Did you know that stress can affect your weight? It’s true. There are two ways stress can affect your weight. The first is through what’s called Cortisol. You may have heard recently about Cortisol and how it can pack on the pounds – especially on your torso.
What is Cortisol? Cortisol is a hormone that is produced by your adrenal glands. It belongs in the category of hormones called “Glucocorticoids”. These hormones have the ability to increase blood glucose levels. Out of these hormones, Cortisol is the number one hormone to look for. What’s important to understand is that Cortisol is released when you’re dealing with stress, be it physical, mental or emotional.
Stressors include relationship problems, lack of sleep, poor diet, financial problems, career problems, medical trauma, unhealthy diets and even intense physical training.
When your body and mind perceives a stressful situation, Cortisol shifts your body into the fight or flight response, which pumps glucose into your tissues and blood stream to increase your energy to handle the threat. Over-production of the hormone Cortisol is linked to storing fat on your belly. But there’s a twist.
The type of body fat that primarily develops in your abdominal region is visceral fat. In other words, this kind of body fat is mostly stored around your internal organs and deeper in your torso. Keep in mind most body fat, known as subcutaneous fat, is stored just below the skin. This is a problem, because this visceral fat, being so deep inside the body significantly increases your health risk for heart disease and diabetes.
There is a second way that stress can affect your weight. You’ve no doubt heard of the expression, “comfort food”. For many people, food is an escape from their problems. Many people abuse food just as drinkers may abuse alcohol to find comfort.
Typically the foods that people seek comfort in when stressed are calorie-rich, unhealthy, weight-gaining foods. This can include foods like pastries, chocolate, desserts, ice cream, hot dogs, hamburgers, and chips. Anyone who’s ever seriously dieted knows that just eating one hamburger can ruin days or even a couple of weeks worth of hard work.
Another way stress can affect your weight is that when stressed; a person who’s actively trying to lose weight may become apathetic or depressed and quit their weight loss regime entirely. Learning how to manage your stress is very important if you truly wish to lose weight.
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