Fear of Weight Gain is Keeping You Stuck

As ever, we've been gathering your personal insights. Thanks to Andy for this latest one, looking at the fear of weight gain and breaking the cycle...

You cannot expect your fear of weight gain to reduce if your actions are still shaped by your fear of weight gain

“This is such a hard truth to accept.

I tried everything in recovery to try to work around it, but the reality is, if you’re still behaving in a way that tells your brain that weight gain is something to be feared, you’re never going to become less scared of it.

I know how tough it is; I’ve been there myself, desperate to recover and ready for a different, better life, but carrying on with behaviours that ultimately came from a place of fear. Behaviours which might not appear disordered to other people, and which in other people might not stem from a place of disorder, but which I knew deep down were not a reflection of healthy choices for me.

Only letting myself have an individual packet of crisps instead of allowing myself to have a big bag on the table and dive in.

Saving my chocolate or cake for the evening.

Finding a reason to pop to the shops on foot after dinner.

Having one topping on my pizza when I wanted two.

Pushing friends to meet for coffee instead of lunch.

Weighing myself each week.

 Distracting myself with chores to delay eating breakfast.

Turning down loved ones’ offers to make me a sandwich or a cuppa, opting instead to prepare them myself.

And yes, often these behaviours are celebrated by diet culture, and these compulsions amplified by a society which prizes thinness.

And yes, that does make it even harder to move away from these actions. But unfortunately, that doesn’t change the simple fact that your thought patterns will not change if your actions stay the same.”

Thank you to Andy for sharing his story.

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