An influencer who promotes a “skinny” lifestyle has responded to TikTok for banning her content.
Liv Schmidt has faced intense backlash for months for offering nutritional advice to “stay slim” by sharing “what I eat in a day” videos featuring small portions of food.
Critics have long argued that Schmidt promotes eating disorders by emphasizing how important it is to stay thin while simultaneously showing how little she eats.
But Schmidt insists he is just promoting a healthy lifestyle.
In some of her controversial videos, she used cow, whale and pig emojis while revealing that her day started with a protein and electrolyte shake, a protein bar for lunch and ended with “a few bites” of bread and a shared appetizer for dinner.
Schmidt created a new TikTok page over the weekend after learning that his account had been disabled for violating the platform’s policies.
On the new page, her bio read: “It’s not a sin to want to be thin. Saving America from obesity, one person at a time.”
Liv Schmidt has faced intense backlash for months for offering nutritional advice to “stay slim” by sharing “what I eat in a day” videos featuring small portions of food.
Critics have long argued that Schmidt promotes eating disorders by emphasizing how important it is to stay thin while simultaneously showing how little she eats.
Schmidt was accused of “inciting anger” among her audience, a practice in which influencers deliberately provoke people to increase engagement and follower numbers.
By Tuesday, that account was no longer visible.
Schmidt was accused of “anger-baiting” her audience, a practice in which influencers deliberately provoke people to increase engagement and follower numbers.
Just two weeks ago, she launched into a rant against diet culture in the United States, asking: “Why does being American feel like a secret shame?”
“Our obesity rate is basically a competitive sport.”
In an interview with the The Wall Street Journaldefended the content that has sparked so much outrage.
“For me and my personal aesthetic, I like being thin and there’s nothing wrong with that,” she said.
She denies having had eating disorders, but Schmidt admitted that she knows what it is like to feel uncomfortable in one’s own body, having suffered from generalized anxiety disorder since the third grade.
Just two weeks ago, she launched into a rant against diet culture in the United States, asking: “Why does being American feel like a secret shame?”
Schmidt was accused of provoking the anger of her audience to increase her engagement and following.
She denies having had eating disorders, but Schmidt acknowledged she knows what it’s like to be uncomfortable in one’s own body, having struggled with generalized anxiety disorder since third grade.
In one video, she said her “worst nightmare” would be getting fat. In another, she said she was “praying” for her “mother’s skinny genes and not her father’s fat genes.”
She said this anxiety disorder presented itself through not wanting to eat in the school cafeteria, and required a meeting with a nutritionist and a psychiatrist.
Schmidt pinpointed the moment she started to feel “more peer pressure to fit into a stereotype”: her time at the University of Arizona. “If you look around… all the people around you are blonde and skinny,” she said.
But she says her videos are a useful — and much-requested — tool for women with 9-to-5 jobs to get inspiration for their meals.
“For me, it was much easier to cut out 300 calories from food than to burn them off through exercise, especially if you’re a professional person with a limited amount of time,” she said.
Still, Schmidt has said in the past that he aims to hit 20,000 steps a day — double the “magic number” experts recommend for staying fit and healthy.
In one video, she said her “worst nightmare” would be getting fat. In another, she said she was “praying” for her “mother’s skinny genes and not her father’s fat genes.”
A protein and electrolyte shake was what Schmidt was promoting for breakfast and snacks.
Schmidt would share protein bars like this one for lunch after eating only liquids for breakfast.
Schmidt used to recommend trying “a few bites” of something.
Another common recommendation from Schmidt would be to share small meals with a partner or friend.
Schmidt did eat a few bites of ice cream that day, including emojis of a cow and a pig on his photo.
But most of its content seemed to promote a very specific strategy for keeping weight off: one meal, usually shared with a friend or partner, and small snacks and fluids throughout the day.
Another daily meal plan started with the same protein shake she promoted in almost every video, followed by electrolytes and then “lemonade, mango and pineapple” for lunch.
Dinner consisted of vegetable and avocado dragon rolls and chicken spring rolls.
While Schmidt is temporarily unable to share his content on TikTok, he does run a paid subscription service behind closed doors for followers who want more tips.
The group is called Skinny Group Community Chat. People pay $9.99 for Schmidt to share motivational quotes about losing weight, shopping lists and meal suggestions.
“I have a group of girls who follow me like a cult,” she said.