'One teenager might grow up to be healthy at any weight, and another might end up in the hospital. 'The problem with today's version of body positivity is that it refuses to acknowledge that no one approach is right for every person,' she suggested.

She's also written a personal opinion piece for The New York Times about passing on her own body issues to her daughter after she found out her daughter wanted to lose weight but kept it a secret from her. Since then, she says she's dropped around 60 pounds, has got her diabetes under control and feels healthy. She has also recently undergone gastric sleeve surgery in February 2018 after she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.Ĭhanges: The author weighed 333 pounds at the time but has since lost 60 pounds after she underwent gastric bypass to help manage her diabetes 'You don't always have to be involved in some weight-loss story. 'Fat or thin, always had the capability to achieve her dreams,' deVos explained. While she described the experience as humiliating, deVos didn't let it go to waste and used her experience as inspiration for her novel Fat Girl on a Plane.ĭeVos' debut novel follows a young, aspiring fashion designer across two timelines: the 'before,' when Cookie is a plus-sized 17-year-old, and the 'after' two years later, when she's lost a significant amount of weight via a punishing diet. However, as the flight was overbooked, deVos needn't have worried - the same flight attendant immediately refunded the second ticket so another passenger could avail of the seat, and deVos easily slipped into her original single seat unaided. Positive: She has since used the experience to her advantage, drawing inspiration from the ordeal for her new YA novel

Fat Girl on a Plane by Kelly deVos