There’s a sly offender that could be responsible for sabotaging your healthy weight. It’s called stress and you may not be aware of it.
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Cortisol and How It’s Linked to Weight Gain
Cortisol is at best, an interesting hormone that keeps you battle-ready. At worst, it’s a pesky biological bugbear that could be causing that bulging middle of yours.
During prolonged stress, cortisol spikes your blood pressure, elevates your blood sugar and diverts your energy from other tasks to whatever that is mission critical.
An overload of cortisol is not a good thing. It tears up your body in order to cope with stress. As it spikes your blood pressure, it retains sodium in your cells and breaks down lean body mass. And because it diverts energy, other less critical task like digestion becomes compromised. This then leads to faulty digestion making it harder for your body to absorb nutrients, burn fat and can consequently influence weight gain. Research suggests that stress also initiates a complex web of hormonal drivers that may cause the body to hang on to fat especially in the middle.
Many of us can tell if we’re stressed out. Nervousness, constant worrying and, feeling overwhelmed are just some of the obvious signs that indicate that. But if you also find yourself craving for more sugary food and a spare tyre is materializing in your middle, this could be signs that stress is causing your weight gain.
Approaches to Try to Ease Stress, Help Abdominal Fat Loss and Maintain a Healthier Weight
Try Meditating
If you’re a busy person, you may feel you can’t afford the time. If you’re no fan of meditation, you may think it’s ridiculous. In short, meditating can be either an indulgence or a total waste of your time. But trust me it’s not.
Meditating can be one of the best tasks you can do to battle the stress. And it doesn’t have to be a mystic, new-age, woo woo expeience where you sit in a lotus position and do ohms. It can be as simple as sitting in the stillness of your home or office and just breathing. Or you can choose to wake up a little earlier than usual to sit and pray. It doesn’t matter long as you’re breathing, preferably in quietness, and being in the present moment.
Eat More Healthily
It could be your daily dose of caffeine along with other refined sugars that could be jostling your wits. So if you’re going through a rough time, try cutting back on these and go for foods that soothe the nerves. Eat healthy protein and be sure you’re getting lots of vitamin C, magnesium-rich greens and plenty of Omega 3 fats. If you’re committed to a weight loss program, try taking natural Garcinia Cambogia supplements to control your cravings for sugary food and support abdominal fat loss.
Go for a Nature Walk
Countless researches suggest that surrounding yourself with nature can be one of the most powerful stress busters out there. There’s just something about it, whether it’s the scent of freshly-cut grass or the greenery of the fields, that’s mentally calming and soothing.
So this weekend, rather than watching an entire season of The Walking Dead why not go hiking with your friends or visit the park instead? Take advantage of opportunities to visit a green space whenever possible even if it’s just 10 minutes of basking out in the garden after lunch. Simple nature fixes like this can do wonders to your mind and boost your mood too.
Is stress sabotaging your weight loss goals? How do you cope with it? Let us know in the comments below!