Original subtitles

This is Jackson, a small town in the southwestern United States.

And hiding behind the walls of this little house is an unexpected illness,

an illness now widespread in America.

Get some money, get some gas.

Yeah, and we'll get dinner. I'll get dinner afterwards and everything will be

good. This man suffers from a disease that affects 93 million people in the

nation, obesity.

At just 34 years old, Casey King now weighs 485 pounds.

According to him, he is a victim of fast food.

We're good.

I live in Jackson, a very small city.

There's a McDonald's, there's a Burger King, there's a Taco Bell, there's a

KFC, there's a Pizza Hut, there's a Subway, there's a Little Caesars,

there's a Domino's, I think there's a Domino's.

There's a fried chicken place that's like a little...

Amazing, but it's really good, but it's like a little family thing.

There's a million different fast food restaurants.

I can't really tell you any place that is a healthy restaurant though.

Years of bad eating habits have pushed his body to the limit.

No, you can't have that.

No, there you go. Go. There you go. There you go, bud. Okay. No. No, bud.

Even taking a shower is a difficult task for Casey.

There's, like, a lot of skin. There's, like, a lot of skin hanging. There's,

like, flabs and stuff. I jokingly tell people that I'm, like, a big, like,

melted ice cream or whatever because it's just, like, stuff. Literally, it's

almost like it's dripping off of me.

The figures are staggering.

The average woman weighs 170 pounds and is 5 feet 2 inches tall.

while the average man is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds.

36% of the nation is obese, including even the president himself.

Only a few months ago, Donald Trump's physician officially categorized him as

obese, clearly a result of his love for fast food.

In January 2019, in honor of an American football team, Trump ordered 1,000

hamburgers to be served at a White House reception.

we have big macs we have quarter pounders with cheese we have everything

that i like that you like and i know no matter what we did there's nothing you

can have that's better than that right never in all its history has the country

been so overweight we go to las vegas to follow ricky a waitress in a fast food

restaurant specializing in the world's most calorie-laden burger

Casey King tells us what it's like to be morbidly obese.

We're following family man Alex in his quest to lose weight through surgery.

We visit an Arizona boarding school specializing in helping students lose

weight.

And finally, we're exploring the new body positivity movement that has

recently sprung up in the U.S. In New York, Karitza, a photographer, and

Annette, a blogger, show us a new perspective on obesity.

And finally, we're off to Los Angeles for a beauty pageant exclusively for

overweight women.

These women own their obesity and don't shy away from showing it off. But at

what cost?

Welcome to Las Vegas.

Every year, 42 million tourists swarm the famous strip, eager for a taste of

Sin City.

casinos, hotels, nightclubs, and of course, fast food outlets.

There are some 40 in the downtown area alone, the capital of entertainment and

junk food.

A few minutes' drive away is the area housing the majority of Las Vegas

workers.

Riki Ogawa is a waitress in one of the city's largest fast food restaurants.

This 30-year-old American lives with her husband and their two-year-old son.

Despite Riki's job, you won't find a single burger in her house. In fact,

it's quite the opposite.

Made with beans.

He eats very healthy. He gets no flour, no corn, no processed sugar. It's just

straight healthy.

Just a kale shake.

We put flaxseed in it.

And then just to try to make sure he gets some of his brains in for the day.

It's always just easier to get him to drink their veggies instead of eat them.

Serving up sodas and burgers every day has driven Ricky to ban them from her

own home. For a good reason, too.

The restaurant where she works really puts the junk in junk food.

Lots of fruit in it.

She spends an hour every morning getting ready. Her waitress uniform,

a gimmicky nurse's costume.

I am getting ready to turn on Nurse Ricky.

I definitely play a role when I'm there, and it's fun.

I have so much makeup I don't even use.

It's more of being a burger geisha. It's not just, you know,

here's your food, have a good time.

I try to make it more of an experience instead of just a burger joint.

Mascara, glitter, lipstick, and a tight-fitting dress is all it takes to

turn Ricky into a nurse at the Junk Food Hospital.

