Only six per cent of overweight people believe they should be described as obese, a survey found.

Three quarters of those with an obese body mass index underestimated their weight category, according to the poll of 2,065 people.

Dr Jacquie Lavin, the head of nutrition and research at Slimming World, which conducted the survey, said: “This worrying new data reveals the complex psychological issues associated with being overweight.

“Many people, including many health professionals, believe that managing weight is just about energy balance, and that people simply need to ‘eat less and exercise more’.

“However, that approach can never work while so many people deny how severely their weight could be affecting their health, or while they struggle with the emotional burden of being overweight, which can affect their confidence in their ability to make healthy lifestyle changes.”

What weight problem? Vast majority of the obese deny being unhealthy – Telegraph

Her fans wanted her to become as large as possible and she quickly became a star in a bizarre fantasy fetish community that worshipped the overweight and bought pizzas for her to munch on.

But life is changing for Donna Simpson. The 600lb mother-of-two moved from New Jersey to Akron, Ohio, after her five-year relationship with fiancé Philippe Gouamba, 49, ended earlier this year.

The 5’4″ woman has also turned away from the fantasy world, replacing videos of her eating with a blog about her journey to health. Ms Simpson has already lost 85lbs on her long road to weight loss.

‘I realised that I was their fantasy,’ she said of her viewers who paid her to buy more food. ‘Here I was getting bigger and bigger, and they had their thin wives, with two-and-a-half kids and a picket fence.

‘I’m not trying to be a size 4 (or) a thin-mint,’ said the 44-year-old, who is believed to be the heaviest woman ever to have given birth. ‘I just want to be normal and more active.’

One man from Germany sent her a credit card with specific instructions of buying pizzas, Chinese food and other takeaways, as he wanted her to use his money to become as large as possible.

Donna Simpson: Worlds heaviest mother reveals long journey from fat fetish videos to healthy life | Mail Online