'Skinny influencer' blasts TikTok for banning account she claims is saving America from obesity

An influencer who promotes a 'skinny' lifestyle has hit back at TikTok for banning her content.

Liv Schmidt has faced intense backlash for months for offering nutritional advice to 'stay skinny' by sharing 'what I eat in a day' videos with tiny portions of food.

Critics have long argued Schmidt promotes eating disorders by emphasizing how important it is to stay skinny while simultaneously showing how little food she eats.

But Schmidt insists she is just promoting a healthy lifestyle. 

In some of her controversial videos, she would use cow, whale and pig emojis as she revealed her day started with a protein shake and electrolytes, 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 at the weekend after learning her account had been disabled for breaching 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 1 person @ a time.'

By Tuesday, that account was also no longer visible.

Schmidt was accused of 'rage baiting' her audience, a practice which sees influencers deliberately wind people up in order to boost engagement and follower numbers. 

She went on a rant about diet culture in the United States just two weeks ago, asking 'why does being American feel like a secret shame?'

'Our obesity rate is basically a competitive sport.' 

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, she defended the content which has prompted so much outrage.

'For me and my personal aesthetic, I like to be skinny and there's nothing wrong with that,' she said.

She denies having ever struggled with disordered eating herself. But Schmidt accepted she knows what it's like to not feel comfortable in your own body, having struggled with a generalized anxiety disorder since the third grade.

She said this anxiety disorder presented itself through not wanting to eat in the school cafeteria, and required meeting with a nutritionist and psychiatrist.

Schmidt pinpointed the moment she began feeling 'more peer pressure to fit into a stereotype' - her time at the University of Arizona. 'If you look around... every single person around you is blonde and skinny,' she said.

But she says her videos are a useful - and highly sought after - tool for women in 9-5 jobs to get meal inspiration.

'For me, it was way easier to cut out 300 calories of food than to burn 300 calories in exercise, especially if you're a career person with a limited amount of time,' she said.

Even still, Schmidt has said in the past she aims to hit 20,000 steps per day - double the 'magic number' touted by experts to stay fit and healthy.

In one video, she said it would be her 'worst nightmare' to put on weight. In another, she said she 'prayed' for her 'mom's skinny genes and not my dad's fat genes.' 

But the bulk of her content appeared to promote a very specific scaffold for keeping the weight off - one meal, usually shared with a friend or partner, and small snacks and liquids 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 avocado veggie dragon rolls and chicken spring rolls.

While Schmidt is temporarily unable to share her content on TikTok, she has a behind-closed-doors, paid subscription service for followers who want more advice.

The group is called the Skinny Group Community Chat. People pay $9.99 for Schmidt to share motivational weight loss quotes, grocery lists and meal suggestions. 

'I have a very cultlike group of girls following me,' she said.