Did you notice major changes in your physical appearance within months of moving into a narcissistic relationship? Did your friends, family, and even strangers make comments like, “Oh, you don’t look the same. If you don’t mind me asking, is everything alright in your life? It seems you have put on a little bit of weight. You look quite dull. What’s going on?” If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then hear me out. You need to know this: the narcissist caused these major changes in your appearance. How? By exposing you to chronic stress for prolonged durations, which created an overwhelming demand on your body to keep surviving. In this episode, we are going to talk about this topic in depth and detail.
1 They expose you to extreme levels of chronic stress by abusing you in all insidious ways possible.
You know that, but this stress, this constant activation of your nervous system, triggers rapid weight gain. Why? Because it’s a form of existential crisis. Imagine running a marathon all the time; your body would have to adapt, it would have to change to keep giving you energy. It’s psychological warfare, as you know. So, to fight it, you need physical energy. And how does your body cope? How does your body try to provide that? By storing as much energy as possible in the form of fat in your abdomen. That’s why we call it cortisol belly or the puffiness, the roundedness in your face, it becomes bigger than your usual size. Why? Because that’s the store of energy. Quite shockingly, you may be starving yourself and still gain a lot of weight without understanding what’s going on. And unfortunately, as callous as they are, they will get one more reason to put you down, to shame you, belittle you, and to convince you that you’re not as amazing as they thought you would be when they were idealizing or love bombing you. The change in your appearance, gaining a lot of weight, impacts your self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth. But here’s the good news: once the stress reduces, once your nervous system comes back to its original relaxed state, your metabolic rate also changes, which then naturally helps you to lose a lot of weight without putting in any efforts at all.
2 The same stress makes your body age faster, and with aging comes a lot of facial changes, with wrinkles being the primary indicator of it.
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