Cortisol and Weight Gain

"Cortisol Can Murder Your Chances For Fast, Easy, Healthy Weight Loss... (And Also Cause Some Serious Health Risks)"

Cortisol is one of you "stress hormones. It is secreted during times of stress. That is... any kind of stress: mental, emotional or physical.

Over time, when this hormone is released consistently, it causes fat to be stored instead of burned, (specifically in or on your belly.)

There are other destructive things this hormone does to sabotage your weight loss. And it also causes so many other problems

Cortisol and Belly Fat

Cortisol and belly fat are almost always going to be found together.

When I was trying to find common denominators with unsuccessful weight loss (the kind where things aren't budging like they used to)... hormone imbalances were always present when a person could not lose weight!

Cortisol - Fight or Flight

Cortisol is one of the hormones that is released by your adrenal glands to help us deal with a fight or flight response. As such, it is called the “stress hormone.”

In the short term, it helps prepare the body for the effects of stress. So in the very short term, it does burn fat. But only in the very short term.

Stays in the Blood

There is another trait of cortisol and that is that it remains in blood for a long time. Adrenaline, for example, is metabolized relatively quickly in relation to cortisol. This is an important point to know when losing weight through restoration of hormone balance.

However, with continual stress, cortisol will cause fat to be stored. Especially belly fat. There are other negative effects of excess cortisol.

Let’s Take a Trip Down Cortisol Lane

Here are some of the things excess cortisol does:

Breaks Down Muscle

Cortisol breaks your muscle down and uses it as a sugar and protein source. One muscle is broken down to feed another muscle.

So your metabolism starts to use your most dense muscles -- your thighs and glutes. You will also see the arm muscles looking atrophied.¹

Creates Belly Fat

Because fat in the midsection contain the greatest amount of cortisol receptors,² fat is created and stored in the midsection.³ So you get belly fat, love handles, and inability to fit into clothes through the midsection. You will see a pendulous abdomen and a sagging abdomen.

It moves fat from other parts of the body and relocates it to deep in the abdomen.⁴

Creates Sour Stomach

Cortisol increases stomach acidity and “sour stomach”⁵

Buffalo Hump

A buffalo hump or a fat pad on the back and below the neck also forms.^6,7 The accumulation of adipose tissue in the upper back (also called the dorsocervical region), commonly referred to as “buffalo hump,” is typical with people who have excess cortisol.

Moon Face

There is fat accumulation on the face. There is extra facial hair for both men and women. The eyes and face get puffy as well and a double chin develops.⁸

Raised Insulin

Cortisol releases blood sugar to provide quick energy for physical activity.⁹ But since you are not active there is just a lot more sugar in the blood, which releases insulin¹⁰ - which is a fat-storing hormone.

For women, is can be aesthetically devastating: receding hairline as in male-pattern baldness is also a result, excess acne during menstruation, atrophy of breasts and a deepening voice.

Muscle Cramps

Cortisol makes you urinate a lot of potassium. This stops calcium from being absorbed into your muscles and bones.

Over the short-term, this lack of calcium in your muscles causes cramps and inability to relax your muscles. Over the long term, lack of calcium absorption results in osteoporosis.¹¹

Because calcium is the mineral your muscle uses to elongate and relax your muscle fibers,¹² your muscles do not recover after exercise as well as they used to.

Constricting Blood Vessels

Then there is tightening of your blood vessels. Part of the function of adrenal hormones is the contraction and relaxation of blood vessels.

When there is not enough adrenaline, a very important blood vessel called the coronary artery can get too tight and not relax which then leads to the tightening of the chest and chest pains.¹³

That is why adrenaline is injected when a person is having a heart attack. But cortisol is what tightens this vessel in the first place.

Water Retention

Due to the decrease in potassium. When potassium is decreased there is an imbalanced amount of sodium. This imbalance of excess sodium will cause water retention¹⁴ and all the other problems associated with excess sodium like high blood pressure and and hypertension.

Since there is too little potassium, hypertension starts to develop (one of the symptoms of potassium deficiency). The blood cells also get engorged. Even to the point where they cannot fit into the small capillaries.

To reduce this, your body will cause increased urination and the release of more sodium through your kidneys.

The person also starts to simply feel dehydrated but drinking water actually makes them feel MORE dehydrated. The increase in thirst will cause you to drink more water but because there is an imbalance between salt and potassium, water does not hydrate the cells and drives what salt there is out of the body.

Cravings for Salt

The imbalance of the fluids in the body now causes a craving for salt and sharp cheese.¹⁵ Cheese balls are about as addictive as crack.

As a further result of the potassium-sodium imbalance, part of the chain reaction involves the inability to absorb calcium. The calcium, since it is not absorbed and used by the muscles and bones is urinated out and/or deposited on the organs instead of I the needed organs.

This causes bursitis, heel spurs, arthritis, tendonitis, arteriosclerosis, calcium deposits in the kidneys, and twitching of the muscles.

