There has been a lot of talk in the media about stress being a direct cause of obesity, and about how stress can stop weight loss dead in its tracks.
Most of the time this talk centers around complex reactions involving hormones like cortisol, insulin and things like "adrenal burnout".
However, the connection between stress, obesity and weight loss can also be thought of as an issue of lifestyle.
I was once asked "could you make the argument that the leading cause of being overweight is STRESS?"
Here is my answer:
"In a very, very roundabout way you could say that 'life stress' shifts the issue of weight loss down on a person's priority list, so even though it's something that a person may still REALLY REALLY wants, it's not something you perceive that you have time to "work on".
This is just a short list of items you might be more concerned about than weight loss:
Losing your job, finding a job, getting a promotion, closing a big sale/deal, having a baby, raising a new baby, sending kids to school, struggling to graduate from school, or trying to get a scholarship/grant, or going through a break up, buying or selling a house, dealing with credit card debt or a mortgage etc…all of these things probably end up higher on your PRIORITY list than “weight loss”.
In other words, even though weight loss could still be top on the WANT list, 'life-stress' has forced in to become low on the actual PRIORITY list.
Life-stress is anything that that takes up a lot of mind-space in the form of worry or anxiety.
When Life-Stress increases, it becomes difficult to focus on things like your own health and nutrition, since much of your thoughts are obsessively focusing on the cause of your stress.
learning to deal effectively with stress, whether through altered mind set, erasing the cause of the stress, or even practices like meditation can help you realign your "want list" with your "priority list" and help you become successful at weight loss, simply by allowing you to let weight loss become a priority again.
Stress can have profound effects on the human body, but not all the effects are hormonal or metabolic, a great deal of the negative effects that stress can have on weight loss are emotional and lifestyle oriented.
Complicating this is the fact that most diet and weight loss programs are inherently stressful. They are too restrictive and too demanding.
A weight loss plan that is overly complicated ends up just taking up more mind-space in the form of even more worry and stress.
This is why it is important to follow a diet or weight loss lifestyle that is easy to implement, fits into your life, is flexible and effective.
Lifestyle plans like Eat Stop Eat accomplish this by making sure you A) Eat less but B) still have the ability to enjoy the foods you eat.
Doing this in a simple, uncomplicated manner helps remove the stress of weight loss, while still allowing you to lose weight. This is an extremely effective way to keep weight loss a priority while not adding to your overall life-stress.
