Infamous fat-shamer takes on obesity in TLC documentary: "Fat and Back."
photo credit: nowmagazine
A British woman, who is known for her fat-shaming beliefs, has decided to take on obesity, and prove that it is "super easy" to lose weight.
Super thin Katie Hopkins made a goal to gain 40 to 50 pounds in 12 weeks, and then lose 40 to 50 pounds in the same amount of time. Her journey was captured on camera and is being shown on TLC as a 2-part TV special.
Katie Hopkins said this about her weight gain/lost journey:
“The reason I'm gaining the weight is to prove how simple it is to lose weight if you really want to, and the only way I can do that is by becoming fat myself. I really believe that fat people’s solution is in their hands. They don’t need to put so much into their face.”
Hopkins begins her journey by eating 3,000 calories a day. A few weeks into the experiment, she notices that she is not losing any weight. She bumps up her caloric intake to 6,000 calories a day.
During her experiment, she travels to America to see how we gain so much weight so easily. She meets with a woman and her husband in their home, and the woman talks to Hopkins about what life is like as a morbidly obese woman. The woman's husband happens to love the way his wife looks, which makes Hopkins appalled. Hopkins calls the woman a wreck of a human being, and she is immediately thrown out of the house.
On Hopkins' video diary, she is seen at the end of her journey, significantly larger than she was when she first started. She has a large protruding belly and a round, chubby face. She says into the camera that she hates fat people for making her do this experiment, claiming that she feels like "rubbish."
When all is said and done, Hopkins packs on 43 pounds, meeting her goal (she went from 125 to 168).
Next week, we will see if she can lose the weight in 12 weeks.
My Two Cents:
Immediately after I pressed 'play' on my DVR to watch this show, I was appalled. Who does this b*tch think she is?! I found myself cursing her name for a good portion of the hour-long show.
During the portions of the show when I was NOT cursing her out, I was trying to see things from her perspective. Obviously, she has never been overweight. She is an active person who eats right, which is awesome! I applaud people who want to live healthy. I did agree with her about the weight loss part: Anyone can lose weight, as long as they want to. Our beliefs differ when she says that it is easy for obese individuals to lose weight. Trust me, it is NOT easy at all. As someone who has spent a good portion of her life in the obese category, losing weight is hard as f*ck. It's not impossible though. Three years ago, I was in the best shape of my life. I lost a substantial amount of weight and had a healthy BMI. I had never looked better. When my spine began to deteriorate, the weight came back on. It sucks, but I spent a lot of time depressed and feeling sorry for myself. I turned to food, just like I did for many years. It was my fault. Even though I couldn't work out like I used to, I could have kept the weight off if I had keept my nutrition in check. Sadly, I didn't care. I only have myself to blame.
My back troubles are still on-going, and will continue to worsen as I get older. I've accepted it. However, I am eating better and doing what I can in terms of activity. I do go to the gym and walk on the treadmill (a 22 minute mile walk). I do light weight-lifting, and then I go home. An hour after I come home, I am in a lot of pain, which is to be expected for someone in my condition. Do I turn to that bag of chips? No. I make myself some tea and lie down. Even in my condition, it is still possible to lose weight, it will just take me longer, LOL!
Anyways, I did some searching on Facebook to see if this woman was a member. I couldn't find her, but I did find a group called: "Katie Hopkins is a c.unt." Over 1,600 people are a part of the group and they trash this woman. I saw several memes made, some of which accuse her of having genital warts on her face.
On the flip side, there are a couple of Katie Hopkins appreciation groups, one of which I think she is a part of (don't hold me to this. The group was closed and I couldn't see the people who were in the group).
Folks, Katie Hopkins is a very outspoken and opinionated woman. Her methods of trying to "help" people are rather boot-campish. Some could even say that her viewpoints are extremely dangerous. I both agree and disagree. It all boils down to ignorance. She has been small her whole life. She doesn't know what it's like to be fat and be stigmatized. On the flipside, she makes a good point about "losing weight if you really want to."
I'm hoping to see her soften her viewpoints by the end of the next episode. I want her to understand that losing weight is not easy. That, and I hope she will reconsider her stance on hiring obese individuals to work for her.
What do you think about Katie Hopkins?
