In this podcast episode, Victoria Kleinsman talks about overcoming the fear of weight gain. She shares her personal struggles with this fear and offers practical tips on how we can move past it to live fuller, happier lives.
Main discussion points:
- Weight gain is often seen as a marker of personal failure in society. This breeds deep fears in many people (Victoria shares that she'd rather have died than gain weight).
- The fear manifests in behaviours like chronic dieting, bingeing-purging cycles, obsessive weighing, etc. But these approaches rarely work long-term.
- Fear of weight gain is not innate; it's learned. It links to deeper fears of being unloved and rejected.
- The fear can become self-fulfilling - stress promotes fat storage. Fear of weight gain causes stress leading to actual weight gain.
- Shift focus to self-care habits that gradually diffuse the fear - pursuing passions, spending time with body-positive people, speaking kindly to yourself.
- Understand that you can live happily at many weights. Chasing thinness often sacrifices what truly matters - intimacy, meaning, fulfillment.
Key quotes:
"I would rather have died than gain weight." [00:01:39]
"We think we'll be better when we're thinner. It's time to claim back your worthiness, my love." [00:08:30]
"Thinness is not an innate human need. Love and acceptance is." [00:25:22]
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