Safety and Weight

Weight loss resistance can be closely linked to feeling unsafe in your nervous system because of the complex interaction between stress, emotions, and biology. When the body perceives threat—whether physical, emotional, or mental—it activates the "fight or flight" response. This is a protective mechanism that prepares the body to handle perceived threats. But when chronic or unresolved, it can have a negative impact on hormones, metabolism and often causes unwanted weight gain, or weight loss resistance.

Excess weight is a symptom not the problem. While many look at weight as the problem, it belongs on the list along any other symptom like high BP, insomnia, headaches, chronic pain etc

Here’s why:

1. Cortisol and leptin: Chronic stress often leads to elevated cortisol levels, a hormone released by the adrenal glands. High cortisol levels can make it more difficult to lose weight because it promotes fat storage, particularly in the abdominal area.  Long-term stress can lead to an imbalance in other hormones like leptin,  insulin, and ghrelin, which regulate hunger and fullness. The body can become leptin resistant leading to overeating,  poor fullness cues, and difficulty using fat for fuel. 

2. The Body's Perception of Safety: If you don’t feel safe—whether physically, emotionally, or in your environment—the body may hold onto fat as a protective mechanism, meaning weight loss might be resisted because the body thinks it needs fat stores to survive.

3. Metabolic Function: When under stress, the sympathetic nervous system is activated, and the parasympathetic nervous system is suppressed,  hindering the body’s ability to digest, absorb nutrients, and properly process food, leading to metabolic disruptions.

4. Emotional Eating: When feeling unsafe or emotionally triggered, many turn to food for comfort, leading to emotional or stress eating. This can sabotage weight loss efforts, as the body may be in a heightened emotional state, making it harder to make good, healthy food choices. It can increase appetite, and cravings for unhealthy processed foods, especially those high in sugar and fat. This all an attempt to regulate the nervous system when other tools aren’t known. The emotions/stress is perceived as the threat, and eating is the go-to method to self-soothe and attempt to bring the nervous system out of survival mode. 

   
   

In essence, the body needs to feel "safe" to lose excess weight. Weight is only a symptom. Addressing chronic/unresolved stress and creating a sense of safety through various practices can help you break through weight loss barriers.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a natural sympathetic “fight or flight” response to danger or threat. It is not bad, it is purposeful and needed. But when it is excessive or persistent, it can greatly interfere with daily life and health. When experiencing chronic anxiety, the nervous system has become "stuck" in a heightened state of arousal.

You may feel jumpy, jittery, on edge, or buzzy. Your heart and breathing may be faster. You may feel restless, need to stay busy, or feel your mind is spinning/overthinking.  You may find that you have a hard time focusing, remembering things, relaxing and settling down. This can be experienced as go-go-go mode, too much to do and no time to relax or connect with others.

What’s under the surface of anxiety? Fears, negative beliefs, unprocessed past events, repressed emotions – essentially, stored survival stress in the body.

A reason it’s so hard for many to pause, be with and ease up is because there is resistance/fear to facing what’s happening in the body. Instead of trying to get rid of, fix it or fight against it, we want to listening to it, turn towards it and work with the body in an intentional way.

There is no way around beginning to slow down, pause and become present, in small doses, to what’s happening in the body. We want to take tolerable steps, build capacity to be with the body and learn tools to safely release what’s stored without causing overwhelm. This is an attunement process that happens over time, it’s not a quick fix.

Our greatest refuge, support and safety in exploring the roots of anxiety is the Lord. He is our secure attachment. God cares deeply for His people, and we are not alone in our struggles.

We are encouraged to give our worries and anxieties to God because He genuinely cares about our well-being and is able to help us. Through prayer, we can give our anxieties to God and receive His peace.

 At the heart of anxiety often lies a lack of trust in God’s sovereignty and goodness, fear of not being in control or uncertainty about the future. Believers are encouraged to trust in God's sovereignty, that He is in control of all things, even when circumstances are difficult or unclear. God is working for the ultimate good of His people, even if we cannot always see how or when.

Health and Personality Traits

We all have behavior patterns and personality traits that develop as coping survival strategies when we are young, in order to stay safe and alive (according to our perception based on early childhood events/experiences)

There is now a well known link between common personality traits and those who suffer with chronic health challenges.

The body can produce pain and other symptoms as a result of these personality traits, as they reveal and are rooted in a dysregulated nervous system.

The common traits are:

·         Perfectionism, fear of failure, all or nothing

·         High expectations for self, a tendency to be hard on oneself, chronic guilt and shame

·         Need for approval, wanting to be liked, people pleasing

·         Need for control, excess worry, fear, catastrophizing, hyper-vigilance

·         Being overly cautious, conscientious, being a strict rule follower

·         Being overly responsible, excessive self-blame

·         Holding feelings and thoughts in, difficulty expressing feelings

·         Harboring rage, resentment, anger

·         Don’t stand up for yourself, poor boundaries, avoiding conflict

·         Easily hostile or aggressive, takes offense often, highly critical

These traits occur when stuck in states of fight, flight or freeze. Under the surface of these patterns is often repressed emotions, perceived threat, and inner conflict. This internal stress can manifest in the body as all kinds of possible symptoms. Digging into these patterns can be key in turning around persistent health challenges.