Ghost Fat: The Unexpected Side Effect From GLP-1 Weight Loss

[00:00:00]I've lost 115 lb. The scale confirms it.

[00:00:03]My clothing tags display it, and my friends and family are constantly telling me how amazed they are at my physical changes. But sometimes when I look in the mirror, I still see me as 284 lb. I will still reach for clothing that is multiple sizes too large for my current body. I will debate whether I can fit through aisles when I'm in clothing stores or at restaurants. And sometimes I will brace myself when I'm sitting down into a chair cuz I'm worried about the weight limit, even though I'm over 100 lb below the maximum weight for that chair.

[00:00:33]When these moments happen, it almost feels like I'm living in in someone else's body, right? Like I'm still the me before, and I'm in a rented vehicle.

[00:00:41]And I know that I've gone through these changes, but my mind hasn't had time to catch up with the physical changes that have happened.

[00:00:48]Psychologists are calling this ghost fat or phantom fat. But many influencers have referred to it as body dysmorphia.

[00:00:55]So, are they the same thing? Or are ghost fat and body dysmorphia very different concepts?

[00:01:01]Hello, and welcome to Amanda Wagner Wellness. My name is Amanda. I'm so excited to have you here. On this channel, we talk about all things weight loss, weight management, tools like GLP-1s, fitness, nutrition, and everything in between. Before I get into today's topic about ghost fat, I have a quick disclaimer.

[00:01:16]I'm not a doctor or a medical professional, so please speak with your doctor and wellness team before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or medication regimens. Everything on this channel is based on my opinions and experiences.

[00:01:27]So, is ghost fat or phantom fat and body dysmorphia the same concept? They're actually very different. Ghost fat is a temporary spatial and perceptual lag where your brain takes time to adjust to the new smaller body size. Whereas body dysmorphia is a mental health disorder characterized by an obsessive fixation on a perceived physical flaw.

[00:01:48]So, ghost fat is kind of similar to that phantom limb uh phenomenon that some people experience when they have a limb removed from their body, right? They'll report that they still feel as if that limb is there, as if they can, you know, move parts of it, that sort of thing, even though it's no longer attached to their body. And so, that's kind of where this concept evolved from. It occurs when you lose a significant amount of weight so rapidly that your body does not like your physical body does not have time to match your mental self-image. So, you might subconsciously reach for those old clothing sizes or worry about knocking things over or instinctively turn sideways when you're going through a tight space. Or something that I do regularly is going down the stairs the way I had to when I was 284 lbs, which is turning sideways, bracing on the handrail, and having to go down one step at a time, right foot then left foot, right foot then left foot.

[00:02:38]But I can go up and down the stairs normally with ease these days. I just have to mentally prepare myself to do it, and if I don't, I instinctually go back to that old habit because of this ghost fat or phantom fat phenomenon that is something I'm dealing with.

[00:02:53]So, conversely, body dysmorphia or BDD is a chronic psychological condition rather than a temporary neurological disconnect. It is an anxiety-driven obsessive preoccupation with a perceived or wildly exaggerated physical flaw, even when that flaw isn't noticeable to others.

[00:03:10]It leads to compulsive behaviors like excessive mirror checking, camouflaging the flaw with clothing or makeup, and constantly seeking reassurance. Unlike ghost fat, it is a recognized mental health diagnosis that typically requires therapeutic intervention such as cognitive behavioral therapy and does not automatically resolve as your body changes.

[00:03:30]So, while both can cause emotional distress, ghost fat is rooted in spatial memory and habits, whereas body dysmorphia is rooted in obsessive anxiety about appearance. People who lost drastic amount of weight can actually experience both of these as years of living in a larger body can sometimes trigger BDD symptoms and make it difficult to accept that new size.

[00:03:50]So, why am I making a video about this topic?

[00:03:54]Well, I think it's an important one that many of us experience but few are really talking about it after extreme weight loss. In article from Psychology Today, this phenomenon is explained. So, it says why phantom obesity is normal, not pathological. Quote, weight loss is framed in our culture almost entirely as a physical event. The number changes, the body changes. Our mental story presumably updates itself automatically and on the same schedule. Now, what this cultural framing leaves out however is that the self is not a passive mirror of physical status. The self is an active multi-layered neurological system optimized for stability that builds its model of who we are slowly across years of accumulated experience and social feedback. This mental model does not revise itself because a number on the scale has changed. It updates only through repeated lived experience and does so on its own timeline. This timeline can be much slower than the physical process of losing weight. End quote.

[00:04:54]So, an example of me living with phantom fat is that sometimes I'll order clothes online and hold them up and they're in my current size but I will look at them and just think they're so small. There's no way these are going to fit. I do the same thing when I'm folding laundry. I constantly confuse my own laundry for my 13-year-old daughter's laundry because we now wear the same size. Or I'll look in the mirror and tear myself apart but then I see a photo or video from the same day and get confused because I recognize in the photo or video that I'm in a much smaller body. I don't feel like I look like the photo when I'm looking in the mirror.

