Stress is a large part of everybody’s life, daily and otherwise. Some people deal with stress as part of a job, others are just unlucky and get stressed out for various reasons. Stress has been connected to many illnesses and poses a health risk, especially over a longer period of time.
What about weight loss? Can stress inhibit weight loss and can it deter one from losing their extra kilograms? Yes and no, depending on the person and situation.
Stress Could Inhibit Weight Loss
Weight can be gained when one is stressed. Stress has been connected with the hormone cortisol. When our body releases cortisol, we start craving energy. Now, depending on the person, some prefer getting a sugary snack and that can seriously hinder weight loss. Eating lots of sugar during stressful times only provides the body with fake, instant energy, which is then stored as abdominal fat, because the body has no need for so many carbohydrates, particularly sugar.
Pay attention to what you eat when you are stressed. Forming a habit of eating sugary food when stressed is one that could inhibit your weight loss.
Stress Could Lead to Less Sleep
Having less sleep is one of the worst things that we can do to our bodies. It is probably first on the list, with consuming sugar being close by. With lots of stress, people tend to overwork, drink lots of caffeine and in the end, still get little to no sleep. Being very tired at the end of a day does not mean that one will get a good night’s sleep. When the body and brain are stressed, the brain sometimes tends to overthink and hyperfocus on things, which is very problematic when one should be sleeping.
Less sleep can do bad things to the body, one of which is a slower and less functioning metabolism, leading to weight gain.
Stress Could Cause Weight Loss
Depending on the person, some deal with stress in a different way. Some forget to eat and skip meals and even when they are hungry, they do not eat as much as they would have if they were not stressed. When you reduce your number of calorie intake, and add to it added burned calories from a stressed body, you get an overall deficit. A caloric deficit is obviously going to lead to weight loss. That being said, eating much less, and particularly less healthy, is not the way to good weight loss. That kind of weight loss is not sustainable in the long run.
Stress could inhibit weight loss, but it does not have to. It all depends on the individual and the way they deal with stress. Everybody could benefit from a bit less of it, regardless.