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Last updated on December 5th, 2024 at 09:36 pm
The fear of gaining weight is one of the most pervasive sources of anxiety in western society.
‘Have you ever been haunted by the question “But what if I gain weight” when thinking about diet, lifestyle, or medication changes?
This is the most common question when it comes to:
- Illness
- Aging
- Injury
- Increasing food intake
- When you stop counting calories
- Recovering from an eating disorder
Gaining weight is a deeply rooted fear for many. You may have a deep fear of gaining weight because you may feel you will hate your body.
The problem is not your body. The problem is not potential weight gain. The problem is a culture of oppression for people in large bodies.
Let’s dig into some of the reasons why you are so afraid to gain weight, where this fear comes from, and how to soothe some of your weight gain anxiety.
Why Do I Fear Weight Gain
At a very early age you are taught that thin bodies are good and fat bodies are bad.
This can easily be seen by:
- Photoshopped emaciated models
- Social media images of people ONLY in their best light (and likely at their thinnest angle)
- Barbie and ken dolls with physically impossibly thin bodies
- Movies and images of slim models promoting shrinking your body for “bikini season”
- Disney characters including hourglass-shaped thin princesses and muscular lean bodied men
You are also told that you can control whether you are fat or not. That means that if you choose to be fat, society tells you that you are making bad choices. This might lead you to believe that if you are fat, you are bad.
Racist and classist BMI standards skew the picture of what can be considered healthy when it comes to weight.
Thin privilege is all around us, and people who are not fat have greater access to the world. Thin people are also rewarded with praise, healthcare, and media representation of bodies that look like them. At the same time fat people are ridiculed and bullied for being fat. With these factors considered, its easy to see why you might have a fear of weight gain.
Why I’m Afraid To Be Fat
You are likely worried about gaining weight not because of the weight gain itself, but because of the social stigma that living in a larger body might mean for you.
People in fat bodies often are viewed negatively in society.
- Fat bodies often have dismissed medical concerns in doctors’ offices
- People might tell you you “need to lose weight” publically
- Fat people are often seen as gluttonous, undisciplined, unloveable, lazy, and unhealthy
- Fat people might not be able to easily access public spaces
- A fat body is often ridiculed and bullied
- People in larger bodies may face discrimination in job and social settings
The degree to which someone experiences oppression in larger bodies increases as the body size increases.
It’s completely logical that anyone would fear weight gain with some social implications that come along with living in larger bodies. Weight stigma is very real and very scary.
However, its critical you realize that the problem with weight gain is a culture of oppression, not fat bodies and weight gain. Fearing weight gain doesn’t prevent weight gain. Weight loss often results in weight loss rebound (typically resulting in a higher weight than the starting weight).
While it might be easier to feel like you can simply “shrink your body” to fit society’s strict standards for thinness, this is often ineffective and harmful.
What Does Weight Gain Fear Look Like
Weight gain fear can present itself in many ways.
Subtle signs of weight gain fear might look like this:
- Frequent body checking or commenting on other people’s bodies
- Fatphobia
- Avoiding situations that might involve food
- Excessive weighing
- Seeking out zero or low-calorie foods
- Avoiding scales
- Diet pill addiction
- Guilt After Eating
- Checking yourself against old photos
- Feeling hungry after a meal because you are eating too little
- Commenting on other people’s bodies frequently
- Fasting
More extreme examples of weight gain fear are eating disorders. Note that ALL of these behaviors associated with fear of weight gain can also be warning signs of an eating disorder.
Weight gain fear is also very common in eating disorder recovery, especially where achieving overshoot weight is critical for meeting biological needs.
I’m Scared To Weigh Myself
If you’re scared to weigh yourself, it’s not the number on the scale you’re afraid of. It’s the implication of that number.
You might be scared to weigh yourself because:
- You’re afraid if you’ve gained weight you won’t be able to stop gaining weight
- You have attached yourself to a certain number on the scale as a part of your identity
- If your weight is higher than the last time you checked, you may feel like a failure
- If your weight is the same or higher than your last check, you may feel like you’re not in control of your body
It is very likely that no matter what weight you see when you get on the scale you will not be happy. While weight is technically an objective measuring tool, weighing yourself likely has many emotions attached to it.
Weight Obsessed Habits
Every time you weigh yourself on the scale, it can trigger a negative thought or behavior.
While weighing yourself on the scale might temporarily soothe your insecurities about gaining weight, this sense of relief is likely to be short-lived.
The more you weigh yourself you will likely:
- Feel the need to check your weight more frequently to make sure you’re still “okay”
- Have increased food guilt
- Experience an uptick in negative body image
- Experience head hunger from food restriction
- Feel like its impossible to eat normally
- Compensate for food with exercise
The scale is a very powerful immediate reinforcer because the information is available right away which can influence behavior significantly.
To stop thinking about gaining weight we need to heal both our relationship with food and the body.
How To Stop The Fear Of Weight Gain
Getting rid of fears around weight gain will involve healing your body image.
Stop the fear of weight gain by:
- Tracking the number of times you weigh and commit to reducing this number each week.
- Putting the scale away or get it out of the house if possible
- Tracking other body-checking measures and committing to reducing weekly
- Covering mirrors if you’re checking yourself in them frequently
- Practicing intuitive eating
- Getting rid of calorie-counting apps
- Practicing food neutrality
- Having activities to do to reduce stress rather than the scale such as a game or knitting
- Using body-positive affirmations
- Journaling using body-positive journal prompts
It’s important to celebrate these non-scale victories when you’re able to integrate them into your daily routine.
These eating disorder recovery books may also offer some valuable insight into recovering from weight gain fear. You can check out my anorexia story as well to see how I worked through my fear of weight gain.
- Switch Witch: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - October 18, 2024
- Giving Yourself Unconditional Permission to Eat - October 17, 2024
- Help, I Feel Like I Don’t Deserve To Eat - September 7, 2024