The links between weight and trauma
Difficult times and difficult life experiences can be traumatic and can affect your weight journey.
It may be important to take the time to consider the range of factors that can affect our weight, following trauma. It may also help you to accept that you are not to blame for living with weight management difficulties.
You may recognise factors that have influenced how you are around food. For example, you may find it harder to resist certain foods when you experience difficult thoughts and feelings. It is common for people who have experienced trauma to turn to foods higher in fat and sugar, partly because these may make you feel better (because eating can be a distraction and provide temporary relief from your thoughts and feelings), and partly because of the hormonal changes we experience, which affect our ability to feel hungry or full, making it difficult to lose weight.
Our experience of trauma can also affect sleep, which can interfere with our ability to lose weight, due to hormonal changes.
Weight stigma
Maybe you have lost weight previously and experienced positive feedback from people around you changed your thoughts and feelings about weight:
“When I am thin, I am accepted and liked”
“When I’m overweight, I feel rejected and disliked”
Or, you may have received attention you found difficult to cope with, which led to regaining the weight you lost, to avoid this attention.
Either way, comments from other people may keep the vicious cycle of weight discrimination going, which in turn, can lead to yo-yo dieting.
Self-worth
You may not always be prioritising you and your needs e.g., making more time to care and support others, it may be a time to prioritise yourself and the care and support you need at this time.
Trauma can influence healthy weight loss
It is particularly important to realise that trauma can influence a person’s ability to lose weight.
The first steps for you may be to:
- acknowledge that trauma is stressful and outside of your control
- that you are not to blame for your weight as this can be a response to trauma
- identify support that can help and take the next step to access this support.
For now, this may be about how trauma has affected your life and your mental health and wellbeing, rather than focus on weight loss.
Getting the right help and support can help you to manage your weight in the long term.
Continue your journey
Click on the next page Signposting to immediate help and support services to continue your journey.
