When I am stressed, I generally have two polar opposite reactions to food. I eat my body weight in pasta, chocolate and other comfort food, or I just stop eating.
While most people relate stress to too much food and weight gain, weight loss of stress is also common. Losing weight may sound like a positive part of stress, but it is not. You never want to harm your body by losing weight for unhealthy reasons.
Significant weight loss due to stress can lead to problems such as nutritional deficiency, weakness, muscle loss and more. So, if you are on the stress weight loss side of the spectrum, what can you do about it?
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What causes weight loss of stress?
If you experience weight loss due to stress, here are some of the possible reasons:
Stress can cause stomach and digestive problems
When the body experiences stress, it goes into fighting or flight mode. In fighting or flight mode, the body receives an eruption of energy that increases heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, improves vision and more.
To maintain this peak in energy, digestion delays or stops in some cases, which can lead Gastrointestinal Need. Gastrointestinal emergency leads to stomach pain, bloating, constipation, diarrhea or other symptoms.
Chronic stress is also possible cause irritable intestinal syndrome (IBS), or intensify the severity of the symptoms.
The symptoms of gastrointestinal need and IBs usually lead to reduced food intake, which in turn leads to weight loss.
Stress can cause fear and depression
Chronic stress can lead to many psychological disorders, including General anxiety disorder. Both general anxiety disorder and less serious levels of fear often lead to weight loss.
Fear is not the only result of stress; Stress is also associated with the Development of depression. For some people, depression can be one decrease in appetiteWhat can lead to weight loss.
Stress can lead to more activity
If I am stressed or anxious, movement always helps, walking, running, yoga, moving my body in any way. And I’m not the only one.
Physical activity is Known to reduce stress While the mood and self -respect is improved. Plus, nervous movements such as fiddling, leg shaking, pacing and more are often associated with stress.
In many situations, the use of physical activity is to combat the effects of stress healthy and recommended. But if you are too active, especially if you do not eat enough, this can quickly lead to significant weight loss of stress.
You can make stress too exhausted to eat
I know stress and fear well enough to have experienced more than my honest part of the sleepless nights in bed, crazy. We have all been there at some point.
It is known that stress is caused Reduced sleep time And Increased sleep disorders.
If you are constantly stressed or too stressed, you can reach the point of exhaustion where you are just too tired to eat, which can cause stress -related weight loss.
Stress can cause you to skip meals
If I am super stressed about a deadline or at the same time with multiple projects, I tend to work overdrive and sometimes I forget meals. I get hyper -oriented at work, and the next thing I know, it’s 4 p.m. and I didn’t eat.
If you tend to forget or skip meals if you are stressed or overdrive, by the time you have finished working, it is probably too late for regularly planned meals. This increases your chances of squeezing a fast, unhealthy meal that makes you feel worse.
Stress can cause nausea
I have already said that stress can lead to gastrointestinal disorders and IBS, but Stress can also cause nausea.
Just as eating is super unattractive when you are bloated, uncomfortable or suffer from stomach pain, nausea is also a pretty effective appetizer.
These are just a few of the many ways in which weight loss takes place due to stress, so what can you do about it?
How to deal with stress weight loss
1. Plan meals
If you skip meals when you are stressed, start planning them by setting a timer on your phone.
To make these planned meals something you can look forward to, you can take a quick break of 20 minutes and do something that you like while eating, such as reading a book.
If you have trouble finishing whole meals, then plan several snacks during the day.
It is best to plan your meals every day around the same time. Right meal timing can help Increase stress resistance, reduce inflammation, manage health health betterand help Regulate circadian rhythm.
2. Take baby bites
If you feel stomach as if it is in knots or if you experience nausea when you are stressed, eating large or even normal meals can be a challenge, so start small.
Instead of trying to tackle a huge bowl of pasta for lunch, you have a tasty bean salad with avocado and small portions to eat.
If tackling three small meals a day now feels too much, drink your calories, but in a good way. Make healthy smoothies that are full of fruit, vegetables and nut butters.
You can add your calories by snacking all day long, just keep it healthy, like a bowl of grapes or a handful of nuts.
While you succeed in eating small meals and snacks, you can help you prepare your body to tackle larger meals.
