Is Stress Making You Gain Weight or Keeping You From Losing Weight?

Today’s fast paced environment generates a multitude of stress. Stress can cause your body to secrete elevated levels of cortisol hormone into your bloodstream, because of your body’s “flight or fight” response to stress. Stress can be either psychological (mental and emotional) or physical. Research has found that stress can make it difficult to lose weight, especially around your middle.

There is a direct correlation between stress and cortisol. Cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands and is actually important for the regulation of blood pressure, the immune system, and many other functions. Cortisol can be good in small amounts, but elevated levels can lead to an increase in abdominal fat, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and can also increase your bad cholesterol levels and decrease your good cholesterol levels.

Elevated levels of cortisol can also decrease your bone density, leading to osteoporosis and loss of muscle tissue, which will also slow down your metabolic rate, and it can also increase your blood pressure along with other problems.

Everyone reacts differently to stress; some of you will produce more cortisol to a particular stress while others will produce less. It has been found that those of you that produce more cortisol will actually eat more food as well, in particular carbohydrates.

To combat the production of too much cortisol is to learn ways to relax and also to change your lifestyle. Relaxation can be achieved in a number of ways either by exercising, mindfulness mediation, yoga or breathing to start with.

One of the easiest and simplest ways to relax is by simply breathing with “intention.” This is done by gently breathing in through the nose, gently expanding your abdomen and then gently expelling the air through your nose pulling in your abdomen at the same time. After several breaths in and out you should start to feel relaxed. You need to practice doing this exercise a few minutes a day to start with building up to five minutes in the end. You can also practice this simple technique when you are feeling stressed or when things are getting the best of you. Just a few minutes can slow your body down and help it to feel relaxed.

Consider some lifestyle changes. Change your eating habits to include a healthier diet, getting enough sleep, or even organizing your time more efficiently so that you do not feel so stressed. Also, listen to your body. If you are experiencing stress, begin making changes that will help your body cope with stress more effectively.

If you are exercising frequently and eating properly but still not losing any weight, especially from around the middle, then maybe you are suffering from elevated levels of cortisol caused by stress. Look at ways to solve the problem and hopefully then you should see a difference in your weight and around your middle.