[00:05:28]And I struggle with this it's in public as well thinking that chairs won't hold me or aisles are too narrow or people are going to be judging me for my size that I no longer am. I worry I won't fit into booths at restaurants or that auditorium seats are going to be too small. And then I actually experience the exact opposite of what I'm anticipating. These feelings and experiences can be kind of isolating, and I think it's important to talk about so that others know that it's something that others are feeling and experiencing and taking note of, and you're not alone if you are experiencing this. A lot of my friends and family talk about how good I look, but I'm not always mentally experiencing that in my head. So, I'll say thank you, but then I either mentally tear myself apart or I question what they're talking about. And after reading a lot of scattered posts on online support groups, especially in the GLBT 1 communities I'm in, I've realized that I'm not alone. But, it is so scattered that I don't want others to think they're alone in this feeling or this disconnect, either. Which is why I decided to make this video.

[00:06:27]It takes time and work to bring the mind into connection with the big changes that we've made in our physical bodies.

[00:06:32]So, if you're experiencing these feelings and you have the ability to, work with a therapist, take photos and videos, and really look at them. Say positive affirmations every day, and remind yourself that the real world truth is one thing instead of what your mind is saying to you.

[00:06:49]That same Psychology Today article I mentioned earlier um discusses the consequences of this condition. So, quote, "The consequences of phantom obesity are numerous. The automatic choice of the wider seat, the reflexive apology for taking up space in a room, the hand that instinctively reaches for the larger clothing size, the internal bracing for negative social attention in a crowd long after that attention has ceased, the uncomfortable feeling that you were living in a body that is not your own. None of this represents a character flaw. It is the brain doing exactly what it evolved to do, providing a stable sense of self that doesn't require constant recalibration.

[00:07:26]Psychologists who study identity have long documented that people have a deep need for self-continuity, a coherent sense of who they are that persists across time and circumstance.

[00:07:37]Self-stability isn't vanity. A self that updated instantly with every change in circumstance would be too energy intensive to function in a dynamic world. The problem resulting from rapid weight loss sources such as GLP-1 medicines and bariatric surgery is that the body can change faster than the brain's mental model. And the brain, by design, not disease, is hesitant to trust the new incoming data." End quote.

[00:08:01]So, how do we help speed up the process of our brain catching up to our new body size? Well, there's three suggestions that I've come across, and one is behavioral experimentation. So, just live those experiences. Sit down in a normal-sized chair instead of being drawn to that larger one. Fight that urge to sit in the bigger one and just sit in the normal chair.

[00:08:21]And do it without bracing yourself. Or walk through the aisle that you think might be too narrow without turning sideways first. If you get there and you're still too big, then you can turn sideways. Just try it because the odds are it's probably going to work. The second suggestion is called narrative revision. So, this is a foundational technique used by cognitive behavioral therapists, and it's not positive thinking. It is the challenging but essential cognitive work of replacing habitual and often outdated self-descriptions with ones that reflect current reality. So, when you practice this consistently, it becomes a new default story. So, this is the process of changing that brain discussion in your head of what size you should be reaching for or how you can walk down a narrow aisle. Or in my specific situation, going down the stairs the normal way instead of trying to go down sideways.

[00:09:10]And the third suggestion is through sight. Use your eyes. Look at photos and videos. Look at your clothes, hold them up, and then look at them when they're on your body.

[00:09:20]Look at the size of the chair that you sat in. The exposure treatment is going to be really, really highly effective to getting your mind to catch up to these new spatial changes.

[00:09:30]Over time, the ghost fat struggle should disappear. Your mind should eventually catch up to your your And in the meantime, just know that you're not alone. This is not a failure, this is biology, and with some work you can adjust it. If you believe that your issues are more severe and it may be body dysmorphia, please speak with your healthcare provider. Help is available to assist you with navigating this condition.

[00:09:53]So, that's it for today. Thank you so much for tuning in for today's video. I hope you found it helpful or informative in some way. If you did, please give it a thumbs up. If you haven't already, please subscribe to the channel. And if you watched all the way through, let's put the um the mirror emoji since we're looking in the mirror um in the comments if you watched the video so I know you got all the way to the end. And I would love to know if you've experienced phantom fat or if you're going through issues with body dysmorphia and you're comfortable sharing that. I think this is a really important topic that just isn't discussed enough. So, I would really like to open that conversation in this safe space. Please keep the the comment section positive and supportive.

[00:10:31]I will delete anything that is negative or attacking. Um I am fully on board with making this a safe space for others to discuss things and look for help, and I'm not about bashing others who may not agree with this concept because science says that it's real. So, that's it for today. Thank you again for joining me. Don't forget to like and subscribe, and I hope to see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.