Today more and more obese men and women are struggling with the harsh realities of fat-shaming and the extent of discrimination they face because of their size.
The world got to know Kat after a new BBC3 documentary: The Naked Truth: Obesity.
34-year-old part-time fitness instructor explained how her weight gain was triggered by a breakup in her teens.
According to Independent, she fell pregnant at 16 and after her boyfriend at the time abandoned her and his unborn child, she developed an unhealthy relationship with food, going from a size 12 to a size 28 in just six weeks.
“I used to go and buy the 24-pack of Cadbury’s Crème Eggs, and I would eat them all in one day,” she reveals in the programme.
“It was dangerous, and I was comfort eating because I was very very low.”
“My body changed so drastically, I didn’t even recognise the person I saw in the mirror.”
Remembering how in the past she’d starved herself, taken diet pills and been on the brink of bulimia Kat couldn’t believe that now she has to overcome a very unhealthy relationship with food and to battle with body confidence.
The lion part of the pressure she faces happens while on public transport.
Kat adds that a lot of the judgement is caused by her own fitness classes:
“You see these people walk in and look around to figure out who the instructor is and they look at you, and they’re like ‘oh’.”
“Just because I am a big girl doesn’t mean I can’t be active and it doesn’t mean you have the right to judge me based on what I look like,” she answers.
Obesity is one of the biggest problems of our century. According to the NHS, approximately one in four British adults are obese.
That’s why BBC has settled this programme featuring four other Brits talking about their relationships with their bodies, their weights ranging from 17 – 22 stone (108kg – 139kg).