How to Get Over the Fear of Weight Gain

This blog post is originally from an earlier version of this website. I wrote this just under a year ago, and I’m sharing it here as I feel it still holds medicine and inspiration for others.

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I can’t pinpoint when I first started being afraid of gaining weight.

I used to be as afraid of gaining weight as I was of keeping my current weight.

The only good thing that could happen in regards to my weight was for me to lose it. A lot of it, or even better - all of it.

Maybe you’re like me. Maybe you, too, can’t remember when the fear of weight gain first slithered into your mind, body and soul.

Women’s weight loss is such an integral part of our modern day culture that it’s not something we learn at a specific point, but a viewpoint crowned upon us as women for simply being alive. How lucky are we.

I can remember, however, when I realised this fear was not serving me well anymore. I have long diary entires to prove it, too.

It all came down to this: I realised that my fear of gaining weight was having countless physical and mental negative effects on me. And, frankly, I decided that I needed to prioritise my health because I had more important things to do with my life.

Self-care needed to become more important to me than weight-loss (which is, really, self-hate).

My fear of weight gain lead to:

• Lost interest in people and hobbies

• Constant thinking about food

• Dry hair and nails

• Headaches

• Tiredness

• Period loss

… to name a few.

Mostly, I lost my interest in life. My vision became tunnelled because all that mattered was my weight and how I looked.

I got over my fear of weight gain when I realised what a waste of time the whole thing was. I was giving up so much mental space and energy to how my body looked, to supposedly feel better and be happier, but I was only feeling worse.

The thinner I became, the less fulfilled I felt.

Oh, and I kind of wanted my hair, nails and period back.

So, I got clear with myself. I decided on a new set of priorities and values.

I put my health first, and I trusted that the rest (happiness, self-love, fulfilment) would follow.

My advice to you, if you’re also looking to let go of your fear of weight gain, is this:

1. Get clear on what you value the most in life.

   If you lived alone, in a vacuum, with no people to please or outwardly successes to show, what would be the most important thing to you?

2. Take count of what of yourself you’ve given up to weight loss diets.

   What have you lost beyond the weight? Physical and mental losses count here.

3. Be honest about whether losing the stuff under no. 2 are worth not getting to the stuff under no. 1.

Remember that you have important things to do and experience in your life, and making weight loss the centre of your life is preventing you from all of that!

You have as much right as everyone else to be happy and to feel successful.

Losing weight is simply a distraction from all of that, not a way to it.

And that’s how you get over the fear of weight gain - when you remember your life’s purpose to be happy lies beyond and waaaaay past how you look.

For support on your journey to overcome fear of gain weight, restriction around food and doubt in yourself, you can book a free 15-min. call here.