Phantom Fat?

I ran across this article by Toshiba Reynolds called
“Phantom Fat Can Linger After Weight Loss” (”http://www.postchronicle.com/news/) and I wanted to share it with you, so here goes:

Have you lost weight but still feel just as big as you were before? Well, there’s an explanation for that – “Phantom fat” can linger after weight loss.

Specialists are coining the term “phantom fat” to describe the mental body-image issues a person can go through, despite having lost even a dramatic amount of weight. It’s feeling fat even though you’ve lost weight.

Psychologist Elayne Daniels tells MSNBC: “People who were formerly overweight often still carry that internal image, perception, with them.”

“They literally feel as if they’re in a large body still.”

For many, losing weight is a joyful experience that leads to them feeling healthier and sexier, but for some, their former perception of themselves as “fat” hinders their ability to improve their self-image and self-esteem.

If you’re struggling with “phantom fat”, just try to remember one thing – the scale doesn’t lie! You may “feel” fat, but that doesn’t mean you are! Even models “feel” unattractive! Try to find things about your body that you love and most importantly – give yourself time to adjust – and keep up the good work! (end of article)

Phantom Fat (I love that term!) is the reason so many people regain the weight after the diet is over. If you still feel fat, you are going to become fat again. I know this is true, I lived it. It took me years to get rid of my Phantom Fat, much longer than it took to get rid of the real fat! That’s why I wrote the book, to show others how to do the same.

Tags: diet, fat, obese, overweight, psychology, reduction, slim, weight loss

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 9:11 pm and is filed under The Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.