But it's not medicine that the doctor has ordered. No. Here at the Heart

Attack Grill, patients are prescribed burgers, fries, sodas, and more.

It's the only place like it in the world. It caters to folks who like their

food deep-fried and supersized.

Before being seated, diners are weighed on a gigantic scale. The fatter you are,

the better. If you weigh over 350 pounds, your hamburgers and fries are on

the house.

Weighing in at 400 pounds, this customer is getting a free all-he-can-eat meal.

The servings are humongous.

For regulars here, though, eating a quadruple burger is easy breezy.

I did a quadruple bypass last time I was here, and it's really good.

Ricky even goes as far as selling only beverages high in sugar and calories,

and there's not a healthy vegetable in sight.

Bottled water is the same price as a soda because we don't really want you to

drink it. You can take anything off the burger you don't like, but we only have

bacon that you can add to it. So we have absolutely nothing green. No lettuce, no

pickles, no avocado.

Just too healthy.

Just a little chili cheese fry to share.

Your double.

And single.

It's actually bigger than I thought.

I'll be able to finish it.

Enormous burgers, heaps of fat and sugar.

This concept was crafted by an American who dubbed himself Dr.

John.

Dr. John and I will tell you everything you need to know. But first, let's get

you prepped for surgery.

A member of our medical staff will now dress you for surgery.

No one has ever been admitted to the heart attack grill without a hospital.

Everything here is designed to harm your health.

Smoking is encouraged, cocktails are served in pill containers, and wine is

on tap in an IV injection theme.

The fast food joint claims it has been curing anorexia since 2005.

If you don't finish your plate, you're dragged to the front of the joint for a

good old-fashioned spanking while everyone watches.

Simply put, at this fast food restaurant, obesity is king.

It's a gimmick that works.

This fast food restaurant serves over 650 customers a day and rakes in $5

million per year.

I told you it's a spanking, not a love tip.

You better finish your burgers.

From the food to the spankings, it's all one big show at the Heart Attack Grill.

The star attraction is the world's most calorie-laden burger.

the octuple burger a gigantic towering pile of eight hamburger patties that

takes 25 minutes to prepare the entire thing weighs 6.5 pounds this meat

monster contains 20 000 calories the equivalent of one week of food

six

and a half pounds it is massive

Like many, this man won't manage to finish his octuple burger, and so he'll

get a spanking for not cleaning up his plate.

American fast food is now also unhealthy entertainment.

As a result, there are 116 million overweight people in the U.S., many of

them putting their health in danger.

Atlanta, Georgia, the birthplace of the world's leading soft drink brand.

Georgia has well over 5,000 fast food outlets, and the state's obesity rate is

nearly 32%. Escaping junk food is a huge challenge for those in the nearby town

of Jackson.

The area offers very little in the way of leisure activities.

Your only options are fishing in a nearby lake, or taking advantage of one

of the many fast food restaurants.

We return to Casey King.

He has lived here his whole life with his father.

I've got this picture here.

He was two or maybe going on three.

He's such a cute boy.

Thanks. Appreciate it.

He weighed 12.6 when he was born.

He's never been really small.

He's just been real healthy.

Healthy.

Casey started gaining lots of weight after serious ankle injury.

He spent weeks in bed only eating fast food morning, noon and night.

Whole footlong sandwiches, pizza, fried chicken, that kind of stuff. I mean,

that was just the easiest, quickest stuff to get. I mean, and also not

having like one of things, but two of things like two burgers from McDonald's.

It was bad, but then it was made worse. My appetite was so big that we ate so

much of the bad food.

I guess I could have took some action about it, but I don't know.

I really couldn't figure out what really I could do.

He was just trying to make me happy, and I just wanted to be happy, and food was

one of those things that was constantly a thing that did that.

Neither his father nor his brother, a Marine, suffer from obesity.

Casey's poor eating habits are the sole source of his weight problem.

At 33 years old, he even reached a record weight of 700 pounds.

