A woman has detailed her journey of losing five stone (approximately 70 pounds) by addressing the impact of chronic stress and trauma on her body, rather than relying on medical interventions like weight-loss jabs.
Caroline, now 53, explained that during her 12-year abusive marriage, her body was in a constant state of 'fight or flight' due to high cortisol levels. This prolonged stress, she believes, was the primary reason she gained five stone and could not lose it, even after the marriage ended and she experienced financial hardship. She noted that this stress response continued for years post-divorce, making weight loss seemingly impossible.
"The reason I couldn’t shift the 5st I’d gained during our unhappy marriage, no matter how much I dieted and exercised? I was still carrying the pain and panic of those years," Caroline stated.
Her marriage, which began in the late 1990s, was marked by her ex-husband's manipulative behavior, including lying, cheating, and gaslighting. The financial toll was severe, leading to their house being repossessed and Caroline living on state benefits with her two children. At one point, she reported having only 20 pence to feed her family.
The weight gain intensified during her pregnancies and the subsequent stress of miscarriages and discovering her husband's infidelity. Following the divorce in 2010, she was diagnosed with several health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a heart condition, anxiety, and depression. She described feeling like a "wreck" and struggling to cope financially and emotionally.
After paying off her ex-husband's debts and establishing a stable income through her podiatry work and a healthcare product business, Caroline focused on her mental well-being. She retrained as a therapist and founded The Mental Wellbeing Company, also launching a popular podcast and writing a best-selling book on healing from narcissistic abuse.
Despite these successes, her weight remained a persistent challenge. It wasn't until a holiday in Las Vegas in 2023 that she decided to fundamentally address the issue. Through her professional connections, she learned more about the physiological effects of trauma on weight, specifically the role of a dysregulated nervous system and its impact on metabolism.
Caroline realized that exercise, which should have been beneficial, was instead increasing her cortisol levels and promoting calorie storage. She began a two-pronged approach: altering her diet and consciously regulating her nervous system.
This involved a 'fat adaptation' diet, which drastically reduced her calorie intake for short periods to encourage her body to burn fat reserves. She also increased her intake of healthy fats and proteins while reducing carbohydrates. Initially, her body, accustomed to storing calories due to perceived threats, caused her to gain weight before her metabolism began to reset.
"My research led me to what is known as a fat ‘adaptation’ diet, whereby you reduce your calories drastically for a few weeks at a time, which teaches your body to burn calories from your fat reserves rather than the food you are eating," she explained.
She gradually increased her calorie intake to around 1,800 per day, incorporating a diet rich in protein and vegetables. She emphasizes the importance of professional medical support during such dietary changes. Today, Caroline has maintained her pre-marriage weight of 10.5 stone and no longer suffers from her previous health conditions, including IBS.
She concluded that understanding and treating her body at a