Muscle-Tension

The lack of muscle relaxation will also make it hard for a person to relax and sleep. The sleep/awake rhythms get reversed. But you're sleepy during the day and awake during the night. This is simply because adrenal hormones are produced to help you counter something stressful and prepare your body for action. This, combined with tense muscles makes it a recipe for insomnia.

Immune system

Cortisol weakens your immune system.^16,17,18,19

Collagen

Studies have shown that cortisol reduces collagen from your skin ten times more than any other part of the body.^20,21,22,23

In the past, when the growth hormone was discovered as an important hormone to help people, the solution was to increase it. But now it is seen that cortisol, in excess, and in constant stimulation, undoes all that growth hormone does.

So the problem is not insufficient GH, it is too much Cortisol.

Forgetfulness and Poor Memory

Studies have also shown that excessive and constantly high levels of cortisol reduce memory.²⁷

From My Experience

These are things I saw happening with people who had excess cortisol.

Frequent Urination

There is frequent urination especially at night.

Constant Fatigue

There is sometimes a constant fatigue and a manifestation of a person dragging around. They look washed out and drained. This is constant now. They also have brain fog. It is hard to think and remember simple things during the afternoon.

Out of Breath

The person is out of breath while climbing stairs when there is no reason they should be. They work out and are not physically debilitated yet they experience being out of breath doing simple physical activities.

Weaker Hips and Thighs

Hips and thighs become weaker as a result of this. Things like getting up and down from a chair or walking up stairs is hard now. The glutes and thighs are the densest muscles in the body. Thus they become the first target for muscle breakdown. You will notice that some people have large midsections but thin legs and arms.

Sleepy In The Afternoon

In the afternoon they feel sleepy.

Excessive Worry And Impatience

Then there is excessive worry and impatience. There is constant fidgeting and twitching. This is very exhausting to the individual (and to the people around them). This exhaustion leads to the need for stimulants.

Increased Digestive Sensitivity

There is increased sensitivity to foods and food combinations. Especially when you combine fruit with other foods.

Weak Thigh Muscles

Excess cortisol makes your thigh muscles weak making it harder to climb stairs or get up from a chair.

Other than that it is a joy!

How do I Reduce Cortisol levels?

Get enough sleep!

At least 7 hours of deep sleep. Don’t drink caffeine in the afternoon or stop drinking caffeine totally.

Sleep earlier rather than wake up later. Staying up later and being tired is what causes the cortisol in the first place. Sleeping after this defeats the purpose. Sleeping earlier before your body is stressed, eliminates the cortisol in the first place.

Eat Breakfast

Have protein and water rich carbohydrates for breakfast. This means have a salad for breakfast.

This is the point where cortisol levels are highest, other than during intense exercise and intense stress.

By eating carbohydrates, it stimulates insulin which mitigates cortisol!

Insulin is also the hormone that gets glucose and protein into the muscle cells, but only when the cells are receptive to it. There are only two times when the muscle cells are highly receptive to insulin: After sleep and right after intense exercise.

By not eating breakfast, you cause more cortisol to be released, you have a sugar crash in the afternoon that you do not recover from, you destroy your lean muscle, you increase belly fat and just all around feel crappy.

Reducing Sugar

Sugar and the insulin swings are stressful on your body. When insulin takes your blood sugar away, you cells starve. That is stressful.

Don’t Let Yourself Get hungry

Hunger is stress. Organize so that you have a snack or something to eat at least every 3 hours.

Remove or Reduce Any Stimulants

This may be hard. Your adrenals could be so weak and your fitness levels could be so low that quitting all stimulants would be debilitating.

Exercise Correctly

Exercise at the right intensity. If you do not exercise at all, start but do not start with anaerobic exercise. Anaerobic exercise produces cortisol. (Don’t worry; there is a way to handle this to your benefit). Aerobic exercise, kept within or under your fitness level, will “train” your nervous system to use fat rather than sugar for energy. That is the main thing we have to do.

Handle Physical Injury or Infections

If you have pain or an injury, it will stress your adrenals. The same is true for infections.

Reduce Sources of Stress in Your Life

Reduce other types of stress in your life. I think this is obvious. Getting more organized, and saying no to things that overload your system emotionally, physically and mentally.

But, I truly understand that this can be a hard thing to do. Do the best you can. It is worth it!

To Your Health and Happiness!
Yegyan

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References

1. Lockless SW, Zhou M, MacKinnon R.. "Structural and thermodynamic properties of selective ion binding in a K+ channel". Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics, Rockefeller University. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17472437. Retrieved 2008-03-08.
2. Vern S. Cherewatenko, Paul Perry. Master Control. The Stress Cure: A Simple, 7-Step Plan to Help Women Balance Mood, Improve Memory, and Restore Energy. Harper Collins, Inc. Ny, NY. 2003 p.24.
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