I was just eating until I'm dead, probably.

A normal day for me is wake up around 12, figure out something I'm going to

eat immediately.

TV, video games, bed.

It's not a lot of activity.

It was at this point that he appeared on a reality TV show, Family by the Tongue.

This footage shows him morbidly obese.

The show's producer cut him a deal.

They would pay for a $10,000 operation if he would participate in the program.

It's weird going from 711 pounds to like 470.

It hasn't even been a year yet. It's kind of cool.

Now he goes to the sports center three times a week.

Okay, goodbye.

I'll be back later.

All right, be careful. Oh, I'll be careful.

Super careful.

And he's regained his independence at long last.

I didn't drive for

seven years, and I've only been driving again for like a month, two months

maybe. I was tethered to my father in every shape of the way.

It was difficult at times. I mean, there's tons of like weddings I didn't

go to. I had friends that had kids that I didn't go see them.

That's also because I had just changed so much that I really wasn't proud of

the person I was.

Every kind of conversation I would have with people would be centered around,

what are you eating? What are you doing to lose weight? I was like, can we talk

about anything but my weight, please?

Please. Like, I didn't feel human. I felt like.

I don't know, like a zoo animal.

But rapid weight loss causes various problems.

Previously, his skin had to stretch to accommodate his weight.

Now he is lighter, and he has too much of it. The only solution is surgery, but

Casey cannot afford it.

Swimming is one of the few activities that he has available to him.

I mean, there's no way this is coming back. Like, this is, that's pretty much

there until I get it cut off. Like, you can fix this, and you can fix this, and,

like, the cheap stuff. Like, that'll be fine.

But, like, this stuff and probably this will all have to be cut off.

Hey. How are you?

Good. How are you?

I'm good.

So, since May, I'm down, like,

235.

It was good to just be, like, noticed for, like, something good instead of

just being, like, like, they notice you just for being the big guy. They don't

notice you for being the big guy that's trying to lose weight. I'm definitely

proud of you. Yeah, I appreciate it. That's good.

I need to change my eating habits.

Yeah. It's not easy.

Yeah, it's not. It's not.

For the most part, everyone that's ever came up to me has had something positive

to say. Either, like, I motivated them or the show changed their life or they

showed them the error in their ways. They got inspired.

This was like an opportunity to change my life for the positive, so there was

nothing that was going to stop me from doing it.

Today, Casey is hoping for another chance at a reality show to finance his

operation.

Last year, he and some 230,000 other Americans underwent weight loss

operations. That's a 30% rise since 2011.

Today, Alex Perez is choosing to make the same choice.

Hello. Hello.

Hi, I'm Alex.

Okay, Alex.

Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Alex weighs 300 pounds.

He is only 40, but he has the health problems of a 60-year-old. High blood

pressure, sleep apnea, respiratory and muscular disorders.

All of this due to being overweight.

Stomach reduction surgery is his last hope.

I've never been this heavy.

Ever.

His wife, Jasmine, convinced him to take this course of action.

She, too, used to be obese.

She had the operation two years ago.

I was very, very close to getting to 300.

Yeah, she was a big girl.

But it just got to point where I wasn't comfortable anymore.

Which is the point that I'm at now, where I can't go camping with my son and

keep up with him because he's 155 pounds and he's a firecracker.

So I can't, there's no way I can keep up with him. I can't do the normal things

that a father does, you know? And that's why that's it. I'm done. I'm ready for

this.

How are you doing?

Good. Yeah?

How much weight have you lost?

About 70 pounds.

70? Yeah. Wow.

This Miami Clinic's obesity specialist is Dr.

Choi. He has performed over 4,000 operations like this.

It's a new technique for rapid weight loss that involves neither physical

exercise nor special food regimes.

With a reduced stomach, the patient feels satisfied with smaller meals.

Nope.

How tall are you and how much do you weigh, sir?

5'10", 297 pounds.

Perfect.

You're at a great weight.

