My Uncontrollable Weight Gain and Stress Factors
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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…
Weight Gain and Stress
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.
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June 18, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Eric,
This is an interesting post. What is funny is that I can go both ways. I can lose from stress and gain from stress. I have recently found that working out is a great stress relief for me. At the same time I tend to want to over eat when I am stressed.
I think that emotional stress plays a huge part in weight gain. I just barely posted on this same issue yesterday due to the economy being so fabulous!
Love your site and I will check back often. Thanks for keeping it real
June 20, 2009 at 4:57 am
Interesting post, I am like you and I put on weight when I am stressed, when I am under pressure I use food as a comfort. I am slowly losing weight now and trying to break this habit, I am tempted to just do Atkins and lose the weight quickly but I know it will just pile on again.
Good luck with your weight loss :-)]
Jen
June 22, 2009 at 4:29 pm
So what are we supposed to do to get our metabolism back on track? Is the only solution to lead a less-stressful life? I fear that I’ll be doomed to be fat and stressed forever!
July 21, 2009 at 1:12 am
Hi Erik,
Your post is just very easy to read and really interesting. I got a lot of new ideas for my writing practice, thanks! (What!?)
Okay, for the comment on the issue (finally!), I’m your friends’ direction - losing weight when stressed. I’m so very stressed person. I get stressed easily and often and not realizing I’m getting stressed too. When I’m stressed I just lose all the appetite. I find stress attacks my health too. I get a cold or even a flu. My asthma becomes aggravated. In sum stress worsens my immune system.
I’m not sure if I haven’t had long enough period of stress, or the stress just works negatively on my weight change. But if it’s the second one, then my case quite contrasts your theory right? But either way of stress effects seriously harms your health, and I don’t like that.
Good luck with everything Erik. The number on the scale is far less important than a healthy life for me, agree?
Big fan from Asia
October 13, 2009 at 5:36 am
Nice post. you have provided lots of useful health informations. thanks for sharing!
October 25, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Just found your blog by accident tonight. I admire you for putting your struggle out there. I saw your BL season, I also had heard that you’d put half of the weight back on and that made me sad. I also have trouble sticking with things and keep losing the same 15 pounds over and over. I hope this time I’m going to move past that and forward to goal.
Stress is a funny thing. Sometimes I lose weight from it, other times it seems like I eat and gain. I’m trying to go with less stress in my life currently. Milder exercise, more calorie control.
Anyway, if stress is the issue, then you need to work on figuring out ways to de-stress and look for other methods of handling stress than eating.
Your post mentions uncontrollable weight gain. I’m gonna be real, I don’t think so. We can’t be victims, we have to live our lives by our choices. When you say that something is uncontrollable, then it is like saying that you can’t make choices. Some things ARE uncontrollable. The weather. Your genetics. Accidents. That sort of thing. But how we deal with stress, that *is* something that can be under our control. What we put in our mouths… yep, we can control that. Our actions when something stressful happens. We can control that too.
Learning that control isn’t likely to be easy, but I have to believe that it is possible. Otherwise, I would be condemning myself to always gaining when stressed.
Mind you, I don’t have the answers, because under stress, I tend to eat as well. But I know that I don’t HAVE to eat and that if I want to badly enough, I can control what and how much I eat. I’m physically tired tonight. I’m 52, my right knee has problems and it is hurting. That’s stress of a physical sort. I ate a healthy dinner and then started to just eat peanut butter. Which I love. I could’ve eaten half a jar, easy. I started thinking about my goals and what I want and why my knee hurts and how I’m just sick of the losing/regaining cycle. I stopped. Admittedly, I ate 4 tablespoonsful. But I stopped before I ate 5. Or 6. It could’ve been worse.
The key was getting away from the kitchen and doing something else while the desire to eat dissipated.
Anyway, I know you can do this! Stick with it, never quit.
November 28, 2009 at 9:20 am
Erik,
You wouldn’t believe how much the appearance on the Biggest Loser special made me feel. In 2008 I dropped about 40 lbs and was about 15 or so lbs from my goal weight. I completely fell off during the holidays and 2009 was a very stressful year w/ worrying about the economy and personal finances, etc. I slowly started to fall back into my comfort routines. I was doing happy hours again, drinking again, hanging w/ the same crowd that I said I wouldn’t go back to. This had a two fold effect…it didn’t improve my finances and I started to pack the weight back on. Now I have put all 40 back on and have added about 7 lbs on top of it. I was ashamed, kicked myself everyday about doing this to myself. Seeing you and Bob on the special raised my spirits. I realized it wasn’t just me and that its not something to be ashamed of….its just another transition that I must go through.
January 2, 2010 at 2:00 am
Nice post, thanks for sharing this wonderful and useful information with us.
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January 20, 2010 at 8:18 am
You hang in there and know that you are inspirational because of who you are, not a number. Work to be healthy and know that there are so many that have done the same. We just weren’t in the public eye so visually. I can’t even imagine how difficult that would be. I lost nearly 75 pounds on my own over 10 months in private. When I gained back 20, no one said a thing. Now I’m on my way back down and its going to be ok. You know what you did to get where you were and you know your body will do it. I’m sorry for the people who aren’t kind. They are just sad people who need to look in the mirror and decide why they are really angry. I’ll be praying for you success in life, and that is way more than your number on the scale.
January 25, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Hi Erik,
I hope you’re still reading comments and planning
to write more updates. In the Thanksgiving show it seemed
like you were discouraged and in need of a direction or
source of motivation to move forward with your life.
Do you realize how many people relate to your struggle
and fall back on their own form of “addiction” in frustration. I’m surely one of them. I so want you to
throw off the defeat attitude and look around you at
all you have to be so grateful for, because I’ve been
doing the same. May I suggest a website and a message
that I heard recently that got me up off the sofa
to take better care of this body God gave me. On In-Touch, Charles Stanley, spoke of giving the battle to God. Those battles we have been fighting ( and losing) on our own. Surrender of our own pride and pleasure seeking self is involved,but believe me the burden of carrying those is tremendous.
I find it hard to describe the way you come across
of TV, such a good and decent family man. God has great plans for you and I hope you allow us to follow your progress.
February 22, 2010 at 3:04 am
Hi Erik ,
I am someone who has had my fair amount of setbacks in life. I was Thin when I was nine years old . Only to get hit by a car going 70 M.P.H. In the hospital for 3 months , told by the Doctor ; I will never walk again!!!With in that time I took my wheelchair and moved around the halls and went to the physical therapy room and worked on my self. Mean while started gaining weight from not being active like I was before the accident . The Doctor came by looked in the window of the physical therapy room and seen , I was making progress and I was determined to walk again. Make a long story short, I did walk again.
Did hard physical labor from the time I was 11 years old and at the age of 37 ; I was down again . I fell at work and took out my back . I went from 273 LB to now 4 years later to 390 LB . I was at the pain clinic with a nurse when I found out I was this heavy . needless to say I wanted to crawl under the scale and hide . I know how you feel. I have just given up and thought the hell with it , just let me go to heaven , life on earth I am unsure what I am here for ? I am for a alcoholic family and I do know if I eat because I would be a drunk otherwise , to deal with day to day stress ? I know how you feel and if you need someone to talk to that just maybe understand your funk you find yourself in , Email me or we can talk and support each other on the phone .
I watch the story on TLC on your struggle with weight and getting into the funk , that affects your whole life . If you need a friend to talk to there is me and God . God Bless You and Your Family and keep your head up and Smile . We are going to make it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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