Here's Why Empaths Gain Weight And 3 Things You Can Do About It

For many empaths, weight is a touchy subject. They either want to lose or gain it, and some people are fine regardless of what the scale says. 

 In fact, I haven't used a scale in years! I've both gained and lost weight, but not using a scale is consistent for me. Why? Because I think they can be psychologically damaging. They just measure mass but don't say anything about how talented, beautiful, and intelligent we are. 

 Your body is an amazing creation. I don't think we give it enough credit or appreciation. It really tries to keep us running despite some of the things we do to it. It does a million things behind the scenes like healing (cuts, bruises, broken bones), detoxing, growth and destruction of cells all without a lot of gratitude! We take for granted and ignore ourselves when things are working well, but complain when things hurt or aren't working as well as we want. How ungrateful are we! 

 Believe it or not, weight gain is one of the things where the body is trying to help us, but it's not the kind of help that we necessarily WANT. For example, when the body is attempting to protect you from toxins that you've absorbed, it often sequesters the chemicals in fat to get them out of circulation in the bloodstream reducing potential damage. Think of fat cells as the "solitary confinement" of the body for the most dangerous things. 

 Fat is also a great insulator. It can provide warmth in cold weather and keep us safe. Our metabolism can become sluggish in the winter causing us to gain weight for this reason. Because fat is a great insulator and the body wants to sequester potentially damaging components, it can also cause Empaths to gain weight as a form of protection. Since empaths can absorb the emotions of others, think of weight gain as energetic protection (I.e. insulation from the perceived dangers of your environment) with negative emotions (or energies) being sequestered in fat cells. The more perceived danger exists, the more fat cells need to be created for barrier protection and isolation. The more weight you gain, the more negative you feel. This can be a really vicious cycle. 

 In addition, because empaths are extremely intuitive and sensitive,  when they've absorbed too much energetic goo it causes them to feel unstable and overwhelmed. In order to feel grounded again, you may feel the need to eat something. Why? Eating any kind of food is a fast way to ground. However, in order to stimulate our "feel good" hormones, we often reach for carbs and sugary foods like chocolate. Although these foods ground the body quickly, you may not feel very good afterward. Substituting vegetables or fruits for processed foods is a healthier way to ground

In order to break the up/down weight cycle, several things need to happen.

 1) Address any physical concerns you have about your weight

 Work with the physician or practitioners of your choice to rule out any medical conditions (or medications) that may be contributing to weight fluctuations. Alter your nutrition and exercise as necessary in ways that you are comfortable with and match you as an individual. One size does not fit all when it comes to exercise or nutrition. Find something that's doable, fun, and is a match for your metabolism and constitution. Consider professional coaching, training, and dietary experts to help you in your journey.

 2) Address emotional sabotages and blocks to attaining better health

 Neuro-Emotional Technique (N.E.T.) helps you find out what you're holding onto and why you're still holding stress and emotions inside your body. Not only that, but it even determines if the emotions you're holding onto are even YOURS!!!! That's right Empaths! It's hard to solve a problem if the problem you're holding onto isn't even your own! 

 A popular emotional/survival brain sabotage is their different opinions about weight.   The survival brain thinks weight is a good thing because of feast or famine experiences. Excess weight protects the body during times of famine. The survival brain would encourage extra weight as an insurance policy against lean times. The emotional brain is the one conditioned by the pressures of society. It's the one who says that if we don't look supermodel ready, then we're not good enough and people won't like us. Because of the disagreement between brains, stress with weight naturally exists.

 Because the survival, emotional, and logical brains all have different definitions of health in general, there may be underlying blocks keeping you in an unhealthy, self-sabotaging state. Note: These blocks are generally not logical because the survival and emotional brains have a much larger impact. 

3) Appreciate your body every day

If you're a parent, teacher, full time worker, or caregiver, then you're doing a million things that go unnoticed on a daily basis. You're probably not going to get enough "thank you's" that would come even close to recognizing you for all of your hard work. Well, your body is in the same situation! It's doing a TON of stuff everyday just to keep you alive! It's even doing it when you're dehydrated, stressed, feeding it poor quality food, drinking alcohol or caffeine, not getting enough sleep, not exercising and so on. It loves you! Try to incorporate body positive affirmations daily to show your body some love and gratitude in return.

 If you're a parent  (fur babies count), then you know if you don't pay attention to them when they want it, they progressively get more insistent and louder until you finally give them the attention they demand. If you're undergoing weight or health issues, then your body is doing the same thing! It often sends up little distress signals that repeatedly get ignored and is forced to turn up the volume to get your attention. This often presents as pain, auto-immunity, or other dis-ease. When we integrate mind, body, and spirit with a mutual respect and consideration, it's easier to tell when and why we're off balance. For Empaths, this type of integration helps you quickly identify when you've absorbed energies that don't belong to you. Then, they can be easily released without storing them and causing stress to you and your body. 

Dr. April Darley is an expert at resolving stuck patterns of behavior through Neuro-Emotional Technique (N.E.T.). By identifying self-sabotaging behaviors, she can help you regain confidence, improve relationships, remove blocks to health, wealth and success in any area of your life.