People Say They Have 'Weight Blindness'—Experts Explain Curious Phenomenon

Newsweek

10-05-2025

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A new fitness topic is trending across social media; weight blindness. It refers to the shock of stepping on a scale after months or years of avoidance — and discovering a number far higher than expected.
While this may initially seem like a cause for concern, experts suggest it can be more nuanced and not necessarily a bad thing. While others are concerned it may just be a new manifestation of the online body-shaming so prevalent on social media.
A Wake-Up Call Caught on Camera
Brooke Branigan (@brooke.paige.fit), a 32-year-old Women's Fitness and Wellness Coach from Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, is just one who shared the moment that made her confront her own weight blindness. In a now viral Instagram video—which had over 2.5 million views 6,000 likes at the time of writing—her sister captures her stepping on the scales after avoiding them for over a year.
The number the scale showed was 155.9 pounds. At 5'3", Branigan had assumed she was closer to 115–120 pounds, the weight she had been previously.
"That made me reflect. I was living in a body that felt 'fine' on the surface — I was happy, confident, and thought I looked okay. But deep down, I knew something wasn't right. I was starting to feel exhausted, having stomach problems, finding it hard to regulate my emotions," she said.
With this weight and height, her Body Mass Index (BMI), weight divided by height, was overweight at 27.2 — a normal BMI is categorized at 25. However, according to Yale Medicine, doctors should not rely solely on BMI alone to measure a patient's health. The calculation was developed from measurements taken from non-Hispanic white men in the 1830s, so may not be highly accurate when considering those of different sex, ethnicity and race today.
For Branigan, she had stopped weighing herself and was living in leggings and sweatsuits. She shared what motivated her to share her story.
"Here's the thing, it's 100% okay to be 155 pounds if you feel good, strong, and healthy.
But I wasn't. I was tired, bloated, uncomfortable in my skin, and deep down, I knew I wasn't living in alignment with how I wanted to feel, because I hadn't been honest with myself. That disconnect, between how I thought I looked and what was actually happening, needed to be talked about," she added.
A split image of Brooke Branigan weighing herself one year ago, and realized she was heavier than she thought.
A split image of Brooke Branigan weighing herself one year ago, and realized she was heavier than she thought.
brooke.paige.fit/brooke.paige.fit
What Is Weight Blindness?
Stefanie Michele, founder of Evolve Well with Stefanie, and co-host of the Life After Diets podcast weighed in with Newsweek about the phenomenon.
"Weight blindness isn't denial — it's often the nervous system protecting us from overwhelm. When someone doesn't notice gradual weight gain, it's not necessarily a failure of awareness. With my clients, I see that it's because their attention is focused on living in their body, not monitoring it," she explained.
Constant surveillance of one's body size can be deeply dysregulating, especially for people who have experienced body shame or objectification.
According to Michele, weight blindness can sometimes reflect healing — a shift in focus from appearance to experience. Unlike body dysmorphia, which involves a distorted perception regardless of actual size, weight blindness is more about a delayed or subdued awareness.
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a mental health condition in which you can't stop thinking about one or more perceived defects or flaws in your appearance — a flaw that appears minor or can't be seen by others.
An Eating Disorder Specialist's View
Kara Becker, a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist Consultant and National Director of Eating Disorder Programs at Newport Healthcare, agrees that the trending discussions around weight blindness need more nuance.
"From what I have seen on social media, 'weight blindness' trends do not seem to encourage health or wellness; videos are posted with people sharing shame and disgust around their own weight gain," she said. "The shaming of ourselves for the evolution of our bodies, especially when tied to events like COVID or trauma, is unhelpful, dangerous, and fatphobic," she told Newsweek.
Becker adds that many online creators promote weight loss through oversimplified 'before and after' transformations without disclosing other contributing factors like genetics or stress. This can be damaging—especially to teens and young adults—by reinforcing weight stigma and creating unrealistic expectations.
She also noted that whether or not someone should weigh themselves depends greatly on their mental health. Frequent weighing can fuel anxiety and low self-esteem, particularly when weight becomes tied to self-worth. In clinical settings or athletic contexts, supervised weighing may be appropriate — but for many, blind weigh-ins or avoiding the scale altogether can be more supportive.
Why You Might Not Notice Weight Changes
Joey Jones, a personal trainer based in Ireland, frequently encounters both weight overstating and weight blindness in clients.
"Small Increments on gaining 0.5 pounds of body fat a week is really hard to notice. Visual changes happen so slowly to the body. Lighting, mirror angles, clothes, and bloating all effect our perception of our physiques," he told Newsweek.
Jones attributes this disconnect to perceptual adaptation — the phenomenon where we get used to how we look in familiar settings and angles, missing subtle shifts over time.
"Health is multidimensional," he added. "Instead ask yourself these questions: How's my diet, energy levels, sleep quality, mobility, strength, and level of activeness?"
Amanda Grimm, a certified running coach and personal trainer, agrees that our daily familiarity with our own bodies can make it harder to detect change.
"It's similar to how you might not notice your own child's growth, but you do notice it in a friend's child you don't see often. Daily familiarity can blur these gradual shifts," she told Newsweek.
Grimm notes that external cues—photos or clothes no longer fitting—often bring about the realization. But she cautions against viewing weight blindness negatively: "It may simply reflect a more holistic, less obsessive relationship with our bodies."
She also emphasized that the scale isn't always the best health metric.
"Someone doing a lot of resistance training will likely gain weight due to muscle mass. Focusing solely on the scale can be misleading. A body-neutral approach grounded in self-awareness helps people tune into their health and approach their goals without judgment or shame."
Branigan's Lifestyle Shift
Branigan, who has PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), realized that her lifestyle needed a reset. As a busy mom of three, she had fallen into the trap of prioritizing everyone else over herself.
She realized her workouts weren't as consistent as she thought, she wasn't taking enough steps — and that she was using food as an emotional crutch.
Her approach to change was simple.
"I went back to basics. I started tracking my food again, focused on high-protein meals, walked daily, drank 3 liters of water a day, and made sleep and strength training a priority. No fad diets, no quick fixes — just consistency, structure, and a whole lot of honesty," she said.
Now, Branigan says she feels stronger than ever, not because of the number on the scale—which now stands at 130lbs—but because of the holistic changes she's made to her lifestyle.
The Conversation Online
Social media users resonated deeply with her story.
"I have to use my clothes as a metric of weight gain/loss rather than looking in the mirror. I can't tell if I change by looking in the mirror!" one user wrote.
"This is me! I always think, 'I'm good'... wait, two sizes up?? Nah... it's very strange. And while the scale can only tell us a number, and should be used sparingly, when you're petite, it really is helpful lol," said another.
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