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Ursula the sea witch, white trash Nazi and half man/ half horse tranny are a couple of the more amusing sobriquets I have now become synonymous with. The darker side of my recent abuse ranged from death threats and pleads for me to kill myself and peaked at the forewarning of my imminent rape. How many babies did I throw on the barbeque I hear you ask? Well… actually, I committed a far worse crime in the eyes of a significant proportion of society; I brought up the O word… not that one; but obesity.  

I will find you and feed you

“I wish you a slow and painful death” messaged one of the more amusing trolls; “you stupid hoe… I will find you and feed you.” It’s indicative of the type of responses my recent stint on ITV’s This Morning has provoked. “I wish to see you publicly displayed in stocks and doused in pig excrement… I wish for you to lose your sense of taste and develop a metabolic disorder you beastly Nazi” emails another hater with somewhat questionable sanity. Conversely, the other side of the camp send messages of support and admiration. “You’re doing God’s work” remarks one Instagram follower while another email of support comes in: “I have never seen anyone be so unbelievably honest and courageous”. “It’s really disturbing to see ‘fat activism’” messages another, he goes on; “people who literally state they don’t value health, who then go on to push their malignant thoughts on others who may be on the fence of committing to big lifestyle changes. Thanks for being real and calling bs out.” 

Suffice to say, reactions have been fervent and dividing. But why did one insignificant person’s opinion cause such a global media commotion? Was it a case of bad timing? Hitting the cusp of a trending topic that just so happened to be the UK government’s next propaganda campaign, whilst everyone was bored to death of talking about corona? Or had I inadvertently touched upon a subject that hit a nerve with such poignancy that the world stopped to pay attention and give their two pennies’ worth?

Obesity is preventable 

Hurt feelings and the nuances of weight stigma aside; the very real danger of being extremely obese remains. Obesity has now overtaken smoking as the number one cause of cancer. It also doubles your chances of death if you contract Covid-19. In a recent study conducted by Oxford University, results concluded that severe obesity can shorten a person’s life by ten years. Health markers associated with carrying excessive weight are grave and despite lowering life expectancy, as a nation we continue to see our waistlines expand.  

According to the House of Commons obesity statistics, 64.3% of the UK population is now overweight or obese. The facts are clear-cut, the real pandemic, on an international scale, is our inability to regulate our fat levels. The World Health Organization advises “The worldwide prevalence of obesity nearly tripled between 1975 and 2016” it iterates “obesity is preventable.” It’s crucial that we need to address the underlying cause and work together to tackle this crisis, for the sake of our NHS, our economy, and most importantly for our health, because nothing is more precious than life.  

Big but

The body positivity movement has kindness and good intentions at heart and contrary to popular belief; it champions notions that I wholeheartedly support. Big is beautiful, we should all feel confident in our bodies and skinny is not a body type we should aspire to achieve… but, (and it’s a big but, no pun intended) at what point does its message become dangerous by providing justification for a state of being that is inherently harmful. Empowering people to be happy in their skin is a noble cause but glamourising poor health is irresponsible. Let’s focus on diverting that energy to providing tangible change, helping to support obese people on their journey to better health.  

Keep an eye out for part two, coming soon …