EPSM

Can stress make you fat?

This is just another obligatory January weight loss post…

Or is it?

Would I really take my time and yours to talk about all the basics that I’m sure you already know? Not entirely…

Obviously, drink water (most of the time), get enough sleep, eat healthy whole foods(most of the time), move your body every day. There. Moving on.

Today, we are talking about stress and weight loss.  Are you following all of the “rules” and still not losing a pound or inch? The answer may lie in learning to de-stress.

Cortisol

Ever heard of Cortisol? Cortisol is a hormone released in stressful situations-when you are in fight or flight mode.  It is also an appetite stimulant.  So why is it affecting your weight loss efforts? Because we are pelted with stressful stimuli nearly constantly in modern times.  The release of cortisol was helpful when we were running from predators. It gave us the push to get moving and the desire to find food to eat to maintain our energy levels.  Today, it might be passive aggressive emails or kids fighting in the background while you are on a Zoom meeting.  Those are common in my life, but the list is endless.  

We are hit with one stressor after another and our bodies act as if we need to fight or escape ASAP.  But we don’t actually have to do those things and we are likely just sitting at our desks or driving in our cars and not escaping the stress because it never ends.  Fight or flight should be temporary, but many of us are stuck there.  On top of that, when cortisol is released, we want to eat more- and not leafy greens or baked fish.  We want the yummy, calorie dense comfort foods that are going to make us feel better and “stick to your ribs,” as my grandmother used to say. 

According to this study, experiencing a stress event can reduce your calorie use by 104 calories in a 24 hour period.  It also states that the increase in cortisol production also increases insulin secretion and can lead to “Persistent hypercortisolemia and higher insulin enhance visceral fat accumulation.” Yikes, right?

So, when cortisol is released during a stress event, it also releases extra insulin and makes us hungry, but we aren’t running for our lives so we aren’t using the calories that we are craving. We are not using up calories we have eaten, we are craving calorie dense foods AND our metabolism slows so we are actually burning fewer calories than if we were sitting still and not under stress. Over time this leads to increased “bad” fat storage and metabolic syndrome. Sound familiar? Yeah…

I want you to know that I am in the same boat as all of you.  I have always been tightly wound and adulthood sent that anxiety into overdrive.  I have tried and failed to lose my baby  weight (plus some…) for years and it was not until I addressed several related issues including my stress levels that I started to see the fat come off.

I have worked with medical professionals to control my thyroid, hormones and PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), but the remaining element was stress.  It was not until I actively began combating the constant strain that I began to see my body composition change. 

Enters: Meditation and Yoga

I have always had an interest in yoga and regularly incorporated it into my workout routines, but I always saw it as something that I did instead of something more productive.  We have all believed the lie that cardio is the only way to lose weight and I thought if I just pushed it further and further I would eventually see the change.  I developed more muscle tone, but I wasn’t seeing the changes I wanted.  

During the Covid lockdowns, my anxiety and depression became monsters I could no longer tame. I began seeing a therapist virtually, practicing meditation and getting on my yoga mat daily. I was hanging on by a thread and these tools really pulled me out of a bad place.

Once the concerns about the Corona virus waned, we began a construction project that had already been on the books. All of our cardio equipment had to be put away.  I decided walking outside and yoga would have to suffice until we could use our equipment again.  And honestly, I wasn’t even walking much because of the weather.  On top of all of that, we were eating a ton of takeout because we didn’t have a kitchen.  It should have been a recipe for certain disaster! But, my regular practice of stress relieving and moving my body gently helped my body composition to change dramatically! More muscle, less fat (especially in the mid-section which is known to be a symptom of excess cortisol). Bonus: I have been able to decrease anxiety medication that I have been taking for over a decade.  

Yes, there are multiple factors in my health, but I can tell you with certainty that ignoring my stress level was inhibiting years and YEARS of weight loss efforts.