Weight Loss

Can Stress Levels Affect Weight Loss?

Most of us in today’s fast paced society have too much stress in our lives. We worry about too many things, and usually things we have no control over. The disturbing thing about stress is that it can have very serious consequences on our health if we do not learn how to reduce it. Also, if we have a weight problem stress can affect our ability to actually lose weight. In fact, unchecked stress can be a reason for weight gain. If you are on a weight loss program and have too much stress in your life it can be interfering with your success.

Our bodies react to many stimuli every day. When good things happen we react in a certain way, just as our bodies will react differently in a bad or stressful situation. Our bodies do this automatically without any conscious intervention on our part. So it is with stress. Research has shown that constant chronic stress triggers a hormone called cortisol in your body. Cortisol is often referred to as the stress hormone because your adrenal glands start pumping it out when you’re under stress. On a good day cortisol helps to regulate blood pressure, cardiovascular function and metabolism. But when stress levels rise and then stay there, your body is flooded with cortisol constantly. As a result your immune system suffers, your blood pressure rises and your belly gets fatter and fatter.

How many people do you know with a fat belly? You know, the “beer belly” as it is called by many. Why do people get this fat belly? For some of us it seems to be the only place the fat heads for! The main reason for this is that cortisol stimulates your appetite and signals your body to start storing fat. This fat is stores in your belly as your belly loves cortisol. So basically, no weight loss plan is likely to work if you don’t reduce your stress and cortisol levels first.

Back to the stress in our lives. The encouraging news is that some scientists research the affects of stress on our bodies and they have identified a number of factors that indicates if we are under too much stress. So what are the signs of a stressful life? Well a good example is chronic back pain or neck pain. Another symptom is often digestive problems. The good news is that stress induced belly fat is not that difficult to lose. Get rid of just a little bit of your stress and weight loss will start to happen very quickly. Stress fighting foods can have a dramatic effect on your overall stress levels as can moderate exercise and freeing yourself of accumulated guilt.

As with anything, no matter what it is, there are always misconceptions. It’s amazing why people do not try to find out information for themselves rather than just listening to what others have to say. This is especially true with weight loss. For years many old wives tales (and some new ones) have dominated peoples thinking. At the end of the day most weight loss facts have quite a deep scientific/physiological background. They are logical and make far more sense when you really look into the meaning behind them.

Stress has become a very important topic in the world of health and wellness. It can be related to many serious health problems such as heart attacks and strokes. There is no simple answer so it is worth considering the other aspects that need to be taken into consideration. Stress certainly has a negative effect on the body in a general sense so it is not too difficult to believe that it may have an effect on the body’s ability to gain belly fat. weight loss is about unearthing these gems of information so that we can use them to our advantage.

Janet Matthews

skype me: lindajanetmatthews

+44 7815614557

IGB TriPower Team