A mom\u00a0of three\u00a0is going viral\u00a0on the internet\u00a0after revisiting childhood<\/a> photos that challenged a belief she carried for decades:\u00a0that she was \u201ctoo fat\u201d growing up.\u00a0<\/p>\n Switzerland-based Katrin W (@kiki_cooks_fit) shared\u00a0a reel\u00a0<\/a>on Instagram with a series of old pictures of herself.<\/p>\n She wrote on the text overlay:\u00a0\u201cPOV you were always told that you were already too fat as a child and a teenager\u2026 and then you find photos.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The images show a smiling, ordinary-looking girl,\u00a0far from the version\u00a0Katrin said\u00a0she was taught to see.\u00a0“I was never the ‘fat kid’ I was told I was,” she wrote in her caption. “Yes, my body changed like every normal kid\u2019s does. But I wasn\u2019t big. I wasn\u2019t ‘too much.’ And yet, for as long as I can remember, my parents made me believe I was.”<\/p>\n Looking back now,\u00a0the 39-year-old\u00a0said\u00a0the disconnect between what she was told<\/a>\u00a0and what she sees in the photos is still unsettling.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I look at those childhood photos today, I see a completely normal, growing girl,\u201d Katrin told Newsweek<\/em>. \u201cI\u00a0wouldn\u2019t\u00a0describe myself as a \u2018fat child\u2019 in any of them.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0what makes the gap so confusing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u00a0stayed\u00a0with her\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0a number on a scale, she explained, but a lasting message that her body needed to be managed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor years, I was told I had \u2018too much\u2019 and needed to be careful,\u201d Katrin said. \u201cEven now, when I point to the photos, the explanation sometimes shifts, but the underlying message stays the\u00a0same. It\u00a0was the belief that my body was something to control or hide.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Katrin\u00a0is careful not to frame her parents as villains. She sees their comments as shaped by the culture they lived in\u2014one\u00a0governed\u00a0by diet culture and narrow beauty<\/a> ideals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSupermodels were extremely\u00a0slim,\u00a0magazines were full of diet trends, and there was a constant message that the thinner you were, the more desirable and successful you appeared,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Katrin\u00a0recalled\u00a0her mom\u00a0having what she considered a \u201cperfect\u201d\u00a0body, yet\u00a0still criticizing herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n For Katrin, those messages had devastating consequences. \u201cI believe the seed for my eating disorder was planted very early,\u201d she said,\u00a0explaining\u00a0that while it surfaced later\u2014after trauma and a toxic relationship\u2014the foundation was already there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n She has experienced dramatic weight fluctuations and tried \u201cnearly every diet imaginable,\u201d many of which\u00a0were not conducive to her healing journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n Katrin\u2019s reel has been viewed 3.5 million times and received\u00a0nearly 3,000\u00a0comments from other women who have struggled with\u00a0body\u00a0dysmorphia<\/a> and weight stigma.<\/p>\n \u201cYup same! I wish I could hug that girl every time I come across old pictures,\u201d one user wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI got comments about my \u2018belly\u2019 when I was 15,\u201d another added. \u201cI was a competitive cheerleader at the time.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0looked back on those photos, and I had a VISIBLE six pack.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur parents\u2019 obsession with our weight was honestly insane,\u201d a third added.\u00a0<\/p>\n Katrin hopes\u00a0that\u00a0by\u00a0sharing\u00a0her\u00a0story, preconceptions over children\u2019s health can\u00a0reach parents before similar narratives take root.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMany parents were shaped by the same\u00a0pressures, but it is our responsibility now to\u00a0break\u00a0that\u00a0cycle<\/a>,\u201d she said. \u201cChildren only\u00a0get\u00a0one childhood, and it should be as free as possible from the idea that their body is wrong.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Woman-Told-She-Was-\u2018Too-Fat-as-a-Child.png?w=640&quality=80&webp=1)