Stress and Weight Gain

Stress can cause havoc on trying to reach your weight loss goals. But it actually comes in two parts:

1. When you're under stress, you're body can increase the amount of cortisol that it releases. One of the functions of cortisol is to breakdown muscle proteins. Which, after a workout is a good thing because it breaks them down, and then your protein drinks and clean eating, helps rebuild those muscle stronger. But, when you're stressed, you could have longer time periods of when cortisol is released, muscles being broken down, with nothing there to help build them back up.

The article goes into some research that when you get stressed, the body releases cortisol, which can cause you to eat high calorie foods. After eating the high calorie foods, you could then feel even more stressed because you know you just didn't do a good thing, thus possibly resulting in more cortisol release, and the cycle continues.

Which leads to number two (although it's similar to number one). Let's say you're watching what you eat. But you have a stressful day, come home, and sit down with a spoon and a pint of Ben & Jerry's and eat the whole thing. You did that because you need comfort food and you told yourself that you needed to do that because you had a stressful day (it's kind of the same thought process that smokers users that are trying to quit in order to rationalize falling off the wagon and lighting one up). Then you feel even worse and "guilty" after you realized what you did, get more stressed, and then fall completely off your diet.

Bottom line, stress is a part of life. It happens all the time and you just need to work through it. When something stressful comes up, just sit down for 2 minutes and clear your mind, take a few deep breaths, relax and realize you'll get through whatever it is that is causing you the stress. Don't use stress as a reason to jump into an unhealthy binge.

In fact, as the article states, one of the best things to do when stressed is to exercise. Again, it's shocking how many things exercise seems to help.

Thanks to Chris Standish for forwarding me the article.

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