So, hello dear empaths, how are all of you today? I’m going to talk to you about a subject that we all know too well; empaths and our weight, a touchy subject to say the least.
I know how all of you feel. I’m overweight, obese to be exact. I know it and I’m not proud of it. Have you ever noticed how many of us empaths are overweight? I’m not sure of the numbers to be exact, but a safe guess is more like about seventy-five percent of us. Yes, we absorb negative emotions, and yes, we sometimes ‘stuff’ out feelings. This causes weight gain. But what about us who are just really careful about what we eat and are still overweight, like me? Why? I have several theories about this I’d like to share with you.
I have always been overweight, except during my teen and early twenties, even though some people still said I was overweight.(155 at 5’7″, very large frame. People said I was overweight, but I was actually within chart norms). I used to be a semi-professional tennis player, playing up to 6 hours per day. Not doing that I knew would cause weight gain, but my busy life still marched on. Well, I had my first child, the second and third. Weight crept up, no time to play tennis anymore. I blamed it on that, but there was more to it, now I see it and I’ll tell you why because it pertains to you, too.
I was also teaching school, not normal classes or students, but students with severe emotional problems, in one of the most depressed places in the country. Think about it; constant bombardment of stress mixed with all the negative emotions. I was caught up taking care of a family at home and ay school. Absorb, absorb, absorb. All of these negative emotions in my environment produced extreme amounts of cortisol and sapped my serotonin. I’m not a big eater; I eat less than 1800, often less than 1300 on an average day, which can be verified by anyone who knows me. But I kept gaining weight. I thought all the exercise was the culprit, but there was more to the story. “You’re not eating enough, you’re not exercising enough, yada, yada, the dietitians would tell me. , making me feel bad, and angry at myself, even after exercising for hours like I used produced no results. But they were missing something EXTREMELY important; I was an empath, and I was literally absorbing the GARBAGE of those around me. That is what has caused my weight gain.( I really think that all dietitians by law should also be certified psychologists, but that’s another topic.)
Let me explain. As an empath, we unconsciously absorb emotions from those around us, good or bad. We are healers and we do it to help others feel better. But we are also human. Like any human that is hurting we self medicate. When our anxieties are high and our serotonin is low, what do humans do to raise it? Our main reaction to this is to eat carbs. Carbohydrates literally raise our serotonin and dopamine levels. We are trying to unsuccessfully heal ourselves, like we are healing those around us.
As for me, I didn’t think I was eating a lot of carbs. I don’t eat bread(or try not to), I don’t eat root vegetables and don’t drink. But I used to eat everything like that and my drug of choice was pasta. Now remember, I don’t eat a lot, but what I was dong was that the percentage of my calories was still high in carbs. This is where the kicker is, it has led to insulin resistance, and now my weight just doesn’t want to come off.
I’m sure there are many, many of you like I am. We coped by eating carbs and didn’t even know it. You yes, being an empath is hard on your body. The stress, the strain, and the sugar spikes are devastating to your health, both mind and spirit, and you need coping strategies to deal with them.
The Daily Struggle: How I’m handling It
Well, my aha moment came after after a serious back injury/ muscle tear and being away from teaching for 5 months, I noticed my anxiety had started going away the longer I was off work. My friends kept telling me how well ‘grounded’ I was. . And I LOST weight. So far, 30lbs. I cleansed my body of sugars of all forms, and ate vegetables, meat and a few dairy products. I was amazed. I’ve never been able to lose weight like that that quickly. I finally figured it out; my emotional state was directly correlated to how much exposure from negative energy I was getting. I was carrying around other people’s crap, literally. I always assumed that this had a lot to do with my weight, now I knew for certain. But I had to have a paycheck, so I had to go back. What was I going to do?
SO I made a plan. As humans, we like the security of routine. So I made this plan; I workout before I go to school, I do meditation and yoga every morning, and concentrate on surrounding my empathic abilities with white light. I have been doing this now for 3 months, and although there are days where I let my empathic abilities gush, I just keep reminding myself to keep it together for myself and my wellbeing. At so far, it seems to work. I have not gained any weight back, although I have not really lost much more. I can live with that for now. Do I cheat on my new eating habits? Yes, we don’t live lives on diets, but I now have definitely pinpointed my weight problem, I am using strategies for sure that will help combat it.
Are there any people out there just like me? I already know the answer; all of us empaths are like this. Helping to identify your reason for weight gain is the key to its loss. Once I knew it wasn’t really my fault, but the way my Higher Power made me emotionally has helped me to realize that even if I don’t lose all the weight(I’ll probably be overweight for the rest of my life in some way), that I am a divine creature with a mission and purpose. I need to be conscious of my absorption of emotions and how it plays on my serotonin and dopamine at all times. This way, I can find other ways to keep those levels up. There have been several times that I just start waking outside and kept walking until I feel better. I know it has been a dopamine issue, and I am trying combatting it with other tools. At least I am trying. Find your bag of tools and stick to them.
thewisewomansage 