June Shannon, known as Mama June to Honey Boo Boo fans, has dropped from 352 pounds to a size four... and still thinks she's fat.
Although her daughter, Alana (Honey Boo Boo), told her she didn't think she should lose weight because, "I think you look fine the way you are," June will soon be in the limelight again for a new show dedicated to her weight loss called, "From Not to Hot."
Her "new body" is being kept super secret, and won't be revealed until the show premiers.
According to the show's trailer, June's weight loss is considered the most shocking transformation in TV history. From obese to a size four, her journey is a dream story for anyone trying to lose weight... or is it?
Her daughters revealed June's secrets
"She had gastric sleeve back in May of 2015, and then she slowly started losing weight, and the reason she got the gastric sleeve was because she hit a plateau — she couldn't lose any weight," June's daughter, Pumpkin, told Entertainment Tonight in an interview. "And then it came to a point where [the trainer] had to step in because she hit another plateau with the gastric sleeve, and wasn't losing any more weight."
The show suggests there was a lot of hard work and exercise that went along with June's extreme weight loss.
But despite her miraculous transformation, there is one shocking (and enlightening) thing about June's journey.
She still thinks she's fat
Losing the weight wasn't enough to change a life-long mindset.
"She still thinks of herself as a bigger person, because, even to this day, like, a couple of days ago we had a conversation, and ... she looked in the mirror and was like, 'I'm still fat,'" Pumpkin said. "And I guess because she's seen herself as a bigger person all these years, she doesn't realize how small she is."
June's story is evidence that self-esteem and feeling beautiful has lot more to do than what the scale says.
Is there a 'skinnier person inside' of everyone?
Possibly part of June's lack of self-esteem after she lost all the weight is that she didn't consider herself complete until she became thinner.
"I'm about to start the biggest transformation of my life. This surgery is the scariest thing I've ever done, but there is a skinnier person inside of me," she said in the show trailer.
Lindy West, a fat acceptance activist and popular writer disagrees with this sentiment.
Lindy grew up being fat, and felt like a monster when she was a teenager, she told "This American Life" producer Ira Glass in an interview.
She spent years being unhappy about her weight, and, like June, thought there was probably skinnier person inside her too.
"The way that we are taught to think about fatness is that fat is not a permanent state," Lindy Said. "You're just a thin person who's failing consistently for your whole life."
But after years of being overweight, Lindy realized a life-changing idea: she could be happy as a fat person.
Why do we do it?
Lindy now actively promotes her fat acceptance ideals, and, unlike June has not found that "skinnier person inside." She feels beautiful, and thinks the dialogue we put on weight is damaging.
"Do you really want millions of teenage girls to feel like they're trapped in bodies that are ruining their lives? And on top of that, it's because of their own moral failure? And on top of that, they're ruining America with the terribly expensive diabetes that they don't even have yet?" Lindy said. "You know what's shameful? A complete lack of empathy."
Lindy doesn't necessarily think it's bad for people like June to lose weight if they wish, but they first need to love themselves for who they are before the weight loss. June and Lindy's stories are reminders to accept all people, no matter their size, and most importantly to love yourself.