Stress and Weight Loss

Stress and Weight Loss have an important relationship. Stress causes an excess production of fat and reduces lean muscle mass.

That is why one of the first things I do when a client starts on a weight loss program with me, is I have then start on a "Sleep Diet".

Different Way of Looking at Stress and Weight Loss

Stress has a broader definition than what most people connote to stress.

It is not just emotional. It also includes any tax placed on the nervous system.

Lack of sleep is one primary tax that causes stress. Lack of food is another.

When you are physically tired and hungry your body is experiencing stress.

Stress and Weight Loss: Cortisol

When this stress occurs, cortisol is released. Cortisol is a hormone of your body. It is also referred to as the stress hormone.

It has a destructive and catabolic effect on the body. It degenerates and breaks down muscle cells. I causes belly fat. I also raises blood sugar and raises blood pressure.

In the short term, it has fat burning effects. But with consistently high levels of cortisol in the blood your body breaks down and it also causes the storage of fat.

When someone cannot lose weight despite exercising harder, I know that there is excess cortisol.

Stress and Weight Loss: Intense Exercise

Intense exercise is a stressor on the nervous system and so also causes cortisol to be released. After anaerobic exercise, you can take a sample of blood and find a dramatic increase in cortisol right after the exercise. It is natural since cortisol is used to prepare the body for intense activity. That is why in best exercise to lose weight, I outline a way to do intense anaerobic exercise to reduce cortisol levels for you while getting the same benefit of the intense exercise.

The problem is when the body and/or the nervous system is not allowed to recover from the intense exercise. With constant intensity of exercise and restriction of food you have more and more stress placed on the body. Then top that off with lack of sleep and coffee consumption to deal with the lack of sleep and tiredness from the intense exercise, you have a recipe for stubborn weight and inability to lose weight no matter what you try.

Stress and Weight Loss: Sleep

Sleep is the first line of defense. Sleep is where the body regenerates cells and rebuilds tissue. It is also when fat is reduced. Please take note of this, deep sleep is when fat is burned. Deep sleep is also where fat burning hormones are released.

Getting enough sleep is also solve cravings. You can read about ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is a hormone that signals hunger. Leptin is a hormone that signals to your brain that you are full. Wanna take a wild guess what decreases ghrelin and increases leptin? Yup! Sleep. Specifically deep sleep.

Medical scientists from Stanford and other universities found that people who consistently slept five hours or less per night had on average about 15% more Ghrelin and 15% less leptin levels than those who slept 8-hour nights. They also demonstrated that the less you sleep, the more you weigh, the higher your BMI, which means the higher your likelihood of premature death from any cause.^[1]

Stress and Weight Loss: What to do

• Sleep earlier rather than wake up later. Sleeping before you get mentally exhausted will result in deeper sleep fast and more often during the sleep session.

• Don't drink caffeine after lunch. Better not to drink caffeine at all. But if that is too hard, stop drinking caffeinated coffee.

• Start getting aerobic exercise according to best exercise to lose weight. Getting more oxygen into your blood and cells will allow you to have deeper sleeps.

• Quit all dairy consumption.

• Stop doing things 1 hour before sleeping. Relax the mind.

• Wake up the same time everyday. Condition your body to when you will sleep and wake up. This will result in deeper sleeps.

• Do a "Sleep Diet". This is usually the first thing I do with a client. This is a period of time where you focus only on getting enough sleep consistently for enough days that are needed. The time you know you are done is when you wake up feeling refreshed and well rested. It is not a vague and general feeling. It is very distinct.
  
  For those that have been sleep deprived for a long time it will take longer. Maybe a week. But for successful natural weight loss I need this person's body to heal. The fastest way to heal is to get more deep sleep.

• Take a calcium and magnesium supplement such as "A to B Calm".

• Take a melatonin supplement

• Drink herbal tea that relaxes such as Chamomile Tea.