is there any truth to stress playing a role in weight loss?

me525

You've all heard the advertisements, about the "stress hormone" and it contributing to keeping you fat......... I just want someone to tell me it's not true (and it really be not true). I'm sure I could google it, but right now i'm too stressed out with today to deal with that mess:)

Thanks for all opinions

RoanneRed

Apparently, if you never get a chance to wind down and have a constant underlying level of stress, cortisol levels remain constantly raised and this can encourage your body to store abdominal fat.

me525

hmmmmm, this is encouraging! I'm gerenally a mellow person, but today has been full of everything that could get on my nerves happening every 5mins it seems like. good to know the last 4hrs won't have to much of an adverse effect...... thanks

Kazimira

Stress is bad in many ways. Weight retention and possibly gain is just one. One way to beat stress at this horrible game is find a way to wind down. For some people its a form of exercise, either hard core or mild, like walking or yoga. For others it may be taking time to just breath and maybe read a book. A magic pill won't get rid of your stress, only you can choose what is worth the damage to your body, otherwise...is it really worth it if you can't change it? You have that control.

upsidedownpear

The theory behind it is the release of cortisol, a hormone that facilitates fat storage. Human body was designed to store fat in stressful situations along the evolution e.g draught/floods.

Stress = weight gain is also true if stress = binge eating
But then weight gain = stress

Working out release endorphine, an endogenous analog of morphine we all have in our body which will make you feel good, in turn will reduce stress and hence facilitate weight loss.

Eating the right amount of carbohydrates will also make your cognitive function better. A study in 1995 showed that people on low-carb diets (in a stage of ketosis) displayed higher order mental processing and flexibility <--this needs further studying (a lot of people are on low carb or no carb diets, I'm only talking of a possibility here).

neuroticlin89

Everything i've read thus far and from most of my psychology courses, it does seem that stress does indeed play a role in weight loss or that it contributes to weight gain. A lot of it is indirect too like we tend to snack and eat more when we are stressed. We can't always escape being stressed but give yourself a little time everyday to just meditate. I was just reading this on another website:

Meditate for just one minute every day this week. Here's how to get started: Sit quietly with your eyes closed and count your breaths. When you reach 10, begin again. Whenever your mind wanders from your breath, start again at one. Work up to five minutes a day.

bonogul

well, from what I have read in some medical textbooks. when you are stressed there are several hormones and steroids that your body releases to get ready for the fight-flight. one of those are cortisol, which actually activates other hormones like insulin like growth factor 3, growth hormone, also decreases the immune system cells' activities.

anyways long story short, yes stress does increase fat deposits, especially around the mid-waist and around the organs. basically your body response to a stimuli that freaks it out and tells it to store nutrition because the environment is harsh, whether that environment is physical or psychological.

I am sure some websites online have more elegant way of putting that but I am pretty sure thats what i read on some medical text books...
good luck

me525

lots of good points...... thank goodness that when i stress i don't eat....... i yell a lot, sometimes punch the couch, that could be considered excersise:)

Jenscan

I don't know. There are lots of good facts here -- but anecdotally it may or may not always apply. I lost my job in April and finalized my divorce that same months. Since then, I lost 35 pounds. You could say I've been stressed over the past 5 months. I am a person who does not handle stress well, but I did do a lot of yoga as my activity.

Still managed to lose 7 lbs/month. I'll be very interested to see, now that I'm employed again, how my weight loss is impacted.

For ME, personally, I think it made no difference. But I do agree that stress can impact weight loss/gain.

Pebble321

I think people react to stress in different ways - some people will gain weight, others will find it hard to eat and will lose.
Don't stress about stress, better to spend your energy either trying to deal with the cause of the stress or if that is too hard - do some exercise.
Exercise releases natural endorphins that can make you feel better and of course the exercise will help your general health and weight loss too.