Stress and Your Expanding Waistline: Why You Need to Chill

Ever noticed how your jean size increases along with your work load or daily demands? It’s not all in your head (although the solution begins there). Stress doesn’t just cause tension headaches and office meltdowns, it can jump start your obesity hormones as well. Here’s a run-down of how our bodies handle stress from the inside out and what you can do to chill.

1. Stress hits: For example, your company downsizes and you’re left either wondering about your job security or with more work piled onto your desk. Or you’re a stay-at-home mom and you’ve got a sick kid, car pool duty, and a bunch of tweeners headed to your place after school for a birthday party.
2. Within a millisecond: Your brain signals the adrenal glands, located just above your kidneys (it’s okay if you didn’t already know that), to begin producing adrenaline. At the same time, your brain starts making cortisol, a stress hormone.
3. Within a few seconds: Your adrenal glands start pumping out adrenaline so you have energy at your disposal to either fight or flee. Your heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar level rise, and you get that familiar hyper-alert, slightly nauseous feeling.
4. Within 10 minutes: Once the stressor subsides adrenaline production slows, but you continue to pump out cortisol. Sorry, your body doesn’t know it’s time to slow down yet.
5. Within hours: The immediate threat has passed, but your body is still reeling from the effects. All the cortisol you’ve been pumping out increases insulin production and you notice that you’re famished (a stop at Starbucks, anyone?).

Here’s where you can do something about it and get to the gym, go for a walk, meditate, calm down with some yoga, or try to free up an hour or two for some extra shut-eye at night or some you time. If you don’t do anything to counteract the constant stress (and many of us don’t), your body cycles through this process day after day, leading to...

1. Within a week: Your chronically elevated cortisol level prevents insulin from moving sugar out of the bloodstream. The backup can raise your blood sugar to a prediabetic range. Newsflash: You don’t have to be overweight yet for this to happen.
2. Within two weeks: Your testosterone starts to drop, which can make you lose muscle mass (a common problem I see among my stress-out clients), and feel fatigued and depressed. Your immune system is now weakened (know someone who’s constantly stressed out and constantly sick? Aha.), your metabolism slows, and you may feel tired, achy, and cranky – all of which leave you more likely to overeat and/or eat the wrong foods.
3. Within six weeks: There is likely to be a noticeable weight gain, probably in your stomach, where cortisol directs your body to store the extra fat.

How to cope: Even if you’ve gotten this far and the stress level hasn’t been dealt with, it’s never too late to work it out. Get physical with some activity and clear your head, whether you do that best through reading a book, taking a bath, or relaxing with great family or friends. Your mind truly is the driving force here but you must release some of that pent-up energy (even though you think you’re drained) through exercise. Your body will learn to slow down, get out of starvation mode, and climb back into your favorite pair of jeans again!

Meet the Trainer

Crystal is a certified personal trainer through the National Sports and Conditioning Association (NSCA). She has a passion for helping others live a healthy lifestyle and coaching them to push their limits beyond what they think they are capable of.