Katie Hopkins could never be accused of holding her tongue in an awkward situation.

But the former reality TV contestant hit a new low last summer when she told an obese woman on This Morning that she wouldn't employ her because fat people give off the impression that they are lazy.

After a backlash from thousands of angry Brits, the 39-year-old has now ballooned from 8st 8lb to 12st to prove to overweight people across the UK that being chubby is their own fault.

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Katie Hopkins has piled on the pounds over the last three months - she now weights 12st

Lifestyle change: She ate a fatty and sugary foods, including pasta, crisps and chocolate biscuits



Katie embarked on the scheme after becoming sick of hearing excuses thrown around by overweight people for their size.

She said: 'My project is called To Fat And Back.'

'One in ten of our children are starting school overweight or obese and one in three children who are fifteen or over are overweight or obese.

'People have always said to me, "You're lucky, you're skinny," and I just don't think these excuses are cutting it any more.

Her TV project is called To Fat And Back 'I saw a story the other day about how the curtains in your bedroom not being thick enough could be making you fat. I just thought, we have to put an end to this.' Katie took extreme measures to put on 3st 5lb in just three months. She stopped doing any exercise and stuck to a rigorous meal plan of fatty and sugary foods, including pasta, crisps and chocolate biscuits. She told This Morning: ' I was 8st 8lb and now I'm 12st, so I put on 3st 7lb in three months. 'People usually put on something like a stone a year after the birth of a baby and so on, so the way I've done that, in order to become every woman, is by compressing people's lives into just a few weeks.

She told This Morning she was 8st 8lb and put on 3st 7lb in three months

Katie won't be enlisting the help of a personal trainer or nutritionist to lose the four stone

Katie's weight gain was obvious when she appeared on the This Morning sofa with Holly and Phil today 'There are obviously people who have much bigger problems than me putting on a bit of weight, but this journey has shown me what it's like.' It has also succeeded in helping famously anti-fat Katie to even empathise with overweight people now. She said: 'It turns out that the reason I like to stay super strong and very slim is that I suffer from epilepsy. 'So I want to be able to show I'm still as strong as the next person, that just because my arm dislocates 36 times a year because I have fits, I am still fit and able. 'So it's actually a similar reason for being thin to other people's reasons for being fat.

What a difference a lot of pies make: Katie's weight gain can certainly been seen compared to a photo from 2009

A high sugar and fat diet that saw Katie consume 6,500 calories a day is responsible for her weight gain

'It's about me now saying that I realise my skinny self was my armour.

'So for me so far, halfway through this project the conclusion has been that there are reasons for being overweight, but there are still no excuses.

'But also, I want to say let's recognise that I'm not lucky to be skinny, it's eating too much and no exercise that make you like that.'

Katie is now planning on losing the weight for a TV documentary on TLC that will air next year, to prove to overweight people that it is possible.

She said: 'I'm sick of being like this - I'm sick of the feeling of my stomach sitting on my legs - it's tiring being this fat, carrying all of this around.

Katie has always been very fit and healthy, usually tipping the scales at a slim 8 st 8lb 'My idea is not to lose weight like one of those celeb people - I'm not going to have a nutritionist, a trainer or access to a posh gym - I'm just going to put my old trainers on and get to it. 'We can all come up with excuses. I'm just trying to say, have you actually got excuses? 'What's so great about this whole project is that there's a whole league of men and women who want to come on this journey to lose the weight with me now.

Piling on the weight has been a traumatic experience for Katie, who said the project made her cry for the first time in years

'Kind of like a "Lose it with Katie."'

However, the Twitter reaction was far from favourable.

One Twitter user wrote: 'I'm praying Katie Hopkins can't lose the weight.'

Another said: 'Katie Hopkins just put on 4 stone to show how easy it is to gain/lose weight #ihopesheneverlosesit'

One person wrote: 'BREAKING: Katie Hopkins is being insufferable and attention-seeking'

And one said: 'God I hope she struggles to lose it.'

What a gut: Katie pats her belly as she leaves ITV studios