I'm going to try to go through your belly button so that the scarring will

last. My job, Senor Perez, is to cut and remove about 70% to 80% of the stomach.

And you're going to be like, but why do you need to remove so much of it and

make it look like a banana?

Because there is this hormone here called ghrelin.

And once I do that, my patients tell me they're not hungry anymore.

And then you eat less food because you're restricting, okay?

Thank you, Dr. Chai. Thank you for allowing me. Thank you.

to do all this with me, okay? Of course. Prior to the operation, Alex will have

to fast for three days.

That, however, is nothing compared to the cost of the operation, $11,000, none

of which is covered by health insurance.

The couple has decided to take out a loan and to make monthly payments.

Alex feels he has no other alternative.

In the past three years, he has gained over 100 pounds.

These are some of my family pictures here.

At our wedding, when we were married, as you can see, I was a lot skinnier and

she was heavier.

When she had the surgery that she lost the weight, I gained the weight.

I let myself go. Being lazy, eating wrong, eating at the wrong times, the

work schedule in the United States is very hectic.

And you come home and you eat and you're so tired and so exhausted that you lay

down and usually pass out and go to sleep.

It's been 10 days now since Alex has had anything solid to eat. A very difficult

stage for him, but necessary to prepare his body for the operation.

I used to come home and eat this.

Macaroni and cheese.

And now for the operation, I'll come home and get a glass of water and

take out one of these, melt it in the water, stir it. It just has the

flavor of beef, so it feels like you're actually eating something, but you're

not. It's just liquid.

It's his last night with his entire stomach before surgery will forever

alter his life.

Obesity affects everyone in America.

This includes teenagers, roughly 14 million of them nationwide.

Phoenix, Arizona, population 1.6 million.

Here, one in three adults is obese.

In the middle of the Arizona desert, between cacti and mountains, a new type

of boot camp sprang up in Scottsdale last year.

a four-star academy that looks like a mansion.

It's strictly for teenage girls ages 13 to 18.

Their stay here is set for a four-month minimum, and it will leave them $31,000

out of pocket.

Walk about 1.5 and then walk back.

Every morning, seven days a week.

We did the math, and it's 21 miles a week, so... It's a nice time to, like,

wake up.

and see the sunrise.

It's definitely made me feel more productive, for sure.

The girls here follow a strict regime.

Breakfast is at 9 o'clock and it's monitored.

We write down our food and the calories, protein, carbs, and fat for everything

that we eat, and we write it after we eat it to keep track of it.

We do it for every meal, and then we just add it all up and write the totals

for every meal.

Lindsay, the staff nutritionist, calculates the calories in each meal.

This is kind of a peanut butter.

has a little bit less calories.

The school has created a scale of how full a person feels after a meal with

the aim of curbing appetite.

I'm at a five, so I'll probably have another piece of fruit and be at a six.

We usually shoot for a six at meals.

It pretty much means, like, pretty good to go.

but still slightly hungry.

So I want to shoot for a six, so I probably have another orange.

They're learning to live with feeling hungry.

Kaylee is 18.

She's from Texas.

She entered the academy weighing 240 pounds.

She has now lost almost 45 pounds.

Kaylee owes the weight loss to Lindsay.

She teaches the students healthy eating habits.

Today, Lindsay's nutrition class is highlighting the danger of eating salt

-rich food.

High sodium content can lead to problems with blood pressure and water retention.

All right, guys, so we're going to talk a little bit about sodium today.

How much sodium do you think is the recommendation?

A thousand.

So general for all Americans, we're saying about 2,300 milligrams.

Take a look at the things you usually eat at home, out, fast food, at

restaurants, and we're going to bring up that nutrition content that we've looked

at before and take a look at the sodium in some of our favorite.

Well, I did Chick-fil-A.

And my favorite one was the highest one.

It's always higher than you think it's going to be with things.

Like, the calories is 450.

Like, the carbs are a little too high compared to what I would usually eat

here. And so is the fat.

And the sodium is also pretty high. My favorite meal is the chicken teriyaki

bowl. And I checked the sodium, and it was so high.

