Good to Talk · Life gets bloody hard · Free. Always.
When your body changes faster than your head
If you or someone else is in danger, call 999 or go to A&E. If you need urgent mental-health help but it is not an emergency, use NHS 111 online or call 111 and select the mental-health option.
Losing a lot of weight can be brilliant — and still bring feelings you weren't expecting.
You may not instantly see what everyone else sees
Body image can lag behind physical change. Compliments can feel good, awkward or strangely exposing. Clothes, photos, relationships and attention from other people may all feel different.
Weight can have been part of your identity
If you've spent years thinking of yourself as “the big bloke”, changing size can leave you working out who you are without that label. That is not ingratitude for the weight loss.
Don't make the scales responsible for your entire wellbeing
Physical progress can remove real pressures, but mental health may still need its own attention. Keep building a life, relationships and sense of self that are bigger than a target weight.
You're not the only one
Sources & further reading
- NHS Every Mind Matters — life's challenges
- NHS Every Mind Matters — mental wellbeing tips
- NHS — mental health
Educational information, not a diagnosis. Where a problem involves money, gambling, alcohol, abuse, bereavement or another specialist issue, use an appropriate specialist service as well as mental-health support where needed.