I’m 17st but scoot to the shops in my skimpy bikini in 28C – trolls call me a ‘beached whale on wheels’ but I don’t care
ADJUSTING her white micro shorts and skimpy pink string bikini top Adele Hobkinson, 42, jumps on her two-wheel scooter.
Enjoying this week’s summer sun, the mum-of-three, from Nottingham, heads to her local DIY store gleefully scooting past other people as she goes.
Adele, who weighs 17st and is a size 22 loves spending most of her day in a skimpy bikini as soon as the mercury dial shoots up.
She knows people stare but doesn’t care.
I’ve been trolled,” she says. “One person yelled ‘That’s disgusting’.
“Another said ‘put some clothes on – it’s hurting my eyes.’
I’ve also been called ‘a beached whale on wheels’ and an ‘obesity time bomb.
Adele Hobkinson
“I’ve also been called ‘a beached whale on wheels’ and an ‘obesity time bomb’.”
But Adele, who was bullied as a child because of her weight – wearing a dress size 14 at just 12 – is adamant the cruel taunts don’t bother her.
“The sun is shining and I love showing off my plus-size body in G-string bikinis,” she says. “I love going shopping in my micro-shorts, boob tubes and low-cut dress.
“It’s my body and I’ll flaunt by rolls, flab and flesh. I don’t care what people say. They’re just jealous they don’t have the guts and confidence to flash their flesh like I do.
My body is the only one I have. I won’t hide under baggy shirts and boring trackie pants.
Adele Hobkinson
“My body is the only one I have. I won’t hide under baggy shirts and boring trackie pants. I’m living my best life wearing what I want when I want, especially in this gorgeous weather.
“Forget fit-influencers, I’m a fat-fluencer – I am promoting body positivity.”
Adele has more than 500k followers on social media and says they by-and-large support her when she whips off her clothes and flashes the flesh in a bikini.
“I get more likes and views in hot weather because I can show people what it’s like to be a proud fat woman,” she says.
The former shop staff worker quit her job in 2007 in to have her first son and started working on her social media accounts and TikTok shop, which now makes £2k a month.
Her body mass index (BMI) is 45 – making her “severely obese.”
How to keep cool in hot weather
Most of us welcome hot weather, but when it's too hot, there are health risks. Here are three ways to keep cool according to the NHS...
Keep out of the heat if you can.
If you have to go outside, stay in the shade especially between 11am and 3pm, wear sunscreen, a hat and light clothes, and avoid exercise or activity that makes you hotter.
Cool yourself down.
Have cold food and drinks, avoid alcohol, caffeine and hot drinks, and have a cool shower or put cool water on your skin or clothes.
Keep your living space cool.
Close windows during the day and open them at night when the temperature outside has gone down. Electric fans can help if the temperature is below 35 degrees. Check the temperature of rooms, especially where people at higher risk live and sleep.
According to the NHS, a healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9.
But she claims, despite this, she’s healthy.
“My BMI, doesn’t mean I am unhealthy,” she says. “I am fitter than most of my ‘skinny haters’. Every day I go live or record videos of my life. This week I am doing DIY in my bikini, hanging out washing in my micro shorts, mowing the lawn, scooting to the shops and cleaning the house in the sun
“I can do all that in scorching summer heat because I am ’fit-fat’.
“I do more in hot weather in a bikini than most people do when it’s cool.
Someone wrote I looked like a Beluga whale and demanded I cover up.
Adele Hobkinson
“I stay cool by wearing less clothes and show the world how the weather isn’t an excuse to be lazy.
“I live my life on social media. What you see is what you get and if people don’t like it don’t look. I know by showing my very real plus size fat-fluencer body doing everyday tasks without a ‘glam squad’ I am keeping it real.
“People love that. I get up, wash my face, brush my hair and put on a dress or shorts and top or bikini and start my day. It takes guts to let people see you like that.
“My reward is the thousands of messages I get from people saying I have inspired them to be more confident and wear what they want. Especially in the hot weather.
I get more likes and views in hot weather because I can show people what it’s like to be a proud fat woman.
Adele Hobkinson
Adele first started experiencing online hate a decade ago in July 2014 during similar hot weather when she posted a picture on what was then Twitter, now X, wearing a red low-cut top and black mini skirt.
“Someone wrote I looked like a Beluga whale and demanded I cover up,” she says. “At first, I was shocked and mortified.
“It bothered me that someone would bother to type such a hurtful remark.
“But I knew if I deleted the post the hater would win. I knew I was better than that so I vowed to keep sharing my life online no matter what. My long-term partner Tom, 52, a retired aerial installer, who thinks I’m beautiful, helped with that.
I uploaded a video of myself wearing a white string bikini slapping my belly and captioned it: ‘This is a bikini body. I am ready to go and p*** some people off at the beach.
Adele Hobkinson
“Now I am used to the haters. People’s insults aren’t original, they’re boring.
“The more I show off my body, particularly in a week of high temperature, the more the trolls fire off their so-called insults.”
Adela has learnt to create viral videos wearing next to nothing which address the trolls negatively.
“I uploaded a video of myself wearing a white string bikini slapping my belly and captioned it: ‘This is a bikini body. I am ready to go and p*** some people off at the beach.’
“It went viral almost immediately. The video quickly achieved 5m views in just a few days.
Now I take the view “my body has produced three amazing kids – you don’t have to be a size zero or a Love Island wannabe to look fab and feel confident.”