I think a lot of it's just not knowing, like, what's in the food and what,

like... like calorie intake and stuff and just not being aware of what you're

eating. So I think awareness is like a huge part of what we're doing.

So why do you think we like sodium so much?

It enhances flavors.

Besides their nutrition classes, Kaylee and her friends keep up with their

regular classes online five hours per day.

I finished everything and went back. Was there anything yesterday?

I checked. And where's your speech? Yeah, that as well. You got that here? I

was going to read through it and take some notes. Yeah, definitely do that.

Okay.

3.30 p.m.

Once the school day is over, it's time for cooking lessons.

Twice a week, the girls learn how to prepare a balanced meal that they will

easily be able to recreate back home.

Ooh,

I burned my finger a little bit.

Today's menu includes a cauliflower-based hummus.

But the classes are varied with the aim of introducing the girls to new

ingredients.

My mom doesn't really cook at home, but very once in a while and usually it's

pasta because it's quick.

But this, it's fun cooking.

I never really thought about cooking until I came here, but now I do it every

other day. A lot of fun school.

And it was not, I would sometimes come home feeling very like sick and I don't

like that feeling.

Abby, can I have a salt please?

It's strong.

I'm going to just put it in for a little bit longer so it gets a little softer.

But it doesn't stop there. To spur weight loss, the girls have one hour of

mandatory physical training every day.

And where should you feel your squat?

This afternoon, a full-hour high-energy workout set to music.

What you refer to as a fat camp or a weight loss camp are completely

different. I mean, we aren't just here to exercise, exercise, eat vegetables,

exercise. The girls are doing so much more than just this. This is just one

component. We try to do all sorts of fitness, HIIT training, Zumba, sports.

So what we'll do is we're going to hold it upside down and put it on the

sternum.

It's a lot easier than when I first got here.

I've noticed a lot of muscle.

The goal is to give them the physical tools needed in order to lose weight,

stay in good health, and appreciate their bodies.

I don't know. I'm really enjoying myself right now. I love working out.

It makes me feel good.

I feel accomplished.

This evening, the school has a special surprise for the teens.

For the first time in many weeks, they're getting a night out on the town.

It's a much-needed break for these youngsters searching for their identity.

And so I'm going to study music in college.

I chose to come to help boost my confidence with my performing arts

because I love music so much. I definitely think it's going to be a new

level of confidence on stage, not having to worry about certain things.

In their quest to lose weight, these girls have left family and friends

behind, taking time out of their lives in order to slim down and no longer be

defined solely by their weights.

We return to Alex, whose big day has finally arrived.

He's going to have two-thirds of his stomach removed.

My son left this morning all worried, so I told him to relax. Everything will be

fine.

With surgery looming, Alex is feeling anxious.

But more than that, he's exhausted from three days of fasting.

It's the first big operation that I've ever had.

At the hospital, several members of his family and George, his best friend, are

there to support him.

Very important for me to be

here.

I want to make sure that when he wakes up, I can pick at him a little.

I need something juicy in front of him now. I wouldn't do that to him.

You'll get to see him in a little bit. Bye.

Dr. Choi will be performing five similar operations today, all on obese patients.

Alex is the first on the list.

I'm going to ask you a couple questions, okay?

Any medical problems I need to know about? No.

Surgeries before? No.

You're the first.

Okay.

Questions?

Is it going to hurt afterwards?

You might feel some pain after, but I'm going to make sure I'm going to take

care of you with all the pain meds.

All right, tranquilo. All right, relax.

Everything's going to be fine, okay? I'm going to take care of you.

All right?

All right.

Alex is struggling to stay calm, but luckily Jasmine is on hand.

Excited?

Ready?

Yes.

I guess you smile.

The operation will be performed under general anesthesia.

It's now one hour before the operation, and the sedatives are making him feel

drowsy. Getting dizzy.

That's the medicine.

It's working.

When Alex wakes up an hour from now,

he will have lost a large part of his stomach.

