Death of 156kg Chinese influencer who died at extreme fitness boot camp sparks concern about popular weight loss workouts
- Woman had been sharing efforts to lose 100kg with 15,000 followers and said she had lost almost 30kg
- Following previous stints, on day one at a new camp she told fans she felt unwell and died within 24 hours
.JPG?itok=NUwH9YK3&v=1713190226)
A 156kg influencer has died on the second day of a fitness boot camp, raising concerns about extreme workouts and dieting in China.
Known as Cuihua, the 21-year-old from Henan province in central China was found dead on May 27, the second day of a weight-loss workout regime at a fitness boot camp in Shanxi province in northern China.
The cause of death and other details about how she died have not been revealed.
Cuihua had been sharing her efforts to lose 100kg with her followers and said she had lost almost 30kg just before she died, HK01 reported.
In September last year, she started using fitness boot camps in Guangdong province, southern China, and initially lost 16kg, she told her 15,000 followers on Douyin.
She returned to her hometown in Henan, joined another camp, and lost a further 10kg in the space of a month.
After this, she joined a boot camp in the northern province of Shanxi that offered her free membership if she shared exercise videos on her Douyin account promoting the company.
The day after she started the new boot camp on May 25, Cuihua posted on WeChat that she felt unwell.
In a video accompanying the post, Cuihua lifts weights with a pained expression on her face and later runs with weights on her shoulders with her eyes closed tightly before stopping, out of breath.
According to local media reports, after the intense daytime workouts, the boot camp demanded she host live streams and make videos promoting their business each night.
On the morning of May 27, a member of staff at the camp called Cuihua’s father, surnamed Zhou, to inform him that his daughter had died.
Zhou has reportedly agreed to accept compensation from the boot camp.
The story has shocked mainland social media.
02:29
Chinese boy breaks 3 treadmills in weight loss journey
One person said: “How sad! I hope she will have a good body shape in heaven.”
Another person commented: “The camp just treated her like a tool for making money.”
Stories about extreme weight loss often appear in the mainland media.
Late last month, a 15-year-old girl in southeastern China who weighed half the average weight for her age, died after going on a crash diet to impress a boy she liked, causing widespread anger.
In June 2022, a 30-year-old woman with an eating disorder in northern China was taken to a hospital weighing just 25kg with multiple organ failures.
