Along my weight loss path, one of the primary issues I have dealt with has been how to work with my emotions without turning to food. In addition, especially at the beginning of the process, I ran into quite a few issues, such as neck and back spasms that had no physical cause, but were obviously emotional in nature, stemming from anxiety and fear. All along, I have thought that as I lost weight, I also released a lot of the emotions I was feeling at the time I originally created the fat cells (or stored energy in them, however you wish to describe it). In other words, that we store our emotions in our fat. I’ve spoken to other people who have lost a lot of weight and gotten mixed reviews of this theory. From a scientific perspective, this would not seem to make any sense. However, for me on an emotional and spiritual level, it really resonates. I have emotions and memories being released that very much relate to what I was going through around the last time I was at the same weight. I feel fortunate in that I have a very good support system, a loving husband and good friends, because learning to find other outlets for my emotional eating has been challenging.
Differentiating between emotional hunger and real hunger is something I always have to evaluate, not to mention figuring out the third type of hunger I have - mouth hunger, that is, the true pleasure I get from the taste of good food. Not everyone feels this - my husband doesn't really, he just eats to stoke the fire.
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I have had exactly the same thoughts, - but as you say, I have found no theory that could account for this. However, I think from a psychosomatic point of view it makes sense that we 'protect' ourselves by physically getting a bigger 'buffer'. And when that 'buffer' disappears it would only seem reasonable that the difficult issues we needed protection from would reappear. We become more vulnerable, in some sense.
Nice to see that someone else thinks in these ways - hopefully someone will do some research on this soon. :)
Dude, I totally agree. I think more research needs to be done on this subject. I think all kinds of chemicals are stored in the fat cells, and as the fat is burned, these chemicals are released into your system bringing back the same emotions as when the fat cells were created. Kind of like burning a scented candle. Yeah, the candle is made of wax, but it is infused with essential oils. Maybe fat stored in the body is infused with emotional chemicals. Just as a room becomes filled with the scent of lavender as a candle burns, your body becomes filled with whatever emotion the fat was infused with at the time.
I am so grateful for your post. I keep a blog as well, and have just written a couple of posts on this experience in losing weight. I wanted to reference more "research" on it, and so googled "emotions stored in fat" and your blog entry came up FIRST.
Reading your post and weight loss story have been great. Please visit and read a bit of mine if you'd like, too. Thanks so much for sharing this.
http://insidespace.blogspot.com/2010/07/gaining-and-losing-or-what-gets-lost.html
Miriam Hall
I have felt this for a long time about losing weight...I've noticed it in other people also. How can this be, though? Deep feelings that have been supressed, all of a sudden seem to come from nowhere (things you haven't felt for a good long time and sometimes, they're certain good feelings you haven't felt in years) Anyways, it's too weird.
Check out a documentary online...the best version is at Vimeo --
Mindshock: Transplanting Memories
You may find it helps support your gut feeling and change your definition of "scientific perspective."
And yes, I agree, memories are stored in fat cells and perhaps all over the body...the closer one is to their subconscious the more they will realize what these cells are saying...
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