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Posted on Mar 16th 2010 3:00PM by Martha EdwardsFiled Under: Diet & Weight Loss
While millions of people facing obesity-related health issues try their best to slim down, one women in New Jersey is doing the opposite. Despite being a staggering 600 pounds and unable to walk, Donna Simpson is trying to gain weight. In fact, the 42-year-old mother has set her goal weight at 1,000 pounds to become the fattest woman in the world according to the "Guinness Book of World Records."
Like any dieter, she's even formulated a plan to achieve her goal -- she's committed to eating mind-boggling amounts of junk food each day, and plans to stuff herself with Japanese food. "My favorite food is sushi, but unlike others I can sit and eat 70 big pieces of sushi in one go," she admitted to the UK's Daily Mail.
As for her "exercise" plan? She's doing her best to move as little as possible, which is easy for her since she needs a scooter to get around anyway. However, "it might be hard. Running after my daughter keeps my weight down," she said.
Amazingly, her 150-pound partner Philippe is all for it. "I think he'd like it if I was bigger," said Simpson. "He's a real belly man, and completely supports me." Simpson even sees her unhealthy behavior as entertainment. "I love eating and people love watching me eat, It makes people happy," she said.
Simpson claims to be healthy, but most would argue to the contrary. "The fact that she cannot walk without being winded is a sign that her health is being affected," clinical psychologist and eating disorders specialist Sari Shepphird told That's Fit. "It is true that sometimes one can be overweight and healthy, however, the fact that she does no movement with her body for exercise, and that she eats unhealthy foods routinely would bring most healthcare professionals to a different conclusion than she has about her behaviors."
And while loving your body at any size is usually considered a good thing, Simpson is taking it it too far by putting her personal health in grave danger. "It may be that her 'body love' is a defense mechanism, but more likely she is extremely misinformed and also has conflicting interests, attention and encouragement for her goal, for example," said Shepphird.
Shepphird admits that extreme overeating cases like this are pretty rare, but they can still have the same root causes as other eating disorders. "There may be a variety of causes, such as desire for attention and love, reinforcement from others, low self-esteem, negative experiences related to dieting and misinformation about weight and health," she said. "She is already expressing health limitations yet continues to pursue greater weight gain. It's very unusual for someone to intentionally put themselves at risk for the sake of notoriety, as she appears to be doing. I would hope that she would be open to a doctor's objective evaluation of her health markers."
One thing seems certain, though -- Simpson has no intention of slimming down anytime soon. She admitted that she tried dieting a few years and was set to undergo a gastric band operation but pulled out of the life-saving surgery at the last moment after a friend died during a similar procedure. "I decided it just wasn't worth it," she said. "I like being the way I am."
It's not clear how much money she can expect to earn if she claims the title World's Fattest Woman -- Guinness doesn't pay money to record-setters, so any income she gets will be earned through her publicity. But regardless of the dollar amount, it just doesn't seem worth it, especially when she has children to consider.
I guess if she needs any advice on gaining weight, she could always take diet tips from the world's fattest man.
