Episode 56: Could Your Weight Loss Plateau Be Stress Induced?
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Summary
This week, I hopped on a call with a woman who I'm guessing you may relate to. She was frustrated by a sudden weight gain after having maintained her weight for 7 years. And it seemed no matter how hard she tried, nothing was working to get it back off.
She went from fasting for 18 hours per day to fasting 21 hours per day (and felt like shit while not dropping an ounce). She was working out hard 6 days per week. She was only eating 500-600 calories per day. She felt like it was hopeless, like she would never have the body she wanted.
I asked her what happened at that 7 year mark when she started noticing the weight creeping on. As it turns out, she was going through a major move and some incredibly stressful circumstances in her life.
Bingo! The stress of her life had caused the weight gain, and instead of dealing with the culprit, she tried to fix it through extreme dieting and exercises, which ironically only created more stress in her body.
But how is it possible that something as simple and common as stress could utterly override all your workout and eating efforts?? Let's talk about the science.
The Science of Stress
- When you're stressed out, your adrenals dump out cortisol and adrenaline which leads to glucose being released into your blood stream, all to help give you the energy you need to escape the threat.
- Once the threat has subsided, your cortisol has a second spike to replenish the energy you lost during the fight or flight stage.
- Cortisol then tells your body to store your food as fat, to be used for energy the next time the threat comes, while also lowering your metabolism, causing you to burn on average 100 calories less per day which alone would cause an 11 pound weight gain in one year!
Other Implications of Stress
- Besides the chemical onslaught your body goes through when you're under stress, there are a number of behavioral challenges you may run up against.
- You may experience sugar cravings, hence the post-work sugar or carb binge you may be drawn to, largely because sugar is the quickest form of energy. And as we know your body is trying to replenish energy after a stressful episode.
- You may stress eat as a way to comfort yourself and calm yourself down.
- You may turn to alcohol for its sedative effects.
- You may be less inclined to exercise, as your body is trying to conserve energy after it's been warn out from the internal stress storm.
Surprising Causes of Stress
- When I say 'stress', your mind probably goes to the typical culprits: a tense job, traffic, a fight with your spouse, your kids running amuck. But there are some other culprits that you may be completely unaware of.
- Working out too hard too often.
- Not drinking enough water.
- Eating too little.
- Eating too few carbs
- Too much screen time.
- Comparison syndrome on social media.
- Not getting enough shut eye.
- Being around stressed out people.
- Too much caffeine.
- Exposure to toxins and chemicals in your food and environment.
So next time you're up against a weight loss plateau, instead of assuming you have to increase your workouts or restrict your diet even more, consider looking at how much stress is playing a roll in your life. It may be the key to not only getting the scale to move, but to giving you a longer, happier life in the process.
Feel like there's nothing you can do about your stress-filled life? Has stress eating or drinking taken over your evenings and you can't seem to break the cycle? Then I strongly encourage you to register for my FREE Stress Eating Solutions Workshop.
It'll be packed with my very best tips for reigning in the sugar cravings, managing anxiety in a more productive way, and getting motivated to start making the changes you know you need to make now (not on Monday).
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Click here to snag your spot in my FREE Stress Eating Solution Workshop on June 25th @ 7:30 pm CST if you're ready to break the cycle of emotional binges, mindless snacking, and midnight munching that's getting in the way of your weight loss!
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