Stress has become one of the biggest issues being discussed by experts in the health community. As people try to do more in less time each day, their stress levels increase as well. One area that is greatly impacted by stress is weight loss. The body’s ability to burn fat and function properly is directly affected by stress-related pressure. You can become even more stressed by the results when you’re trying to lose weight.

Does Stress Cause Weight Gain?

Stress affects the way your hormones are regulated, interrupting the way your body processes fat.  It is also often accompanied by anxiety- which causes many people to over-eat and gain weight-or stop eating completely, and lose extreme amounts of weight. Unhealthy eating habits also affect the body’s metabolism, leading to weight gain.

Even people who don’t necessarily eat more food when anxious can gain weight when stress leads them to eat foods high in carbs and sugar. Lack of time often becomes another problem during stressful times. It becomes easier to choose processed foods high in fat when there isn’t enough time to cook a healthy meal.

Why Can’t I Lose Weight?

Hormones and Stress

Hormones are managed by the endocrine system, which is directly affected by stress. Specific hormones are produced during periods of stress that relate to weight. When you are stressed, your body releases adrenalin and cortisol, responsible for the fight or flight response. Prehistoric humans needed to be able to respond to threats quickly and this physiological response made it possible.

While stress hormones decrease appetite temporarily, cortisol levels remain high to stimulate hunger immediately after. This helped early humans to replenish lost energy but is unhelpful to many people in modern times. When the appetite is triggered by cortisol it makes people want to eat unnecessarily.

Additionally, sugar flows to the muscles during a fight or flight response. That requires insulin, which causes the body to store fat. The entire metabolic system is affected, often resulting in fat storage in the abdomen, related to diabetes and heart disease.

Anxiety and Stress

Overeating - When people become stressed they are often anxious as well. People tend to over-eat in order to quell anxiety because it makes them feel better temporarily. People are often drawn to high carbohydrate foods because of cortisol levels, but eventually the body recognizes that eating carbs feels good.

Of course ingesting high quantities of carbs is not healthy and people end up gaining weight based on their food choices. Eventually people begin to crave carbs whenever they feel emotional discomfort, even though they only make them feel better for a short time. That leads to eating more and more carbs to keep feeling good.

Under-eating - Some people lose their appetites when under stress. They may stop eating completely when not feeling hungry and then end up losing weight. However, it is more common for people to forget to eat when not hungry due to stress and then to become very hungry at the end of the day. Then it is easy to eat too much at one time, usually high calorie snacks, to take care of the extreme hunger.

This cycle messes up your metabolism because the body reacts as if it is in starvation mode, refusing to shed weight.

Eating On the Go

Stress often results from the inability to slow down. When people are constantly on the go, it reinforces stress and the cycle continues. Unfortunately when people are short on time they tend to grab the quickest meals possible- often fast food.  Pizza, burgers, and fries can be purchased and consumed in minutes, but are full of fat and grease that clog the arteries and balloon the waistline.

It’s easy to become addicted to these foods because they taste good. It’s hard to go back to a healthy home-cooked meal when you are used to gobbling a burger after work. Cooking also requires thinking and planning, which can be in short supply when you are under pressure.

How to Relieve Stress to Control Eating

There are things you can do to lower stress which in turn will help you to lose weight productively. Making simple changes can help regulate your metabolism so that your body reacts by losing weight instead of adding it.

• Relaxation Techniques - There are a number of breathing exercises to help you slow down and relax. Adding one to your morning and evening routines can be very helpful. One of the most popular techniques is to lay still, tensing and releasing major body parts while breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.





 

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• Self-Care - Even though it can be challenging when you are under pressure, it’s important to take care of yourself. For example, take a nightly bubble bath or set aside time to read at bedtime. Make exercise part of each day to relieve stress too. When you take care of yourself you will feel the results physically and emotionally.





 

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• Meditation - Daily meditation of 15 to 20 minutes can greatly reduce stress. It can even be as simple as sitting still and focusing on your breathing. If you are new to the practice, there are guided meditations available on CD or for download online.

Stress can have such a detrimental effect on the way you eat and the way your metabolism reacts. That’s why it’s important to focus on things that make you feel good that have nothing to do with your appetite.

One way to suppress your appetite is to try a supplement like raspberry ketone. It’s a natural way to get control of your appetite and focus on what really works for weight loss as you reduce stress.

Eventually you will find that reducing stress will help you find success with whichever weight loss regimen you choose.