Oxygen for about five minutes before you go to sleep.

So just try to breathe in.

All operations have their problems and complications, but that was explained to

him prior to surgery.

Hemorrhaging, leaking stomach liquids, and bowel obstruction can occur after

this type of surgery, but these are the risks patients are willing to take in

order to lose weight.

He should lose an average of 10 to 15 pounds a month with a possible weight

loss of 80 to 90 pounds in one year.

His life is going to change completely. He's going to feel like a completely

different person.

It's official.

He started, you know, brand new, and I can't wait to see the transformation.

So, a little anxious.

Dr. Choi begins his work on Alex's stomach.

First, he makes an incision to insert a camera.

The procedure is done by watching the screen.

The surgeon uses two surgical tools to section Alex's stomach.

Here we see him working these clamps and scissors inside Alex's abdomen.

After an hour and a half the operation is over.

Okay. How are you? Good, good.

Everything went well. Everything went well.

I tested it. He had a really big stomach. Thank you. They can get on my

son. No problem.

I don't know if he could eat, but I know he could eat. No, no, he could eat. You

would put down three plates of food. Yes.

He can put down food for sure.

Absolutely.

But hopefully he won't be able to put food down.

No, no, he won't be able to. Thank you again very much.

Great seeing you again. Thank you. You're Jasmine.

Okay.

Two days later, we find Alex up and on his feet. He's just starting to walk

again. He's having far more pain than anticipated.

Yeah, I'm going to try.

That's too sweet.

Your taste buds change completely.

What was not sweet before is now very, very sweet.

I knew it was going to hurt, but I didn't think it was going to hurt this

bad.

The pain prevents him from moving freely.

He can't lie down in bed, and the slightest movements hurt his stomach.

His son, Donovan, has come to visit him for the first time since the operation.

If I would have kept on the way I was, I would be dead in 10 years.

I'd be around to see him graduate from college and grow up to be a good man,

and, you know, did it for him.

Gastrectomy is becoming more and more common in the U.S.

135,000 people underwent the procedure in 2017, a huge increase on five years

ago. when only 29,000 gastrectomies were performed.

While some Americans may be turning to surgery in order to lose weight, another

movement has come to prominence, a movement that rejects painful surgeries,

fad diets, and teen boot camps.

It's the body positivity revolution, encouraging people to take pride in

their bodies, no matter their size.

The attendees of this New York party are celebrating women, especially those who

love and accept their bodies as they are.

It's the opening night of the International Women's Travel Festival.

Among the globetrotting attendees, Annette Richmond's team is making a huge

sensation.

These American women have come here to prove that there's no shame or problem

with being overweight.

Quite the opposite.

Annette has made body positivity her mission and even her job.

I feel like it's important to have representation of fat people traveling

to inspire other people that are fat to travel.

It's not easy though. There are going to be different things that fat people have

to face and have to deal with and have to consider that maybe straight sized

people don't. But my whole goal is to show that it's worth it.

Annette is fighting for recognition for obese people.

Several airline companies in the country now require obese people to pay for two

seats. She aims to combat this injustice.

Annette Richman is what people call an influencer.

Originally from California, she travels to provide content for her social media

accounts. Her blog has a very specific following, fans of the body positivity

movement.

I have almost 20,000 followers on Instagram.

That's awesome.

There's not as big of a body positive community everywhere as there is in New

York, so there's a ton of events here.

Her blog, Fat Girls Traveling, aims to represent this community.

In it, hundreds of overweight women post photos of themselves traveling the

world.

Body positivity is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. The idea is to be

proud of your body in every way.

plus size acceptance is growing so people are more comfortable and

confident in their bodies worldwide you know people are getting bigger

last summer she

created a body positive fat camp a vacation spot for fat people campers got

to show off their bodies without worrying about being judged it was quite

the success so much so that she and her team are already planning the next one.

Hello, my lovely.

Welcome to the meetup.

All of them have been stared at due to their weight.

All of them have become activists, campaigning to change public opinion.

