36 Why some people lose and gain weight due to stress

Okay so, this one is fascinating, ever noticed it.

Some people put on weight when stressed.

Other people lose weight when stressed.

First of all, what do I mean by stress? I am referring to chronic (long term) stressors. Issues that negatively affect us over a prolonged duration, that causes us distress.

How can stress cause two totally opposite responses?

When the body is stressed (be it a shitty job, be it a family member in hospital, be it life’s just getting you down) it will increase cortisol production (a stress related hormone) that has a part to play in lots of functions in the body, including metabolism.

So, if we all get stressed, and cortisol production is increased, why do we differ in end result?

Interestingly, when we look at exercise, when we get stressed think of a spectrum, your normal activity and movement level is in the middle.

All the way up one end we have move a lot more, and at the other end we have move a lot less, with us in the middle remember.

Different people slide to different ends of the spectrum as they attempt to cope with stress.

Some people will have an increased desire to move, to fidget, to exercise, where as other people will want nothing more than to sloth out and not move.

From a weight gain or loss point of view this plays a small part in the energy balance equation.

We move more, we burn more calories than normal, so we drop some weight, we move less than normal, we burn less energy and less calories than normal, as a result we gain weight.

Then when it comes to food, we have the same thing occur, I’m sure you know someone that eats everything in sight when they are stressed.

I am sure you know someone that eats nothing when they are stressed.

I am sure you know plenty of people who are in between (think of our spectrum again with our normal eating habits in the middle).

When stressed you might well move a lot less and eat a lot more, guess what, faster weight gain.

When stressed you might move a lot more and eat a lot less, guess what, faster weight loss.

Now this is not the be all and end all of why some people gain and lose weight when stressed, but to me it is a very interesting part of stress and weight gain / weight loss, that if we are aware of, we can attempt to control.

I hope you enjoyed the episode, for more help sign up with my academy or message me direct.

Kieranfreeboroughpersonaltraining.co.uk

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