Fear of Gaining Weight - Tips to Stop Feeling This Way!
Written by: Shruthi Chacko – M Sc
(Psychology)
Table of Contents
Fear of Gaining Weight – Tips to Stop Feeling This Way!
The fear of gaining weight can be hard to deal with. You might have this constant thought that you are going to gain weight. Everything you do, anything you eat or wear seems wrong. This constant voice in your head makes you question your lifestyle. But, hey, sometimes it is good to question your eating habits and lifestyle. Perhaps, you become aware and gives you a chance to reflect on the way you lived your life. But, if you feel like you are constantly thinking about it, it is better you act upon it. Are you constantly thinking about how many calories you eating? Do you always feel conscious when you are eating out with your friends? Is this making it hard for you to enjoy your time with them? Do you eat very little some days due to fear of weight gain?
Read this article is to overcome your fear of gaining weight.
Chapter 1:Where Does Fear of Gaining Weight Come From?
This fear can be a result of many things in your life. Maybe, it is the comment that your classmate passed about your weight? Or you had recently lost all that extra weight, and now you are scared that you might gain it back. Hence, it can be due to various things. In fact, fear can be the result of humiliation, disgust or embarrassment. Let us look at a few situations that can cause this fear of weight gain in you. Perhaps, you may be able to relate to some of these situations. You may find that you may have experienced or are experiencing such situations in your life.
- Your freinds or family who have been critical about your weight
- Health conditions that require you to go on a certain type of diet
- Hearing comments on your body weight
- Family attitudes or lifestyle that tend to follow selective eating
- Traumatic childhood expireincs that shamed you for your appearances or eating habits.
- Constantly comparing yourself to social media ” Filter Pictures”
Chapter 2:How Did We as Society Come To Hate Body Fat?
Are you maybe wondering, how on earth did we start hating body fat in the first place? Do you fear weight gain? The answer to this is, cultural beauty standards are the culprit. These beauty standards keep on changing now and then. Back in the 90s, extremely thin bodies with very little curves were considered beautiful. Think of Jennifer Aniston or Courtney Cox from the famous sitcom, Freinds. It is funny how now those appearances are not considered desirable. But, the pressure to conform to these beauty standards was suffocating back in the days and even now. Today, the trend is rather a little different. The perfect body is curvy with lean stomach and thigh gaps. Who knows what 2040 and beyond will bring. Only time can tell us about it. Moreover, it is better that you do not fall into such mind traps of these illogical beauty standards.
Hence, maybe you are too worried to keep up with the cultural beauty standards. Do you judge yourself if you are not meeting up these standards? Do you find yourself attractive if you are lean with thigh gaps?. Try not to be so hard on yourself, you should not follow and live your life based on such trends and come and go. In fact, when you do this, you are feeling unhappy and dissatisfied with the body that you are blessed with. Moreover, the body which helps you do the things that you do. Don’t you think you should be a little kinder to your body that exists for you?
Chapter 3:Tips to Overcome the Fear of Gaining Weight
It can be hard to stop having such feelings about gaining weight. Keep reading if you want to know how you can overcome these thoughts of fear of weight gain. But, you can rise above this fear to have a healthy mind and lifestyle.
Chapter 4:Work on Your Body Image
Only you can decide what you internalise and only you, get to decide what you think about yourself. Isn’t that a very liberating thought? Hence, when you decide to change your way of thinking, you soon start looking at your body in a much more positive way. Hence, it will have a positive impact on your quality of living and you feel soon find yourself much happier.
Chapter 5:Your Weight Does Is Not Your Self Worth
- Are you empathetic?
- Are you an excellent listener?
- Do you always give your 100%- relationships, work tc.
- Are you a generous person?
- Are you good in understanding people?
- Do you help people around you?
Chapter 6:Try to Not Be Too Emotional
- Consuming a calorie excess diet= Increase in body weight
- The laws of energy and thermodynamics balance our weigth loss and weight gain
- Resistance training helps in gaining muscle weight
- If you dislike being heavier, you can reverse this following a calorie deficit diet.
- Body weight keeps fluctuating
Chapter 7:Get Professional Help to Stop the Fear of Gaining Weight
It can be hard to do it all by yourself. After all, we humans are emotional beings and sometimes getting extra support can really help you. Therefore, having a coach to tell you to state these objective facts now and then can be very beneficial. They will be able to educate and guide you on what works best for your body. It is true, weight gain can be a very scary thing. We live in such a world that makes sure it is. However, this very scary thought can be seen from a different lens, when you have the right facts with you and faith in yourself.
At Espychonline we have a few series of self-help courses including ”Body Image Concerns” that can help you with your body image struggles in a better way. Please visit our Courses page to know more about it. You may also find it informative to read up on ”Disturbed Body Image: Are you at Risk?” or “What to Do after a Binge to Not Gain Weight?” to know more to stop having the fear of gaining weight.
