How to beat the cycle of stress and weight gain. Learn about the many reasons why stress can lead to weight gain, and how to stop it from happening.

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As if there isn’t enough to stress about during your weight loss journey, one often overlooked stressor that can hinder your progress is … actual stress itself.

In short: we need to chill out more.

Yeah, easier said than done. I totally get it.

We’re in an era of just unusual amounts of uncertainty, or stress.

Since we are constantly plugged in to our work, we are essentially on-call 24/7. Add to that the ongoing pushes and pulls of social media addiction. Toss in the usual rigors of life itself in terms of commutes and work and kids and family life.

Sure, the Western world isn’t conflicted and subjected to the types of violent, economic strife that we might see in some Third World nations and territories. Most of our issues are #FirstWorldProblems to say the least.

But, that doesn’t stop these low-level stressors from adding up into an over abundance of uncertainties that drive us to substance abuse, poor relationships with food and exercise and leads down the path towards unyielding depression and anxiety.

It’s just a nonstop cycle of things working against you.

It’s no wonder stress––and its cousins, depression and anxiety––are at an all-time high.

But, managing the stressors and uncertainties of your daily life can go a big way in ensuring that you are making the right lifestyle choices in order to see your body transformation become a reality.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at the role stress plays in your weight loss journey. It does have an impact. And if you do not find ways to mitigate that impact, it can greatly affect your progress in a negative way.

I’ll break down a few things surrounding stress and weight loss or gain:

• How stress impacts your metabolism
• Stress and the cycle of poor eating habits
• Good stress to help condition the body and mind
• Breaking the cycle of stress and weight gain with a few healthy habits

Let’s get into it.

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It’s important to note that stress does not actually equal weight gain. Remember, the management of energy balance will always dictate how the body gains, loses or maintains weight.

However, hormones impact how our body functions within that unique and personal energy balance equation (everyone’s calorie makeup and energy balance is quite different).

For the sake of this article, we’re going to talk about the role that cortisol plays in this whole situation.

How stress and cortisol lead to weight gain

So let’s play out the scenario: You get an email from the boss that you’ve got a major deadline coming up and it’s next to impossible to be able to meet that deadline.

Cue the stressors.

Here’s what we know: when the stress increases, the body enters the flight or fight response. It’s amped you up for battle.

The body can’t really tell the difference between a battle versus a bear in the woods or a back and forth email exchange with Karen from HR.

Either way, the flight or fight response has kicked in and the stress hormone cortisol along with tons of adrenaline are up-regulated to help you prepare to kick ass––literally or figuratively.

When the initial surge has passed and that first wave of frustration over this unachievable deadline has leveled off, adrenaline begins to wear off.

Leaving its cousin cortisol to take control.

Cortisol is not a bad thing. It’s a natural hormone that assists your body in regulating mood and making sure you are prepared to survive these crazy stressors.

As a result of the higher cortisol levels, the body feels like it is in survival mode. And when this continues for an extended period of time, like over the course of a long evening in the office, trying to slam this project together, cortisol’s extended presence can lead to cravings.

Since we’re talking about a stressful time, the body is not looking for complicated meals here. It just needs some random fuel to get you through the next battle.

Enter the cravings for hyper-palatable foods.

We’ve discussed at length about the role hunger plays in your ability to lose weight. There’s physical, real, meaningful hunger. Then there’s the psychological hunger that can fall under boredom. Or in this case, stress.

If you continually give into that psychological hunger, you can already see the pattern developing:

Get stressed. Release cortisol. Crave fun foods. Eat those fun foods. Break your calorie deficit. Gain weight. Get stressed.

And the cycle continues.

Cortisol and Metabolism

It’s not just the negative learned behavior pattern that will affect your weight loss goal. Cortisol can actually slow your physical ability to lose weight, too.

A research study from Ohio State interviewed a group of women about a previous day’s stressor and then gave them a high calorie meal. After eating, scientists measured the women’s metabolic rates (how fast/slow they burn calories).

Researchers found that on average the women who reported at least one or more stressors during the previous day burned 100 fewer calories on average than the non-stressed group.

Over time, you can see how that slowed metabolic rate can lead to undesirable progress in the weight loss journey.

And there we have it.

Unhealthy habits from stress

While it’s important to point out the potentially slowed metabolic rates as a result of increased cortisol, we do need to underscore that weight loss can still happen.

The women in that research study still burned calories, just at a slower rate. However, the problem is that through highly-stressed situations, we are much more likely to consume those hyper-palatable foods that are higher in calories.

It’s simply easier to eat more calories in these situations. Especially over extended periods of highly-stressed situations.

Which, as we pointed out at the beginning of this article, many of us are in a continued state of constant stressors pulling on us throughout the day.

Here are a few additional issues to be mindful of when those stressors kick in:

Emotional eating

We already addressed the psychological hunger cues as a result of increased cortisol. It’s far too easy to give into those cravings and hit the sugary foods and salty snacks to satisfy that nervous energy.

It can temporarily ease the stress and boost your feelings momentarily, but it leads to a poor relationship with food and certainly hampers your ability to lose weight sustainably.

Skipping exercise

Not feeling it in the office or the home life makes it far too easy to say fuck it and skip out on the gym life, too.

On the contrary, this might be the best time to workout as physical exercise increases the production of endorphins and the “feel good” hormones.

Sleep struggles

Poor mood and high stress can wreck your sleep patterns. Whether it’s poor quality sleep or just limited hours of sleep.

