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

Katie Johnston has never been afraid to take big risks in life, but before appearing on Married At First Sight earlier this year, the 37-year-old admits she had spent years putting her personal life on the back burner.

“I felt like I had neglected my personal life for a long time,” Katie tells Woman’s Day. “I wanted someone, something to facilitate a journey towards love. I’d been racing through everything else and deprioritised it for so long – finally, I thought this would be my opportunity. I was really excited for it… until I wasn’t.”

Katie says she went into the experiment with high hopes but also with a lingering fear that her lifestyle and health would eventually let her partner down. “I knew I had gotten bigger. I knew I wasn’t prioritising certain things like my health, and I wanted to change it – to finally be healthy for the first time in over a decade.”

Those fears became reality when her groom, Tim, made a blunt comment about preferring “petite blondes,” leaving Katie hurt and disillusioned. “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.”

But that experience would end up being the turning point that pushed her to reclaim her health, happiness, and freedom.
Kate appeared on the 2025 season alongside Tim. (Credit: Nine)
“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!”