Stress Weight Gain: Can Stress Make You Fat?

Is stress weight gain affecting you? Can stress make you fat? Stress and weight gain are linked in several ways. Stress can increase cortisol, reduce exercise habits and increase emotional eating. Learn how to reduce your stress and control your weight.

Just turn on CNN or read your local news paper and you will see that stress is a part of life....stress is reaching epidemic proportions.

Adding to the stressful news comes the finding that stress can make you fat.

Stress and weight gain are linked in several ways - whether it is through increased cortisol or emotional eating.

Here we describe some was stress and weight gain are related and how stress management can be a weight loss strategy.

Stress eating and weight gain - reaching for fatty, sugary foods

Stress can equate to "snack time".

I know because when my life is falling apart it is not unusual for me to reach for a cream bun or a bar of chocolate.

And it is not just the life changing events, like job loss, losing a loved one or divorce, that can trigger stress eating - minor everyday hassles can mean that we reach for high-fat and sugary foods.

This can be a significant factor in stress weight gain.

Do you snack more around when you are stressed?

We can gravitate to comfort foods when stressed, depressed or lonely.

This stress eating can occur because food can provide comfort.

French fries, chocolate and ice cream are some of the common comfort foods that people gravitate towards and reach for when stressed.

What specific foods do you reach for when you are at a low point?

While it may not be a problem to reach for these foods and seek simple pleasure from them, a problem can arise when this occasional pleasure becomes a habit.

If your craving has become a self-destructive habit, then it is important to examine underlying reasons and emotions that are causing this stress eating.

Stress eating can be relaxing - another link between stress and weight gain

Have you ever felt relieved or more relaxed after having food? If so, then you are not alone.

Well this is not only because we may reach for comfort foods but because eating can calm your nerves.

How does this occur?

Well when you eat your food reaches your stomach and sends a message back to the hypothalamus to decrease the intensity of neural stimulation throughout the body.

The hypothalamus just so happens to also register emotional feelings - and eating sends a calming signal back to the hypothalamus.

If you feel that you are stress eating and this stress weight gain or emotional eating is something that you want to work on, then try journalling your food intake - what foods and quantities you are eating when stressed.

Are these eating habits something that you have control over? Or are the eating habits controlling you?

Chronic stress and cortisol - another stress weight gain link

Do you have a to do list as long as your arm? Are you concerned about how you are going to pay the next bill or feel overwhelmed by your many responsibilities.

Chronic stress can impact on your health and lead to stress related illnesses. However, chronic stress can also lead to weight gain.

Chronic stress releases cortisol into the body. This cortisol can slow the metabolism....so even if you are eating the same amount of food as before - you may put on weight.

Cortisol has been found to be associated with increased abdominal fat. Unfortunately abdominal fat can be unpleasing to the eye and is associated with greater health risks than fat stored in other areas of the body.

Are women and men affected differently by different stressors?

According to ground-breaking Harvard research published in on July 15, 2009 in the American Journal of Epidemiology, men and women who are already overweight are more likely gain weight from stress.

Interestingly though, men and women respond differently to different causes of stress.

Women's waistlines are affected by a number of different types of stress which include family stress, feeling limited by life's circumstances, difficult relationships and work stress.

Men's waistlines tended to be influenced by work stress only - with a lack of skill discretion at work and a lack of decision authority affecting men's weight gain.

These results point to the idea that stress management can be an important part of weight control.

Stress management has a role in stress weight gain

Exercise more. If you are busy, often exercise can be squeezed out of your day. It is important that you make time for exercise. Exercise not only relaxes the muscles and uses up the accumulated stress products, but the benefits of exercise extend well beyeng exercise and stress. Exercise reduces obesity, improves body image and increases overall life longevity.

This makes exercise a great strategy to beat stress weight gain.

See how exercise reduces stress and how you can maintain your exercise and stress program.

Relaxation techniques. Chronic stress releases cortisol which is implicated in stress weight gain. Relaxation techniques can short circuit the stress response by activating the relaxation response.

There are a number of relaxation techniques that you can do to combat stress. These include meditation, breathing exercises and other relaxation strategies that will activate the relaxation response in your body.

Develop health munching habits. When stressed it is not difficult to polish off a cream bun or to reach for high-fat sugary foods. If it seems to hard for controlling your cravings then it is better to reach for something healthy instead. Plan ahead and pack your lunch with healthy alternatives. I find carrot sticks and drinking plenty of water helpful for me. A balanced diet improves your stress nutrition and overall ability to cope with stress.

Turn off the TV. In short, as a population, we watch too much TV. TV can be one of the easiest comforts to go to when exhausted or tired. But I find that I can look up a few hours later and realize that I have not got much from the experience.

Turn off the TV and put on some soothing music. Chances are that you will spend less time listening to the soothing music and may do something more creative or enjoyable.

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