‘I want to take the handbrake off life and see what happens.’

Katie Johnston is a woman who doesn’t do things by halves. When she first appeared on our screens as a MAFS bride earlier this year, she had high hopes.

“I woke up one day and I realised I was getting older. I wanted to put myself out there for dating and had no idea how to do it,” she tells Woman’s Day. “I knew I’d gotten bigger but I hoped that the person I would be matched with would love me for who I am on the inside. My worst-case scenario was that they couldn’t see past the physical side of me.”

It didn’t take long for Katie’s groom, Tim, to make a comment about her weight, telling the camera he preferred “petite blondes”, and leading Katie to leave the experiment. “I never want to be in a dynamic with somebody like that,” she says. “No matter what shape I am, I’m still good enough.”
Kate appeared on the 2025 season alongside Tim. (Credit: Nine)
Katie’s experience persuaded her to turn her attention to both her emotional and physical health for the first time in many years.

“I’d let myself get quite big because I didn’t want to be desirable to people,” the 37-year-old admits.

“Your guard is up, and you’re waiting for the smallest comment because that’s the trigger to kind of go back into that cycle. But that was at the sacrifice of my health. I needed to feel mentally strong enough to start looking after my physical health.”

The first step when it came to looking after her physical health was to visit a doctor, then have a DEXA scan, which shows internal body composition.

“I knew I was overweight – it was visually obvious,” she says. “I was obese – let’s call a spade a spade. But the scan told me my visceral fat levels were dangerously high. That basically means early death. That was the shock that I needed to take this journey very seriously.” She adds, “My self-sabotage was done. I had to save my life.”
“My physical body just never represented who I felt like on the inside.” (Credit: @studiorepublic)
Working with her doctor, Katie has lost 26kg in the past three months. The difference it’s made to all aspects of her life is remarkable.

“I went rock climbing for the first time in 10 years the other day – and I could actually go up,” she says. “I went salsa dancing last week. My friend couldn’t believe it! We used to go together and I’d always find the darkest corner to hide in. I said I was happy just watching, which was never true.

“My physical body just never represented who I felt like on the inside. And I felt the distance between it. You get more isolated and more scared of rejection, then that compounds and just gets worse and worse. That was what was getting me down the most.”
“I’ve gone from trauma to freedom.” (Credit: @studiorepublic)
Recently, another DEXA scan revealed that Katie has managed to turn her health prospects around.

“I had another scan a few weeks ago and my visceral fat levels are completely normal,” she says. “All my health markers are normal. “I don’t want to measure myself against visual standards. Once those markers are healthy, whatever shows up on the outside is cool. I’ve gone from wanting to be healthy to saving my life.”

Now her health is in check, Katie is excited to be stepping into an unknown future. “I’ve gone from trauma to freedom,” she says. “It’s very liberating.

“Now I want to let the handbrake off life and see what happens!”