Anxiety and Weight Issues: Gentle Support for Real Change
Weight issues are among the most complex challenges I encounter when working with clients. They can emerge as a response to trauma, as a way to soothe anxiety, as a form of compensation for everyday struggles, or even because of secondary gains—and for many other reasons.
While extra weight can sometimes be part of an eating disorder diagnosis, more often it isn’t. Imagine someone breaks a leg—they need crutches until it heals. Crutches don’t have calories and can be discarded once recovery is complete. If only we could do the same with food. But food doesn’t work like that. It often becomes an emotional crutch that helps us get through difficult times.
Life may move on, but the habits around food tend to stick—often leaving behind a few extra kilos. Or you may still be in the middle of a challenging period, using food to cope with feelings that haven't yet been named or processed.
They say people without weight issues don’t link food and emotions. That’s the real secret of so-called “magic metabolism.”
Many people try to tackle weight aggressively: going on strict diets, joining gyms—and then giving up. But ask yourself: what’s on the other side of reaching that “ideal” number on the scale or dress size? What did you promise yourself you’d finally do? Change jobs? Start dating? Get a divorce?
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. You want to be happy, but sometimes happiness seems to come at a cost you’re not ready to pay. Your brain will do everything to protect you, pulling you back to the familiar “safe” place—plus a few extra kilos.
Does this sound familiar? Does even thinking about it trigger a wave of anxiety?
Anxiety and weight are deeply connected. When anxiety is high, we often fall back on food as comfort. That’s why anxiety support is such an important part of weight work. Without addressing the anxiety beneath, any change feels like swimming against the tide.
When you start to understand yourself and your hidden motives, change becomes possible. It doesn’t have to be hard, and it doesn’t require aggression towards yourself. It begins with gentle, sustainable steps—learning to listen to both your body and your mind.
It’s a game of balance. You may think it’s just about willpower, but it’s really about the parts of your personality that have different, often opposite, agendas. The goal is to help them agree, tolerate discomfort, manage expectations—and yes, sometimes to playfully trick them too: agree on a cheat meal on Sunday, or skip buying that ice cream tub and have a small cone at your favourite café instead.
Therapy can help you understand the role food plays in your life, uncover your beliefs about it, reduce anxiety, and support you in making meaningful changes—when you’re ready.
I can help you on this journey because I’ve walked this path many times myself, until I reached a place of peace—both in my body and in my mind.
