My name is Katja, I am from Hamburg. Since my youth I am fighting with obesity. I tried every diet more and more.
After 20 years I met a doctor who told me about obesity as a disease and the possibilities to help.
So I became to be a member and shortly after that a leader of a self-help group, because I wanted to help other people with this disease, so they know, that they are not alone and get earlier and better help than me. The fact that I have a medical background and that I’m a concerned person, helps me a lot to understand other people who live with obesity.
In the year 2013 I was one of the founder members of AdipositasHilfe Nord e.V. and became second chairwomen, because there was no patient council in the north of Germany.
We started to help obese people, builded up self-helping groups, worked on public relations and clarification of obesity. The demand went more and more, so we worked in other areas of Germany than the north, too. Meanwhile we’re working in the whole country and changed the name to AdipositasHilfe Deutschland e.V.
I am working, in my job in a hospital as well as in our society, on helping people with obesity, claim for a consistent therapy and follow-up care and to stop weight stigma.