Well come on... you didn't expect me to actually go there did you?
Really?
Well, as the founder of The Fat Girls Guide to Running blog and the Too Fat to Run campaign I prefer to focus on love not hate, so rather than run through the characteristics of that unfortunate woman, much of which has already been debated on the interweb, I instead give you 10 reasons why her so called experiment proves nothing and ultimately why every FAT person should love their bodies more rather than less.
The context to this just in case you don't know who she is, and if you don't (I want your life).
A new programme has recently aired on the TLC channel entitled Journey to Fat and Back which will follow Katie Hopkins (a past candidate on The Apprentice and general media whore) and her experiment to prove that losing weight is easy.
The show will see her consume over 6,000 calories a day in a bid to put on 3 ½ stone ballooning from her previous eight stone size 8 frame, to a larger size 12 (yeah cos that's really big right?) Katie will then attempt to regain her previous body.
Right, so here we have it 10 reasons this series is going to be absolute poo and add nothing to the health debate
1. It is dangerous, stupid and irresponsible to binge eat for the purposes of entertainment or to prove some kind of point
2. Overweight people (not me or anybody that I've ever met) eats that quantity of food, so this does not illustrate the type of gradual weight gain that most women have issues with
3. Katie does not deal at all with the psychological aspects of long-term weight gain
4. Most people who only have weight loss to think about and the resources she has to hand, could lose weight temporarily (with or without a personal trainer of chef etc) having that 1 simple goal and her lifestyle makes this a nonsense.
5. Fat shaming and the promotion of fat shaming does nothing to address the issues we have globally with obesity, or the poor diet or sedentary lifestyles that many of us (big or small) now have to deal with.
6. If Katie's acting skills on This Morning are anything to go for, this will not be an unbiased experiment, but a performance to back up her vile views on anyone that is unlike her.
7. When at her largest you can see that Katie holds most of her weight around her middle, not all overweight people do, which illustrates the fact that we are all different and have different frames.
8. What kind of example has she showed to her three children, especially her two daughters who are probably at a very vulnerable age when it comes to body confidence.
9. Being rude to overweight people and controversial for the sake of it doesn't help open up an honest conversation about weight issues, it just makes for high impact entertainment, and gives ignorant people permission to abuse others.
10. The fact that doctors refused to endorse her experiment, just goes to show that it is not fat people who are stupid and lazy but just plain old Katie
And on that point what I want to know, is why did she not choose do some investigative journalism about her own long-standing health condition, epilepsy... oh no because nobody would be interested in that as it's not controversial enough, and Katie would have to admit there is something wrong with her (aside from simply being a bitch), a health condition which has affected her life choices, job prospects oh and of course one that she can't control.
So... just for the record.
Katie Hopkins does not represent fat women, in fact she doesn't represent women in the UK at all, so despite her attempt to speak on behalf of us all... she can't possibly.
I will not be watching the show and I implore you not to, not even for curiosity's sake.
Some of you will be reading this and thinking that I am being equally irresponsible promoting obesity, or unhealthy lifestyles and this is absolutely not the case. I think the most important thing is that we ALL take responsibility for our health and wellbeing (which includes mental health and happiness). Slim does not mean healthy, and fat does not always equate to unhealthy or unfit and I am proof of that as I prepare for my third marathon as a plus size athlete.
The problem is by encouraging women (and everyone else) to hate their fat bodies we are just making it more difficult for them to find some kind of balance or acceptance in their lives... something the diet industry and media have been doing for years.
Wherever you are on your weight loss or body acceptance journey you simply must learn to love your body, it's the only one you have, and even if it is not how you would like it in its current state, it is such an incredible vessel it does has the power to transform itself to somewhere close to where you would like to be (if that is what you want to focus on of course).
Just be kind to it and to others in the meantime OK, and that means you too Katie Hopkins... beauty is not only skin deep as you of all people should know!!