Stress and Your Waistline

I had found myself struggle with my weight most of my adult life. When I say struggle, I often refer going from one extreme to another. Fitness and exercise has always been a passion of mine. However, as most of us can say, stress can creep up on us and take a toll on our bodies.

Have you ever noticed when you feel the most stressed in your life your weight tends to trend up a little? Maybe you thought it was your imagination or you do snack a little more when stressed. While it can be true that we may have the tendency to grab something sweet when feeling a little overwhelmed and before we know it when added a few extra pounds on this is not the only causing factor that stress can have in regards to your weight.

Stress has a huge role in our waistline and can factor how easy or hard it is to lose weight. I personally have experienced this. When in the past 6 months actually, I have been able to lose over 30 pounds by removing myself from a highly stressful environment. Before I was in that environment my nutrition and exercise was typical for me. I entered into the environment and made overall no changes and I saw the scale increase, pretty quickly to be honest. I knew I had to make changes. The stress I felt everyday was taking a toll on me and affecting my health. My waistline was proving it.

According to the University of Utah, studies show how stress can impact your waistline. Example, lack of sleep leads to increase cortisol levels. Cortisol is the stress hormone. When your cortisol levels are high your body starts to feel more hungry, you start to crave sugary foods, foods high in calories as well as fats. Additionally, when cortisol levels are elevated people tend to gain weight and build fat around the waistline.

So how can one lose the waistline? For myself, it was removing myself from the stressful environment. Not everyone can completely remove themselves from the place or thing that is causing the stress. Learning to reduce stress through exercise and meditation while also being mindful of nutrition can improve one's overall well-being. Learning to manage the stress while in the environment can help put you in the right steps in the right direction. Making the right lifestyle changes as well can help you keep the weight off in the long term.

So kick stress to the curb. Try meditation. Meditating is a wonderful way to release stress and allow your mind to feel the calm. Additionally you allow your mind to focus and promote balance as well. You can try yoga. Focusing on mindfulness movements and breathing techniques. Yoga helps bring your body and mind into sync.

You can get out and just do somethings you enjoy. Reading, gardening, listening to music. Allow yourself to have you time and enjoy something you love. Another great way to relieve stress is be in nature. Take a walk, sit in nature, sit in the sun. Being outdoors and clear your mind.

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Finally, talk to a pro. May it be a therapist, your situation needs some hashing out and not sure where to go from here. It's always ok to seek mental health professional help. Or maybe you just want to sit with a health coach like myself to get more ideas about stress relief exercises and weight loss goals! Myself or another health coach who has experience in stress management can chat!

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Sources:

Stress Management & Weight Loss. University of Utah Health | University of Utah Health. (2023, February 23). https://healthcare.utah.edu/weight-management/stress-weight-loss