Stress and Weight Loss

Life can be hard sometimes. It is not always a fairy tale. Boss, coworkers, family, friends, yourself, illness, money… They are all stress sources. Furthermore, there is some pressure we put on yourself, some pressure others people put on you. Unfortunately, stress and weight loss are related and not always for the best.

Some of us are more affected by stress. Usually, people stress about obligations, personal life, job-related stuff or useless things like what other people think or expect from us.

Whichever category you fit it, it’s not always easy to deal with stress or anxiety.

Back in the ancient times, stress was vital to survival. We had increase peaks of stress when we were in particular situations of danger like chasing an animal or running away from a predator.

Whether it’s about survival or job-related stuff, when we stress, our body triggers a branch of our nervous system responsible for our breathing, heart rate, blood pressure. Then, the body produces more glucose (sugar), releasing it into the bloodstream.

When we were cavemen/cavewomen, this physiological response of our nervous system in a situation of danger was essential. It would make it possible for primary muscles involved to either run or throw something.

In contrast to that period in history, we don’t have those kinds of situations anymore. Therefore, stress is not needed nowadays and it is certainly not essential.

Acute stress (which is how our body reacts to different stressors based on our past and experiences) isn’t a problem. Being stressed out from times to times over meaningless things is not a problem either. On the other hand, chronic stress induces real complications.

Remember, stress produces more glucose. If we let weight loss problems aside, it’s not good to have a big amount of free sugar in your bloodstream that is not being used.

It can impair hormones functions such as insulin. Insulin is directly related to your blood sugar levels. From a health perspective, when insulin is secreted in excess and over time, it can lead to insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc.

There are more causes and conditions to diabetes, but it can be one of them. You should consult your practitioner in case of doubt. From a weight loss perspective, if your glucose in circulation is not being used, it will get eventually get stored as fat.

So stress will make me gain weight? Not necessarily. One thing is clear: chronic stress is a big health concern and possible weight loss issue.

Weight Loss and Stress Symptoms?

Some people claim that stress makes them gain weight, while others say they experience a loss of appetite. One thing is sure: stress affects your dietary preferences and choices.

The differences are individuals based and can depend on factors like the social environment, the frequency of exposure to stress and its intensity. Your current BMI can also influence whether you will gain weight or lose weight.

Women and men have different stress factors. It seems both the finances and the work-related demands were 2 high sources of stress for both sexes.

For women, we also found: job-related demands, perceived constraints in life, strain in relations with family, and difficulty paying bills.

For men, lack of skill, and lack of decision authority were the 2 highest cause of work-related stress.

The causes of your stress are yours only, and can highly differ from the ones we just mentioned.

Symptoms of stress can vary amount individuals. After all, we are not undergoing the same things in life.

According to WebMD, here is a list of emotional symptoms you can experience if you are stressed:

Flood fluctuations: easily agitated or frustrated and moody.
Feeling overwhelmed, like a loss of control
Difficulty to relax empty your mind
Feeling bad about yourself, low self-esteem.
Feeling lonely
Avoiding contacts with others.

To give you some perspective, we thought we could give you a list of health-related symptoms again according to WebMD:

Depression
Cardiovascular disease: high blood pressure, strokes
Eating disorders
Menstrual problems
Gastrointestinal problem
Skin and hair problems: acne, eczema hair loss

Not really nice is it? We would add that stress may impact negatively your eating behaviors (appetite, cravings, hunger). More on that below.

Just for the record, we want to say again that acute stress is normal and not to worry about. But chronic stress is a serious issue that tons of men and women around the world lives with every day.

We will give you a list of things you can do to calm your mind and ease the stress.

How Does Stress Affect Your Weight Loss?

Mild stress can cause hyperphagia (excessive hunger/appetite) whereas severe stress can lead to the opposite, hypophagia. From this study, we could conclude that stress can make you gain weight or lose weight.

Oftentimes, stress will negatively influence your food choices, generating a food/reward system with unhealthy food. When stressed out, we tend to eat more sugary food due to emotional eating.

On top of that, the same study showed that sleep deprivation was associated with a higher BMI (body mass index) and weight gain. You can read more about sleep and weight loss in that blog post.

Being stressed out every day can also lead to high levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. This hormone has an impact on other hormones such as your ghrelin and leptin, the hunger and satiety hormones.

In fact, it was shown that high cortisol levels can increase your ghrelin activation, leading to more hunger and more cravings. When you are in weight loss, you want low ghrelin levels and high leptin levels to have good satiety signals.

A tendency we see in overweight individuals is leptin resistance. This means you don’t have that signal anymore. The one that tells you to put the fork down. So, basically, stress not only affect your mood but also how much you will eat.

Can You Gain Weight Because of Stress

As we previously discussed, you can both lose weight or gain weight depending on your level of stress (frequency and intensity), your sex (women and men have different stressors), and your BMI.

However, a 2014 study analyzed the psychosocial stress of 5 118 patients over the course of 5 years. Anything including life events stresses, daily stress, perceived stress has been taken into account. Results were clear and unequivocal: stress was associated with weight gain ONLY.

You might like the other 5 000 participants who gained weight, or the unique person who loses its appetite when stressed and end up losing weight. We all react differently to stress.

Why Do I Keep Losing Weight for No Reason?

Weight loss due to stress is not frequent and can be harmful over the long term. Oftentimes, unintentional weight loss is due to a health issue such as high stress, depression or some kind of illness. It can also be the cause of medications (14).