Welcome to the meetup.

And you're smart and you're tall and you have curly hair.

I am tired of people being ashamed to live in a bigger body.

It's ridiculous.

I would have been willing to die to be fit.

100%. I would have welcomed cancer if it meant I was going to lose weight. I

remember like in high school, kids would get mono and they dropped like 15

pounds. I'm like, man, I really want mono.

I think I would be thinner than I am now if I had not yo-yo dieted since the age

of eight because of my metabolism by doing that. So I think that I probably

always would have been bigger, but I think I would have been smaller than I

am now simply because I wouldn't have yo-yoed for most of my life.

But their message and attitude don't appeal to everyone.

Many doctors are against this movement.

Their worry? That it will lead young people to dismiss the dangers of

obesity.

Oh my God, do you know how many times I've been told I'm promoting obesity?

Anytime I drop a swimsuit photo.

And at the end of the day, I'm not promoting obesity. I'm promoting just

being comfortable in your own skin.

Take a picture, guys.

One, two, go.

Today is an important day for fat girls traveling.

They're going to talk about how hard it is for them to travel like others do.

Launched six years ago, this festival aims to connect influential women in the

travel world. This year is the first year that overweight people have been

invited to discuss the issues they faced, just like the one they're

experiencing today.

The stage was designed for five slim people.

There is simply not enough room on stage for the five members of Annette's team.

plus-size women how are we supposed to fit up there on that stage and I know

that they're not doing it maliciously it just they didn't think about people

living in bigger bodies need more space and that is the exact reason why we're

here we are plus-size women and we need a little more space thank you Kelly

we're all going on stage you guys ready you excited

Annette and her team have 45 minutes to enlighten the audience and to promote

body positivity.

Traveling while fat, it can be a little bit scary.

Having to ask for an extender, having to ask for more space on an airplane or a

bus, that makes people fearful.

And so my goal with creating Fat Girls Traveling was to kind of...

shake things up a little bit, but also to help take the stigma away from it.

Because fat does not mean ugly.

Fat does not mean lazy.

Fat does not mean unlovable.

Fat does not mean anything, but I have more fat on my body than you.

Amazing. You did such a good job. Thank you. You did so good. Thank you. So did

you. Thank you.

In America, the body positivity movement is fighting back.

Tonight at Bounce, a Los Angeles nightclub, you have to be overweight to

dance, and large, figure-hiding clothes are not allowed.

Tonight, it's singles night. Men who aren't necessarily obese come to meet

women who are overweight.

The emcee is Lisa Marie Garbo, an icon in the nightclub scene.

She's a specialist in plus-size club nights.

and body positivity brings in the money, every party at the club generates about

$4,500 in ticket sales alone.

These women and some 35 million overweight Americans are now daring to

wear tight-fitting, sexy outfits.

And walls are being broken down in the fashion industry, which has for so long

upheld slimness as the ideal.

Last year, Tess Holliday, an obese model, was featured on the cover of

Cosmopolitan. A first in the history of fashion magazines.

And in New York, one photographer has decided to go even further to smash

industry norms.

In her photo studio, Caritza puts the spotlight on overweight women. She is

doing a photoshoot today for an exhibition.

The theme? Women with curves.

Chin up a bit. You are my hero.

Love it. I love it. You know, in the plus size community, it's growing.

You know, fashion, projects. It's not anymore something small.

Now it's era of big things.

Big projects.

Models come from all over the world to Kiritsa's studio.

Hi, I'm Sophie. Nice to meet you. I'm Adrian. Nice to meet you.

Sophie Turner's 670,000 and counting followers make her very popular in the U

.S. For three years now, she too has been a plus-size model.

Where I'm from in Scotland, it's not a thing, so people sort of laugh about it.

There's not really a modelling market there altogether.

I tried going to London, but I find more success in New York.

I just felt it was the place to be for it.

we need to rock internet we need to rock fashion we need to rock modeling world

we need to like shake it a bit it became boring you know i

need

to do like this one two three you know what you are like french

queen marie antoinette you know Thanks to people like Caritza, the way that

overweight women are perceived is changing in America.