Unfortunately, poor quality sleep can also lead to an increase of cortisol which will only compound your problem with stress. It’s imperative that you prioritize your sleep and find a sleep ritual to help you get quality rest every night.

Develop an Anti-Stress Protocol

We’ve laid out just how impactful excess stress can be on your weight loss journey. So now we’ve got to find some ways to mitigate those effects so you can chill out a little bit and watch the weight move again.

Reframe your relationship with stress

Too often we view stress as a completely negative situation. Let’s change that. Stress is a natural response. It is normal for your body to utilize its hormonal functions to provide a stimulus.

Remember this is your internal way of preparing the body to do battle in crazy events. We’ve just got to tamp down the energy on those crazy events, which are really only just small hiccups that we’ve managed to turn into larger issues.

Instead of stressing over your next round of stress. Take a pause. Take a few deep breaths. Understand that this is normal.

Your body is doing what it is naturally made to do. When you can reframe your relationship with stress and anxiety, it’s the start to being more mindful in the moment so you can find more ways to slowly ease back on the cortisol and think clearly.

A study showed that the more subjects were able to understand that stress is simply a natural part of life, they lived longer than those who viewed stress as a total detriment to long-term health.

Journal

I’ve written about the benefits of journaling before. It’s one of my non-negotiable morning routine habits along with meditation.

This does not have to be some diary entry about why the mean girls in HR called you “extra” yesterday.

Instead, use the journaling experience to explore some of your common stressors. Use it to chronicle the things you are grateful for in life. You can even write about things you’ve observed or would like to achieve.

Taking a few minutes per day to write things down and empty the busy brain will go a long way towards freeing yourself from stressors later in the day.

Dominate the morning

Starting the day off with momentum is imperative. Do not let your kids be your alarm clock. So pop up a few minutes before they start demanding everything from sugary cereal to more screen time to funky braids before heading off to school.

Your goal is to find a few minutes of peace or motivation or gratitude or affirmation to build up momentum and get your started.

If you’ve been the type to smash the snooze button and then try to react as the day unfolds, I’d highly recommend being more proactive with your day by conquering the morning. I have a ton of tips to make that happen.

Crush that mindfulness

Meditation does not have to be escaping to a 14-day retreat where no one can speak and you’ve got to be one with nature in some mountain range in the middle of nowhere.

It just means turning off the distractions for a few minutes per day and really focusing on the task at hand. Take things to the next level by adding in some deep breathing exercises. And then eventually, you’d likely want to work up to something like meditation.

If you are brand new to meditation, no worries. I have a guide to making that work for you, even if you hate the thought of meditation. There are many ways to make it happen and it’s important that you find a method that can help alleviate the impacts of stress.

Get outside and into nature

It’s easy to get stuck inside all day and never see the sun. Wake up. Head to the car. Drive to work. Hang out in the office. Head back to the car. Drive home. Hang out at home for the night. Go to bed and do it all over again.

All of those activities are inside.

If the walls are closing in on you and the kids are screaming and the inbox is piling up, don’t be afraid or too proud to drop everything and step outside. Getting that quick hit dose of Vitamin D and some natural sun and fresh air can help provide immediate relief.

Preferably you’d use this as an escape to recharge completely. But, if you have to do so, you can take your work outside. Bring a laptop. Take a conference call outside during a walk. Opt to perform a workout (like sprinting) outdoors. Add in a daily walk. Walk the dog more.

Find room for at least 20 minutes of time outside per day. And then be sure to utilize a quick hit of sun if/when the stress gets a little too much to handle and you need an emergency escape.

Turn off the news

You are not missing much. I promise. I used to be a TV sports anchor. Yep. My mug was on your screen for a good three minutes of nothing but the most important sports news and highlights of the day.

I wrote about my own professional journey in my article about finding your passion.

Long story short, I’m obviously pretty knowledgeable about this News stuff and can say without a doubt that you do not need to be constantly watching, reading, tweeting or consuming the news on a constant basis.

Add an acute stressor

Prime your body to better deal with stress by conditioning it with a few exercises.

One of my favorites is to try taking a cold shower. Work up to about 60 seconds of nothing but you and some ice cold water cascading down on your naked body.

Over time, you’ll notice your ability to deal with stress in the moment becomes easier to control and reduce. Start doing this every single day for up to 60 seconds and let’s see how quickly your body adapts to the new healthy stressor.

Not near a shower? Simple movement can work.

Drop down and do a bunch of push-ups, squats, even burpees. Get the blood flowing. That’ll do the trick, too.

Talk to a professional

It is not a weakness to seek help and talk to a professional. It’s something that I do every week and have been doing for years, as I’ve written about with this article back in my daddy blogging days.

Many insurance companies now offer some help in finding and covering the majority of the fees for therapy.

However, if cost, availability or your particular insurance are still factors, you could aim for a service like TalkSpace at a much lower price point. You’d be surprised how much it can help to talk to a professional about everything from your stressors and fears to your hopes and dreams.

I highly recommend that everyone spend some time doing this.

Remember that the weight loss journey is more than just calorie deficits and crushing deadlifts while sweating it out during HIIT cardio. It’s about being in the right frame of mind, too.

Get your mental health in order. Find ways to relax and unplug and destress. When you do so, you’ll be much better equipped to settle into the long-term journey and lifestyle of your newfound healthy habit.

That’s when this whole thing really pays off.

Let me help you learn how to break the cycle of stress and weight gain … 

I’m here to help you out. 

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Stress and weight gain” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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