For people on a weight loss journey, unmanaged stress can be a major hindering factor whether it directly causes you to stress eat or impacts your body’s natural rhythm and potential to regulate body weight. Stress is a common challenge for those trying to lose weight. So how can we overcome this obstacle and learn to deal with it in a way that allows us to achieve our health goals? First, we need to understand how and why stress works before we tackle stress related eating.
Although stress can be defined as a mental feeling of worry or anxiety, it is also be measured as a hormone level. Cortisol, the main stress hormone, signals several important functions in the body. When the stress response is initiated, an elevated cortisol level increases your blood sugar and improves the availability of energy supply to your brain. It also increases your appetite, what we refer to as “stress eating,” indicating that you should eat so your body can produce energy to deal with the current stressor. However, continually having a high level of cortisol can lead to unwanted effects of this hormone on your metabolism, energy storage, and weight loss progress. For example, elevated cortisol can increase insulin resistance and cause your body to store calories as fat. While this is the natural survival response to stress, excessive cortisol release over long periods of time can make you gain weight. So how can we lower stress levels to prevent stress eating and reduce the amount of fat our body stores?
Stress management can be different for different people depending on your lifestyle, schedule, and personal interests. Oftentimes, reducing stress is a matter of making time for self-care and engaging in a relaxing activity or hobby. If you’re someone who can’t find time around their busy schedule to plan this, focus on consistency instead. For example, take 10-15 minutes daily to meditate, take a walk or calming bath, or practice deep breathing exercises. Research shows that spending just 10 minutes in a nature setting can improve your mental well-being and decrease cortisol levels. As for addressing stress eating, when in a stressful situation you feel the urge to have a snack, remember that you might not truly be hungry. Acknowledge your appetite and determine whether it is from true physical hunger or a result of craving. Read our previous week’s post on hunger cues to better understand how to distinguish between true hunger and emotionally driven cravings If you simply must have something to chew on to ease your nerves, opt for a healthier snack like fresh fruit or veggies, rather than reaching for refined carbs and sugar.
At the end of the day, everyone experiences stress in different ways. Stress is our body’s natural response to our demanding lives, but it can become a problem if left unmanaged. To counteract the effects of prolonged stress that might be slowing your weight loss progress, determine what the best methods of relieving stress are for you and implement them. Don’t be discouraged if you’re feeling stressed, remember that it’s normal and you can do something about it.
References:
López-Rosales, F., & García-Calvo, T. (2020). The Effect of Self-Talk and Imagery on the Perception of Exertion: A Preliminary Study. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2942. Accessed March 22, 2023. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02942/full.
National Center for Biotechnology Information. The Physiology of Stress: Cortisol and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis. In: Fink G, ed. Stress: Concepts, Definition, and History. 2019. Accessed March 22, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538239/#:~:text=The%20presence%20of%20glucocorticoids%2C%20such,gluconeogenesis%20and%20decrease%20glycogen%20synthesis.
PubMed. A possible role for fatty acids in obesity: early findings. Accessed March 22, 2023. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7550541/#:~:text=Excessive%20action%20of%20fatty%20acids,energy%20and%20lead%20to%20obesity.
World Health Organization. Stress. Accessed March 22, 2023. https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/stress#:~:text=What%20is%20stress%3F,experiences%20stress%20to%20some%20degree.
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Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN
Transformational Speaker, Breakthrough Coach, Nutritionist-Dietitian
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