3. Eat foods that fight stress and improve mood
Food is really medicine, and although it is a healing tool for the body, it is also a healing tool for the mind.
Many foods can help reduce stress and bring you into a better mood, such as vitamin B. Vitamin B helps to reduce stressAnd can be found in full grains, seeds and nuts, dark leafy greens, citrus fruits, avocado, bananas and more.
And a simple bowl of oatmeal can Reduce stress and let serotonin off.
But my favorite pick me up is completely natural, pure cocoa. Pure cocoa or chocolate that is not full of artificial ingredients and too much sugar has positive effects on Stress levels, inflammation, memory and immunity and may depression.
Speaking of cocoa, if you ever have the chance to participate in a cocoa ceremony, do it! I promise you won’t regret it.
4. Note what your stomach hurts
If your stomach has pain as a result of stress, it is more important than ever to be present and to notice how everything you eat affects your stomach.
A few months ago I started to develop strange stomach symptoms. I will save you the details, but my stomach almost always hurt, and I went from love to never really hungry.
After I was informed, I realized that I had just gone from tropical places with tons of fresh fruit everywhere to winter in NY and much less fruit around me. I also ate a lot more rice.
So I changed my eating habits and had oatmeal with fresh fruit every day for breakfast and ate less rice. My stomach started to feel better after a few days and became normal again after a little more than a week.
So try to keep track of when your stomach is the worst and keeps a list of what you ate it could have caused so that you can adjust your diet.
In addition to the consciousness of nutritional problems, following food can help you Make better food choicesAnd it’s a way to practice mindful food.
5. Choose healthy in advance made food
There have been so often that I opened the fridge door, saw that there was nothing ready to eat and thought, “I’ll just eat later.”
If you are super stressed and tired, preparing food is probably the last thing you think about. If you do not want to prepare food, you can easily eat and lead to weight loss of stress.
Instead, instead search a number of local health food stores that deliver or visit your local health food store and take a few fresh or frozen meals to keep the week.
If you come and go stress, or if you get sudden outbursts of energy or downtime, you can also try to get into the practice of preparing meals.
6. Always set up after exercise
If you manage stress by exercising, but not eat enough, the weight loss of stress is very likely. So make sure you always eat something after your exercise.
Eat something as soon as you finish sports so that you don’t forget. This does not have to be a large meal, but focus on foods with a high protein or carbohydrate, such as avocado, nuts, yogurt, a banana, an apple with nut butter, rice waffles or a protein smoothie.
You can even buy Premade protein drinks in the store to make it as easy as possible.
Eating after your exercise will help to prevent weight loss of stress, and has other benefits tooSuch as increased muscle prey synthesis, reduced protein breakdown and more effective muscle reconditioning.
Eating protein after your exercise can also help Improve your performance The next day.
7. Take a break and de -stress
Plan an hour a day where you concentrate on de -stressing. I know that it sometimes feels impossible, especially if you have a mile -long task list, but an hour is such a small part of your day.
Even if it means that it wakes up an hour earlier to have extra time in the day, it is only for you to concentrate on the stressing time.
Here are a few ways in which you can de -stress every day:
- Spend time outside: Spend time immersed by nature Reduces stress and anxiety and improves overall health, even if it is only for 20 minutes.
- Practice yoga: There are so many benefits of yoga, including Stress reduction. I like to sink at the end of a long day in a relaxing restorative or Yin stream.
- Practice self -care: There are so many useful habits for self -care that you can practice every day. One of my favorites is a steaming, hot, candlelight bath in combination with some inspiring literature.
- Unlock your creativity: Creativity lowers the cortisol levels. You don’t have to make a masterpiece, just make something. Draw, paint, fill a coloring book, write a poem, etc.
8. Go at the root of the problem
Although all these tips help you to fight weight loss due to stress, you have to reach the root of your stress. Usually, to be stressed long enough to cause weight loss, there must have a pretty big impact on your life.
Is it a long -term project for work? A new living situation? An unhealthy relationship? Do you constantly have too much on your plate?
Whatever it is, identify it and start working on how you can make it less intense. Remember that although some stress in life is inevitable, you do not always have to be stressed and it is always ok to ask for help.
If the above tips and other lifestyle changes and methods for stress management do not help, it may be time to consider other possible causes of weight loss.
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