Is anyone out there not stressed? If so, please let the rest of us know your secret.
From getting the kids ready in the morning to preparing a healthy meal when we get home, we never seem to have enough time to do everything we need to do. And that’s not to mention the stress we feel at work, in our relationships and when trying to manage our weight.
Our body deals with occasional stress very well, but it’s when stress is chronic that it causes problems.
Chronic stress makes it even more difficult to lose weight. Stress triggers our body’s ‘fight or flight’ response, which affects our weight in a number of ways.
Why Stress Causes You to Gain Weight
‘Fight or flight’ is your body’s response to a situation it feels is a threat to your survival. In nature, stress is usually caused by life-threatening danger. Your body releases hormones like cortisol and ghrelin to give you the energy to fight the danger and/or run from it.
It’s those hormones that trigger your body to take actions that can cause weight gain.
- Increase in Blood Sugar – For a quick hit of energy. But it also increases your cravings for sugary food, both for the added energy and as a ‘pick-me-up’ mood booster.
- Increase in Appetite – Your body isn’t sure how long you will face the threat that causes your stress, so it increases your appetite to take on more energy in case you’re in for a long fight.
- Stores More Fat – Again, as a hedge against a long fight or flight, your body triggers the extra storage of fat and slows down your metabolism to temporarily reduce the drain on your energy caused by day-to-day living.
Unfortunately, there is no real ‘fight or flight’ life-threatening danger in our lives today. All of the extra energy intake and storage that your body triggers in response to stress is not usually released in extra activity. It’s all stored as excess fat.
But don’t stress out about it! In The Stress Series – Part II, we’ll show you 5 ways you can stop stress from making you gain weight.