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Stress Effects on Weight Gain
By Mario Remedios
Stress could really cause you to gain weight. I talk about this from my own experience. I am only 5′ 9″ and in my late 20s, my weight had scaled up to 215 lbs. My weight gain really started to take shape when I began college. Before college, I weighed around 175 lbs, but during college, I found comfort in eating. To me, that was my stress reliever. For some reason, it made me feel good. I figured, I don’t smoke and barely drink so what’s wrong with eating? Subsequent to college, I started working at a big four accounting firm. There, I really met hell when it came to late work hours and additional stress and responsibilities. So guess what I did? Yes, you got it! I continued to eat and eat some more without even trying to workout. It didn’t seem to bother me, but people started noticing. Some were concerned about my health. Without being aware, I was in a self-destructive cycle where I would wake up, eat carelessly, and go to sleep very early. I was tired, VERY tired. I couldn’t keep up with my wife walking in the mall, my clothes barely fit me and I was becoming less and less productive at work. Some of my loved ones would ask me to lose weight but I had no hope then.
Stress could definitely affect your cortisol levels. Cortisol is a potent stress hormone produced by the human adrenal which plays a vital role in regulating the sugar levels, monitoring the immune system, regular inflammation and healing. When stress is in our lives, our cortisol levels could get out of balance. Having too little cortisol, causes us to be very tired with a great desire to rest while if your adrenal glands are producing too much, you’re more likely to gain weight particularly around the abdomen. Moreover, weight gain might be caused by the bad eating habits triggered by high levels of cortisol. Past research studies have confirmed this and determined that people with high cortisol levels facing stressful situations are more likely to snack on high-fat foods than those with lower cortisol levels facing the same situations.
Once you start gaining weight due to high cortisol levels you’ll begin to witness more and more depression and an overall decline in your energy level. This is exactly what I came across. As I gained more and more weight and became more and more depressed, I was hopeless. This all came to a halt when I decided to change my eating habits and started exercising. I started eating foods such as whole grains which kept me going with energy and avoided those that would otherwise release sugar into my bloodstreams. All of a sudden, I had to change my eating habits and avoid foods such as white bread, white rice, pasta, and potatoes. In addition, I supplemented my diet with an exercise program in an attempt to burn fat faster and stay motivated and away from stress. Little by little, I went from 215 lbs to 155 lbs in a short period of 6 months and I have kept my weight at around the same for almost two years now. I am a totally new person. I finally have the energy I lacked before. I am finally totally happy and living life the way it should be lived. Losing weight is not a fast solution but with perseverance and hope it could be accomplished. Once there, think about everything you went through and don’t let your bad habits crawl back into your life again.
Mario Remedios is an entrepreneur who’s involved in the MLM industry. He enjoys meeting people and writing about health and business.
Learn more at: http://www.marioremedios.com
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