I’ve heard one too many times from friends and family who complain that they lose weight when they are stressed. I’ve thought long and hard about it and I just can’t understand how they can say that, when it’s clear that the popular belief is that people that are constantly stressed usually gain weight and that I also gain weight during periods of high stress, professional or emotional. Since this is a factor that everyone takes into consideration when evaluating their weight, I’d thought I’d dig more into it and maybe discover a hidden secret…

It seems that the weight gain and stress issue actually depends on the way each one can handle stress. For some, stress is a true motivation that helps them be more active and more efficient…those are my friends that constantly tell me how they lose weight when they are stressed, because they seem to work and function well under pressure. Others, like me, feel so overwhelmed by all those extra tasks and responsibilities that they feel unable to do anything at all…and they all probably do as I do: try to forget all about it while eating home cookies or barbecuing with friends. This means that the weight gain and stress are not always two related actions. The connection between stress and alimentation is more complex and it differs from individual to individual. The most important things I tried to find answers to are:” Is stress reducing my will to lose weight?”, “Is stress increasing my appetite?”, “Do stress periods trigger a favorable environments of developing diseases related to weight gain?”, “What actually happens when I’m stressed?”

After reading lots of medical publications that debated this problem in detail and not understanding a lot related to weight gain and stress, I turned to a friend’s nutritionist. Fortunately, he was willing to give me a few minutes of his time and he had such an easy way of putting things that I now feel like I’m an expert in the matter. So, the main idea is that the hypothalamus( which is a region of the brain) sends signal to the upper renal glands to release cortisol, which is a substance released by the body in either type of stress: emotional, mental or physical. The most important role this enzyme has is to help the body deal with stress, by realizing glucoses and fat acids which are meant to assure the needed energy until the stress period is over. If the cortisol quantity is too low it can lead to hypoglycemic diseases, and if it’s too high it will surely cause weigh gain and if this happens a lot will cause serious health problems, like diabetes.

The trick is that cortisol can actually trigger appetite therefore this is why I eat more when I’m stress and this is why weight gain and stress are closely related in my case. You may have seen the commercials on tv for cortisol blockers. Furthermore, the nutritionist explained that there’s stress and chronic stress. By this, hear meant long periods of pressure that we have to deal with, and in my case I’d have to say the pressure is felt almost everyday, because I’m always on the run and always feel like there’s no way I will be able to finish all my tasks that day. He said that in case of chronic stress the renal glands are over-solicited and we can encounter a hormonal unbalance that will trigger serious dysfunctions on the long run, including obesity. If the hormones are not in natural amounts, then the metabolism gets slower and slower, and even if we eat less, we will still gain weight.
The stress hormone is in fact meant to regulate the proteins’ metabolizing, it can affect the microcirculation in blood vessels and will modify the muscular tonus. It will also raise the arterial tension and will assure a good functioning of the immune system, will stimulate gastric secretion and produce enlarged stomachs and will cause weight gain and stress related tiredness. This means that stress will not only make us eat more by stimulating the appetite, but will also make us want to eat only foods that are rich in calories and poor in nutrients, because in stress periods the body is only trying to keep energy levels at the highest count.

So, in the end, it’s true that weight gain and stress are related. It’s a relief to find out that there’s a logical explanation for my sudden weight gains during busy periods, at least it not really my fault. As for those who lose their appetite when stressed, it can happened to anyone, at first. But if the stress continues and finally become an everyday emotion, at 6 weeks tops since it first appeared, those persons will also start eating a lot, and quite frequently. The end result will be the same uncontrollable weight gain.

Please be sure to come back and leave your thoughts and ideas in a comment.

