior explained that it was the first time she had worn a bathing suit in a long time.

'I was nervous to take my cover up off,' she said. 'I still felt like that same 500 pound girl... then it happened.'

She detailed how a couple sitting by the pool 'started laughing and pointing at me and making fun of me as soon as I took my cover up off.'

However, Jacqueline was more surprised how their body-shaming didn't shock her but what she did next did...

Instead of letting others take responsibility for how she felt, what did she do? 'I took a deep breath, smiled and walked into the pool.'

'That was a huge moment for me,' she admitted.

'I had changed. I was not the same girl anymore. Yes I still have a lot of loose skin, I may still feel insecure at times, and yes I may still get made fun of.'

She continued: 'To be honest, yes it bothered me. But I was not going to let people like that affect me anymore!'

Naturally Jacqueline was upset and went on to say that people have no right to sit and point and laugh: 'That's why I smiled. It doesn't not matter what other say or if they try to doubt you or bring you down.'

'What matters is how you react to it. How you feel about yourself. Loving yourself just as you are.'

The post had since had over 23k likes and 1800 comments, with one follower saying: 'I don't know you but you're Beautiful and I'm proud of you!!' While another commented: 'You Go Girl❤👍👏👏👏👏👌💪💪 Haters are miserable people. Keep ya head up and do YOU'.