Do Stressed Out Women Gain Weight?

Apr 29, 2009

Is there any correlation between stressed women and weight gain? Many research studies confirms this fact that stressed out women reach for comfort food and that result in weight gain. Actually obesity and weight gain are acquiring alarming proportions during recent times. Modern times hectic day schedules take its toll on women and they naturally reach for the comfort food and eat plenty of it. Research studies indicate that if we eat and drink while undergoing stress our BMI can be high compared to those who don’t.

It is often noted that when we are under duress we tend to eat emotional food that caress our senses and comfort us for a while such as hamburgers, pizzas, and chocolates. Stress-eaters often consume more alcohol too. That doesn’t do anything constructive for weight loss.

The Culprit is the Cortisol

What happens when we are under stress? Our body secretes a stress related hormone known as cortisol into our blood stream. Cortisol lowers our metabolism. The worst result is if you are not reaching out to any emotional food still you can add pounds to yourself. If you are taking more calories while tense just imagine what cortisol can do to your weight loss program! Cortisol receptors are unfortunately located in our abdomen and they store fat in abdominal area as side effect. Women with high waist-to-hip ratio are more susceptible to cortisol action that low waist-to-hip ratio.

We don’t know why under the effect of cortisol women prefer to eat fat rich and sweet food. That’s a mystery. But what is not a mystery is that if we try we can cope with emotional eating.

Man/Woman is a Social Animal: Believe in this saying. We really are a social animal and can’t live happily in isolation. We all need out emotional rocks to fall back on. We all need friends and family to laugh with and share our grief with. During those laidback days of our grandmothers and great grandmothers, they had enough time to chat over a cup of coffee with neighbors and build life long friendships which flicking TV channels can’t provide to us. So go out and make friends. Meet family members over weekends or invite them to your place. Keep things and life simple to save yourself from stress. Join support groups or in-person weight-loss program. Always find time to invest in relationships so that you won’t lack that magical emotional support and motivation when you need it. When you have friends and family, you dial their numbers instead of reaching out to emotional eating and stay away from weight gain!

Distract Yourself: When you are about to binge, distracting yourself with some other activity will do wonders. Do something else. Listen to a song, read a short story, talk to a friend or go for a walk. Do breathing exercise to relax yourself. If you are in office and can’t do much, look out of the window, talk to office mate about anything for a while, read a joke or carton strip. Distracting yourself will help you in letting go of the urge to eat something and you will save yourself from weight gain.

Get Enough Rest: Having enough rest everyday will prepare you for a day’s work. If you are fully rested you can take the challenges of the day in a calm and composed manner. If you are suffering from lack of sleep, then it won’t take much to be stressed out and reach for comfort food which you want to avoid. Taking proper rest keep your weight in control.

Posted by admin | Tags: Lifestyle, Weight Facts
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