Tis the season for stress…
How lovely a time it is…family parties, gifts, busy schedules all are great in theory but do increase stress levels.
For me, this year is a mixed bag…the busyness of the holidays has my introverted self feeling stressed about all the interactions as well as wanting to provide my daughter with a great Christmas.
And this is just added stress that is on top of the normal day to day stressors of life. So I think it’s vitally important to make sure that you take time to decompress, manage this stress and make sure that it won’t impact your health negatively over the next 2 months.
Today I want to give you some science behind stress and weight gain, as well as strategies to navigate and improve that stress response.
The connection between Stress and weight gain
Stress historically has been a positive thing for the human race. Stress helps keep you alive - just think about how it would feel running from a lion in the jungle. Yes, that stress is necessary to send blood flow and keep you focused on the matter at hand.
Stress was also helpful for our native brothers and sisters because when our bodies lack food, a stress hormone called cortisol gets released to help to keep the body from burning fat stores.
However in our modern world, stress is often associated with other factors. Things like deadlines for work, finance stress, stress about aging parents or kids growing up. These stressors are not the same yet our body does not know the difference.
When we are stressed our bodies crave high calorie, sugary or fatty “comfort foods”. It’s not happenstance as to why you want those cookies after a long day of work. This is biological and is something that our bodies have done for ages.
So this means if you are more stressed more often you’ll have more cravings and therefore eat more “junk” food. It’s a vicious cycle because then stress can become about your own health, diet, and weight.
Lastly, stress will impact your sleep quality. When you are fatigued we tend to do two things:
We miss workouts / take days off because of lack of energy
Eat high fatty, high carb, sugary foods to balance out the stress
Sleep helps to balance hormones such as your appetite and fullness. So when sleep is disrupted because of stress, your body will seek those extra calories or rest. Both of which hurt the overall goal of feeling your best.
Overall, cortisol can be a very helpful hormone but in our modern world, cortisol can be one of the key drivers as to why it’s so hard to drop weight.
Effective Stress management Techniques for weight loss
Let’s talk about some things you can do over the holiday season to help you stay in line with your goals.
One of the best things you can do for yourself over the holidays, as well as through stress is to exercise.
Exercise reduces cortisol levels and boosts endorphins. This is a win-win because we get the reduction of cortisol (allowing more fat to be burned) as well as a release of those “feel-good” hormones of endorphins.
Feeling good in itself helps to reduce stress. Exercise such as walking, yoga, or strength training will be the best options for stress release.
There is something to be said about feeling completely overwhelmed with life…then using that energy to put into a workout. The workout will probably be cathartic and will leave you feeling amazing. The control we have over our stress is probably more than what you would have previously thought.
I know for me, sometimes I just sit in my stress. What would help though, is to get up and go for a walk or just get some dumbbells and start lifting!
Practice mindful breathing and meditation to help reduce stress. Mindful breathing and meditation have gotten a lot of attention over the past decade. And for good reason - becoming more mindful of your surroundings can help get you OUT of your head and into the moment.
If you have never tried a meditation practice I would advise you to start with just 5-10 minutes of deep breathing. Focusing on breathing in through the nose, and out through the mouth. Thoughts will enter your mind like
“The laundry needs to be switched, and then I need to start dinner”
“Why am I sitting here? I need to get things done!”
“I wonder what my friends will think of me after I ….”
Thoughts will come and go during a meditation period. The key here is to do your best to just let those thoughts come up, and go away. You don’t need to stay on a topic and try to answer it for yourself. Just stay in the moment, and know that thoughts will come and go.
I really like the “calm” app to help get some aided guidance in your mediation/reflective practice.
And just one extra point just from personal experience…I’ve been very stressed lately as some of you can imagine if you know me (I recently lost my dad).
It’s very easy to spiral into a spot of despair both thinking of him, what I’ll miss about him in the future, how I wish he was still here to continue a relationship with Avery…it’s all very stressful.
Now this is probably one of the biggest stressors you can have, losing a parent.
However I try to remind myself in those moments to just breathe, to focus on the birds chirping around me, to appreciate life that surrounds me. This allows some reprieve.
Last one here - reach out for support.
Stress can feel overwhelming and you can feel like there's no way out. Just talking it out with a friend or family member can clear your head of these stressful thoughts.
We weren’t meant to go through life alone. If anything, our modern age has done more to separate us than to unite us. So its up to us to really reach out for support and find those people in your life you can rely on to lend you an ear.
Talking out stress, venting is a really helpful process to improve mood. The hardest part of this is usually just scheduling these talks with friends and family. There is an active part here, but with a routine call a week with a friend can do so much good.
Build a stress-resilient Lifestyle
With endless events and expectations to attend all things - it’s very difficult to set boundaries. Especially if you are a social person who enjoys being out with others - saying NO can be incredibly hard.
You may not want to hurt someone’s feelings by saying NO to an event. You may feel like you are missing out, the FOMO is real!
Saying “NO” however can be your biggest strength in protecting your own stress levels. Feeling tired? Maybe just take the night off and don’t attend that party.
We all need that decompressing time and sometimes if we book our schedules out all over the place, true “me” time cannot be found. You need to say NO more and say YES to your own stress management and self-care.
On that note, I want you to find ways to take self-care on a daily basis. What are some ways you enjoy recharging?
Is it enjoying coffee or tea and having a quiet morning? Is it journaling at night, walking outside?
For me, I love my “me” time when I am outside in nature, reflecting on life. This gives me the groundeness that I need to approach new situations and problems in life.
This time for me is non-negotiable. It will literally bring my thoughts from unrealistic rumination towards practical solutions.
Self-care shouldn’t be taken lightly. I know it’s often very hard to take the time to do this, especially while providing and taking care of a family! But what is 15 minutes a day? What’s 30 minutes…you can fit it in..just say YES to your self care and NO to other things!
Self-care is not a luxury, it is a priority!!
Closing thoughts
When we take care of our stress, we take care of our bodies. When it comes to weight loss, reducing cortisol levels is something that will aid in dropping weight.
Especially during the holiday season, we need to be mindful of how we let our stress dictate our actions. Do you feel stressed and go for some chocolate, or do you go for a walk?
You get to decide how you manage stress. If you let your stress take you over, it will feel like the walls are closing in and that you have no say in how you feel. This isn’t a good feeling…so change it!!
I would urge you to do this:
Choose one stress reducing technique and implement it.
Do that one thing over the next 8 weeks and let me know how you feel afterwards!
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