The medical community recommends a consulting with your doctor if you lost 5% 0f your current weight over the course of 6 months. (15). It represents a loss of 10 lbs if you weight 200 pounds.

We are not medical experts but we would recommend you to consult your practitioner if you notice any drastic change in your mood and weight. Other than that, consulting would be a good idea if you note any unhabitual fluctuations of your current weight without changing anything to your daily habits over the course of 6 months.

Needless to say, if you are losing weight because you try to get your foundations in place, that’s great and a weight loss is expected.

If you suspect an inexplicable weight loss or when in doubt, book a medical check-up.

How to Stop Losing Weight From Stress? Solutions!

Identify right now the causes of your stress and take action.

Stress shouldn’t be taken lightly. As we discussed, it can lead to serious health issues. If you are constantly stressed out, you have to find ways of relaxing and clear out your mind.

I personally have trouble with stress and I have to find ways of dealing with it every day. Yovann has anxiety issues. It is both under control right now but it wasn’t always the case.

We learned how to manage our stress/anxiety and reduce to a point where it’s almost asymptomatic. However, there are still periods when we are more stressed/anxious (acute response). In any case, we always manage to get it under control.

There are a lot of things you can do to manage your stress. Whatever you choose is up to you. Visualization, breathing techniques, sports, meditation, yoga, walk, reading, taking naps, etc.

In this section, we will cover exercise, meditation, yoga, and reading.

1. Exercise

One thing that helped both of us and is shown by science to fight chronic stress is exercise. It’s well known that any type of physical activity has a positive impact on both stress and anxiety.

Not only exercise helps dealing with those kinds of pr0blems, but it has also been shown to act as a protective barrier against diseases related to chronic stress. Furthermore, those who already exercise tend to be more resistant to emotional stress symptoms.

Despite the fact that you can lose weight without physical activity, it’s always a good idea to include some exercises in your weekly schedule. If you don’t know where to start, the best sport to lose weight post offers some options with examples.

2. Meditation

There are different types of meditation you can do, but any of them will create positive effects on your mind, stress, and anxiety.

A study on transcendental meditation (a type of meditation) showed that the participants experienced less anxiety, job tension, insomnia and improved general health, happiness, and effectiveness.

In order for meditation to work and especially at the beginning of this natural treatment, you should do it regularly for 10-20 minutes each time. Then, when you will feel you are getting back in control do it when needed. We would still recommend doing it on a weekly basis.

Among 16 studies and 1300 participants no adverse effects have been reported.

3. Yoga

Equally important as our 2 first recommendations, yoga is a combination of both. It’s literally a 2 in 1. It’s a way to exercise and to relax your body and mind.

A recent 2018 study showed a reduction in stress, anxiety, and depression from doing regular yoga.

4. Reading

Rather than more time in front of your screens (television, cellphone) reading a good book would be a great replacement! Both for your stress, and anxiety management. Applying a “no screen policy” in the last 15 mins before going to sleep will greatly increase the quality and recovery of your sleep.

We have already discussed the importance of a recuperative sleep in the last post and you know it is one of the 5 pioneers of your weight loss.

All things considered, anything you find relaxing will have an appeasement effect on your body and brain, and that’s what you are looking for.

Can Anxiety Cause You to Lose Weight?

We already discovered that stress can cause gain weight in most cases, but does anxiety do the same? They both act differently on the nervous system and they don’t cause the same consequences.

From what researches have shown, none of the anxiety disorders were associated with significant weight loss.

In like manner, another study showed that: “higher levels of anxiety are associated with lower average baseline weight but not with weight change”.

In opposition to depression and stress, anxiety can cause some weight fluctuation, but nothing significant enough to be concerned about. Still, that shouldn’t minimize the potential negatives effects of anxiety.

Can Anxiety Cause Physical Symptoms?

Stress and anxiety can both cause physical symptoms.

Here is a list of some physical symptoms of stress according to WebMD:

Low energy
Headaches
Gastrointestinal problems
Insomnia
Chest pain
Increase in heartbeat
Frequent colds/infections
Nervousness and shaking

In the same fashion, here is a list of physical symptoms of anxiety again according to WebMD (25):

Panic
Sleep problems***
Nervousness
Cold and sweaty
Heart palpitations
Dry mouth
Nausea
Being tense

Don’t be so stressed out you forget to enjoy the little things that matter the most.

Bottom Line:

Back in ancient times, stress was essential to survival.
Stress from times to times or acute stress is not of concern. Chronic stress is because your body is constantly under the impression of survival mode.
Being stressed each day, every day will lead to serious health and weight issue.
According to most studies, you should gain weight if you are constantly stressed out. There are a few exceptions.
Whether you lose or gain weight is relative to certain factors and the person itself.
The causes of stress will vary among individuals.
Women reported stressing out about job-related stuff, family, and financial situation.
Stress will affect your dietary preferences and choices.
It will also lead to some emotional, physical and health-related symptoms such as: feeling overwhelmed, eating disorders, menstrual problems, skin and hair problems, low energy, headaches, chest pain, feeling guilty.
Anxiety has not been shown to have an impact on your weight, but it has been shown to impact your health.
Anxiety can lead to sleep problems (which negatively influences your weight), nervousness, nausea, heart palpitations, chest pain.
Anything healthy that can help you destress or reduce your anxiety is good.
We talked about exercise, meditation, yoga, reading as examples.