A woman who claims that overweight people have absolutely no one to blame but themselves has put her money where her mouth is and intentionally gained around 50 pounds in 3 months , in an effort to prove that anyone can take the weight back off.
Katie Hopkins, a columnist for The Sun Weekly and a former British realty TV star, has made a name for herself through her controversial viewpoints and outspoken ways. Katie is, reportedly, famously “anti-fat people,” but this newest controversy started last summer when Hopkins told an obese woman on the British show This Morning that she would never hire her because of her weight – that fat people give the impression that they are lazy.
Katie doubled down on her statement, declaring, “I don’t believe you can be fat and happy. I think that’s just a cop out.”
Thousands of angry Brits responded, accusing Hopkins of fat shaming and telling Hopkins that she did not understand the psychological, as well as physical, factors that are often behind obesity and weight gain.
But Katie feels she has a point to prove.
“People have always said to me, all of my life, ‘You’re lucky to be skinny,’ and what I wanted to prove was that there are no excuses for being overweight,” she told TODAY in an interview.
So Katie began to consume a diet of around 6,500 calories per day and ceased her exercise regimen, packing on the pounds in pretty short order. And she says she is committed to losing the weight – all of it – in the same amount of time.
Hopkins has also been outspoken about how much she hates being overweight. She would record everything she ate in a food journal, sometimes crying because she had eaten so much in the course of one day.
“I didn’t cry at childbirth. I didn’t cry at my wedding, but I cried over this because I was just so disgusting,” she said.
Hopkins does say she has learned something from her intentional and drastic weight gain. “I’ve learned a lot about how it feels to be big, how difficult it is to be big, how horrible it is to have fat sitting on the top of your thighs, and how much more challenging it is just to do everyday life when you’re bigger,” she said.
However, she still believes she is correct in her assessment that there is no reason for people to be overweight, saying, “Halfway through this project the conclusion has been that there are reasons for being overweight, but there are still no excuses.”
Katie has been back on track, diet and exercise-wise, for a month, and still has 35 pounds to lose. She is committed to doing so without help of a trainer or nutritionist, to further prove that people don’t need to do anything but “eat less and move more” to lose weight. Her journey is being recorded and will be aired on TLC.
Most people still aren’t impressed, taking to Twitter to share their hopes that Katie is unable to lose the weight.
What are your opinions? Certainly eating less and moving more is how people lose weight, but do you think Katie Hopkins has been insensitive and is simply “ fat shaming “? Or do you think she has the right idea – is there really no such thing as “fat and happy”?
[Image via The Daily Star ]