You can even become a beauty queen when you're obese.

Perfect.

We met one such pageant queen in the small town of Escondido, California.

At age 34, Jennifer Gutiere won the Miss Escondido contest for plus-size women.

Height, 5 feet 5 inches.

Weight, 280 pounds, titled Miss Escondido Plus 2019.

And today at her home, it's the day of the big game. Like 98 million other

Americans, Jennifer and her family are watching the Super Bowl.

Oh my gosh.

In America, Super Bowl is like...

One of the biggest events ever. It's like the World Cup in Europe. It's like

the World Cup in Europe. I don't know what that means, but sure.

And it means food, family, friends, and everybody goes crazy.

And usually everybody is drinking and going nuts, but we have kids.

If you're having a Super Bowl party.

You have to have chicken wings.

Huge, like, American thing.

Chips. I had to move the chips up here because my children will live on chips

if I let them.

Deviled eggs.

Every event, you have to have deviled eggs.

Calories aren't an issue for Jennifer.

They actually improve her image. It's thanks to being overweight that she was

crowned Miss Plus.

But now Jennifer's dream is to become Miss Plus America.

It's the biggest beauty pageant in the country for overweight women.

First,

however, she must win the California title.

An intensive training program in Los Angeles prepares the candidates for the

contest.

At last, Jennifer will meet her competitors.

Hi, Mrs. Escobedo. I'm the current reigning Miss California Plus America.

Hello. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

This is the first time I've met everybody.

I've got like first day of school jitters.

Okay, I'm in my white shirt.

The day begins with several photo shoots.

It's the best way for the candidates to size each other up.

Ready? One, two, and three.

Awesome. Gorgeous.

Thank you. You're welcome.

Look at that crown.

I love it. I love it.

I'm already a winner in my book because I've met so many people who are like,

there's a plus size Mrs.

Escondido. And I'm like, yeah, I'm like regular Mrs. Escondido, but I can have

donuts. It's like the best world ever.

Silly?

Silly guys.

Nobody wants to see it when you are walking on stage.

Do you see?

It's jiggling.

It's jiggling.

Being overweight doesn't mean letting yourself go, though.

The candidates have to stay sexy at all costs.

It gives that nice, smooth, clean look. So when I'm walking, guess what? There's

no bouncing.

Where you can feel like you're like, and when you take it off, you're like, oh my

gosh, I can finally breathe.

It needs to be uncomfortable.

I'm telling you, ladies, this will make the difference of whether you look in a

dress or you don't look in a dress.

Last item on the day's agenda, choreography.

The women will be rehearsing this dance for several weeks.

I'm scared for the dancing

part. I have two left feet. So that's the only thing that I'm scared about is

the dancing.

We'll see.

Fingers crossed.

It's 8 a.m. in Anaheim, a city near Los Angeles.

The new Miss California Plus will be crowned today.

Jennifer barely managed to sleep.

She is already getting ready to nab the title, a long-cherished dream for her.

I want to go to Nationals.

I would really like to win Supreme today. That would be...

I don't know if I'm going to.

Frank, her husband, is with her to provide support.

Yep, I got everyone set up. You got it. The candidates have spent several

thousand dollars on garments and accessories to improve their chances of

making their childhood dream come true.

Yes! Yes! Look at this gown. Oh, thank you.

I'm not touching my hat.

The pageant's director, Cher Roo, enters to wish everyone good luck.

With only a few minutes until showtime, the tension rises.

On being loved by a skinny boy.

Okay, I'm going to get dressed.

The

winner

of the Mrs.

California plus America title for 2019 is Jennifer Gutierrez.

Thank you.

The

next

stage for Jennifer is the national contest in July.

This accomplishment would never have been possible without the body

positivity movement.

Body acceptance offers a glimmer of hope for millions of Americans.

In a nation where 40% of people are overweight, one solution is to love

yourself just as you are.