Mexican beauty queen claims 6 pound weight gain cost her title

(CBS) - A Mexican beauty queen claims she was stripped of her crown because she gained six pounds.

Cynthia de la Vega, who was first runner up at the Nuestra Belleza Mundo Mexico pageant and was expected to compete in November's Miss World 2011 pageant, believes pageant officials took away her title because she failed to lose weight.

"I was very sad and very deceived," the 19-year-old said on "Good Morning America." "I cried and cried and cried."

De la Vega says she did gain weight while preparing for Miss World, but was not "warned of any physical requirements for the competition."

When pageant organizers formally announced de la Vega's removal, they said it was because she didn't fulfill her obligations and lacked discipline, not weight.

"It was a lack of dedication and discipline," Lupita Jones, Mexico's first Miss Universe winner who is now the national director for the Nuestra Belleza Mexico pageant, said in statement, obtained by ABC News.

She added that de la Vega "did not comply with the recommendations and goals agreed upon for her preparation."

De la Vega, who has since been replaced by Gabriela Palacio, says she hired a nutritionist to lose the weight and is "in the best shape than before she won the crown."

As for getting her title back, she says it's unlikely.

"I think it's very, very difficult because Mrs. Jones is very cold," she said. "Once she makes a decision, there is no turning back."

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