Try to imagine a fat man and a child sitting on a balanced see-saw. If the man moves closer to the pivot point, the child must produce less downward force to keep the see-saw balanced.
I still can't get my head around this - I accept what you say about the see-saw but in that example surely the fat man is the elevator and would have to provide a bigger downforce? Your analogy makes the child the elevator, but if the CG is moving aft towards the elevator it's closer to the fat man.........???
Still struggling to visualise it.