So for those of you who watched me come out and tell Oprah that I had been in hiding about putting back half the 214 lbs I lost while on the Biggest loser, you know that was back in January 2009 and everyone keeps asking where I am at today, here we are already six months later. I had the excuse of working tax season that kept me busy and the cold winter weather to keep me from getting outside to move around and here I am six months later, the weather is still awful in New York, not anything that makes you want to go outside and go for a run or walk and although tax season is over I am still not back on track totally.
I dont know what it is. I do know its not one thing in particular that keeps me from staying on the track. Usually its hard to start something, for me, its harder to stay at something. Im signed up to run the NYC Marathon in November. I have a lot of work ahead of me. I need to get focused and stop putting this one off more day. Its so hard when you have a family and a job to put yourself on the “list” sort of speak, but waiting for it to happen is clearly not working.
I am going to blog my challenges and my triumphs! Maybe I can get some insight on what the story is with me - being depressed about my weight gain sure isn’t helping lose it. Thanks for reading.

Very few of us proceed in the quest for their lost figure thinking that they will transform the healthy diet, without excesses in a permanent life style. Most of us will turn to true ordeals and will constantly resist sweet temptations only because they think that in a week or two they will have a top model waist and flawless legs.

It’s understandable that fats deposited obliviously on the thighs, stomach or waist do not please any woman, especially because they harm both health and esthetics. The fat tissue, that gets thicker and thicker in time and manages to create a lot of stress, it’s nothing more than a natural reaction of our body – it will start depositing fats, anticipating restriction periods when it comes to diet.

The stubborn need of loosing weight in a record time is many times conditioned by two aspects: we are either pressed to look sensational at some big event that’s coming fast or we gained weight in a short time and we can not get accustomed with our new look. A person who fought with weight problems her entire life does not expect that much from a diet over a short period of time.

Fast does not mean efficient
We burry ourselves in our work, we drink as much liquids as we can, if we can, we do a set of exercises unless we are too tired and we eat…almost nothing. Does this sound familiar? You could call it the drastic diet, an austerity period or just starving. One thing is clear, we want to lose weight and we want it to happen as soon as possible.

And in this case there are two distinctive cases: she is doing supernatural efforts to lose weight, she is imposing restrictions on herself and turns her head away every time she passes a patisserie, and she manages to lose a lot of weight in a short time. A month later she is shocked to see her weight is climbing high not toward her initial weight but towards a new unknown one, that has some substantial extra ponds added. How was this possible? Our body was lacking essential nutrients that were needed for a good functioning while we tried to intensively lose weight, and therefore it has accumulated a lot more during the next period, so it can get some protection in case of future starving periods.

Another situation, that we can encounter just as often, is the one which also imposes such restrictions and will eventually browse through food. At the end of the weight losing period she expects to lose a great number of pounds. The end will come, of course, in a week or two. When it’s time to evaluate the results, they will not be there, producing frustration and disappointment. Where did the procedure go wrong? The human body functions according to its own rules; it needs a certain number of vitamins and minerals. If you impose unrealistic goals, no matter how hard you try, you will encounter a certain failure.

Moderation is the main principle
If you did not have enough will or you did not realize the necessity of stopping in time from useless snaking between meals or from tasting unhealthy aliments, then you probably should’ve be expecting surprising results when it comes to losing weight in two weeks.

When you have a real problem with weight, you should arm yourself with will and patience and to change your whole life style. It’s the only method of living healthy, of losing pounds without endangering your health and it is the only method that can keep you in shape.

Start by keeping an equilibrated diet, with less carbohydrates and fats and more vegetables, minerals and fibers. You can practice a sport, drink lots of liquids and eat smaller portions of the permitted aliments. The results will not take long to appear, but don’t impose yourself time-related conditions. It’s good to keep a diet knowing you are doing your body a favor.

After you’ve successfully lost weight, you will have to increase your will and patience amount because your body will tend to accumulate the lost pounds, so this means you are not allowed to eat as you did before the diet. You can continue to eat healthy, adopting a new life style, a moderated one, which will define you as a person and will only bring benefits on the long term.

Please post your thoughts in a comment below.