Recognise Stress symptoms and avoid gaining weight

Are you stressed?

I am always surprised by how many clients do not recognise that they are stressed and try to push through, coping as best they can but meanwhile their middles are getting bigger and their health, both physical and mental is suffering.

If you can recognise stress and acknowledge it, well then you can manage it better. Let’s start in Part 1 by checking if you are stressed and in Part 2, let’s talk about coping with stress.

Part 1

How many of the following symptoms of chronic stress do you have?

Central weight gain, lack of interest in sex, low mood, increased irritability

Increased reliance on alcohol/drugs, decreased tolerance of everything and everyone

Fluid retention, low blood pressure, dizzy on standing, excessive thirst/urination, salt craving

Frequent colds/flu’s, poor memory, poor concentration

Difficulty getting up out of bed, tired in the afternoon  3pm-4pm, fatigue not relieved by sleep, sleep disruption

dark circles under eyes, digestive disturbance, bad PMS

Feeling better after eating, Has to eat often, feels weak/dizzy if skip meals,  hypoglycaemia, sugar cravings

increased effort to do everyday tasks, decreased productivity,  lethargy,  increased fears

We are controlled by hormones.  

From the above list you can see that we are controlled by hormones – Blood pressure, Sex Drive, Appetite, Sleep, Mood, Drive/Enthusiasm and Weight.

How we think, eat and live, affects the output of these hormones. Stress hormones – adrenaline and cortisol, can be toxic to your health if they are produced at high levels over a long-term period. Stress affects our eating habits. Some of us lose our appetite while other eat lots more food and drink. If we eat a lot more sugary foods, this affects the sugar-controlling hormone, Insulin. High Insulin is damaging to health potentially leading to Insulin resistance or Type 2 Diabetes. Stress and poor diet are a lethal combination for your good health.

The FAT link

When a person experiences chronic stress, the levels of cortisol may remain persistently high overstimulating the adrenal glands. Cortisol releases fats, sugars and proteins into the blood to be used as energy and this large energy source, [ not burnt if you are sedentary] gets redistributed.  As a result –

• There is a redistribution of fat from the thighs and buttocks to the middle and neck regions
• Blood sugars remain high for prolonged periods causing insulin resistance [pre-diabetes]

Read about the 12 steps to cope better with stress and avoid gaining weight here.