Weight Loss

ACE Study and Weight Loss

Written by: Nick Ortner

CaseStudy.V2Popular culture has long told us that weight is the result of choices we make. For decades, we’ve been told that having difficulty with losing weight means we’re eating too much and exercising too little.

The problem is, that’s NOT what research is telling us.

Thanks to recent findings, we now know that physical health, including weight, is intricately connected with emotions. Sometimes those emotions can stem from past experiences.

In other words, it’s NEVER about what’s “wrong” with you, it’s about unresolved emotions and what your subconscious mind thinks is safe.

“Huh?”, you’re probably asking yourself right now. “What does that even mean?”

It means that if your subconscious mind wants you to hold onto the weight, that’s exactly what will happen.

Even if you eat less and exercise more, the weight either won’t come off or won’t stay off.

Let me explain.

The Ace Study

Much of this knowledge began with a huge and very important study called ACE.

It all started in 1985 in a weight loss clinic in San Diego run by Dr. Vincent Felitti, who was mystified by the 50% dropout rate among patients who were having great success losing weight.

Hoping to understand why this was happening, he began reviewing his patients’ medical records in more detail and discovered something that shocked him.

His patients hadn’t gained weight slowly over time, as he’d assumed. Instead, they had gained weight quickly over a shorter period of time. Often, that weight gain had happened soon after an emotionally painful experience had occurred.

His findings later led to the ACE study, which was conducted by the CDC with over 17,000 participants. The findings highlighted the dramatic impact adverse childhood experiences have on health (including weight) in adulthood..

What the Study Means for Your Health

Understanding the dramatic impact of adverse childhood experiences is something that more than 10,000 women who Jessica has worked within her Weight Loss & Body Confidence 7-Week online course have also discovered in their own journeys.

While taking the course, Carol realized that it was her relationship with her mother, not her weight, that needed her attention.

For years, Carol’s job had required her to move to a different state in the U.S. every few years. Through the tapping she did during the course, Carol realized that she gained more weight every time she moved closer to her mother.

Since early childhood, her mother had been what Carol called an “energy vampire.” During some of the Tapping exercises in the course, Carol realized that weight had been her “armor.” For decades, her brain and body had been using weight as a shield against her mother’s negative, controlling influence.

After tapping through her anger at her mother, Carol no longer needed weight to protect her. By creating healthier boundaries with her mother, she could protect herself.

Once Carol’s subconscious mind understood that it was safe to let go of the weight, she was able to create a new relationship with her body and with food.

Then, for the first time in her life, weight loss didn’t feel like a struggle. Instead, the weight began coming off naturally.

The same thing happened for Bobbie, Lena, Tara, and many, many others.

Once they tapped through unresolved emotions, some of which originated in the past, weight-loss felt easier than it ever had.

It’s an important reminder that weight is NEVER about what you are or aren’t doing “right.”

As Jessica wrote in her New York Times best-selling book, The Tapping Solution for Weight Loss & Body Confidence


“You are NOT a problem that needs to be solved.”


And in Jessica’s course, you can use Tapping and other exercises to release emotions that are keeping you stuck in a place where sustainable weight loss seems impossible.

If you’re interested in learning more about this course, you can check it out here.

So many of Jessica’s students have RAVED about the results they’ve gotten from this course.

Throughout the course (and beyond!), her students have also loved the opportunity to connect with a tribe of supportive, like-minded women.

As one student wrote,

“This group provides something I have been looking for for 54 years – acceptance. It is so powerful, and it helps me accept and love myself. It is safe to ask for help, and NO ONE has told me to try harder or suggested that what I bring to the table is not enough.”

(Please Note: This course is for WOMEN ONLY. Nothing personal, guys, but women’s experiences around weight is often very different from men’s.)

In addition to feeling more confident than ever before as a result of this course, many of Jessica’s students have been able to make all kinds of positive changes in their lives, from deepening their relationships to starting new careers, and more.

As another woman expressed after completing the course,

“Thank you, Jessica, for tricking us with the title of this course. What I think you were really creating was a movement for empowering women to transform our lives, get our energies flowing, strut our stuff, make the world a better place, and fall in love with life… with the helpful side effects of losing weight and living longer, happier, healthier lives! Am I am so grateful!”

Until next time…

Keep Tapping!

Nick Ortner


What does reading through this blog bring up for you? Can you link past negative emotional experiences to your weight? Comment below.



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6 Comments on this post

  1. Tanja says:

    I am honored to be one of the reareds of the blog post. Thanks to your own generous support I’m the first in my home to have some knowledge about it topic. Growing up inside a less privileged neighborhood has not only presented challenges of internet access, but it has most importantly made me realize the worthiness of being blessed while using the wealth of information on your site.

  2. Vicki says:

    I learned tapping 20 years ago and it has helped me more than I will ever know. it is a part of my life now. I have studies with Gary Craig and many more but you can learn it on your own. Just do it and have fun. Vicki .

  3. Isa says:

    Jessica, please keep doing your work! Your book have changed my life (and my body!) so deeply, that I can help but give your book as a gift to all my friends who can read in English. By the way, when is it gonna be available in other languages?

  4. Beverly says:

    this has been my understanding too

  5. Dawn Jordan says:

    New research shows women who breastfeed return to their normal weight faster.
    Could the lack of breastfeeding and the associated hungering for touch also contribute to weight retention?

  6. Kristine says:

    Nick, Since Jessica’s course is for women only, it sounds like you may need to create a similar course for men … 🙂

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