Did you know that stress could be causing you to gain weight, or have you struggling to lose weight?
Stress is something many people are feeling these days, especially with all that is going on.
If you are saying to yourself, I am eating healthy and exercising yet can’t lose weight?
Or
I don’t know why I’m gaining weight when what I am eating hasn’t changed.
or
I can’t stop eating.
Then, you most likely are being affected by stress.
And you need to know that you are not alone, there are so many women going through exactly what you are right now.
Stress affects us in so many ways.
The first way stress affects us is we turn to food when we feel stressed. If you are eating because you emotionally hungry and not physically hungry, then you are stress eating.
You are eating because that feeling of stress has you feeling uncomfortable, so your brain seeks out comfort. Guess what, food has given you comfort with feeling uncomfortable in the past, so that is what you do, you eat. Some people might not turn to food, but they drink, shop, scroll through social media, or many other things to avoid, deny or numb out that feeling of stress.
If that is happening, this is normal! Your brain has been programmed to do just that; this is good news because you can change how you react to uncomfortable feelings and how you do that is by allowing that feeling of stress to be there. Stop fighting against having it; stop resisting it being there; when you do that, that is when stress stops affecting you.
The second way stress is affecting you is that your body produces more Cortisol under stress. Cortisol is a stress hormone that causes fat storage. And we have 4X’s more cortisol receptors in the abdomen than any other part of our body, so no wonder we complain that we have more weight around our midsection.
When you have higher levels of Cortisol, it also creates more Insulin to be released, and when that happens, your blood sugar drops. This drop in blood sugar creates cravings and increased appetite.
When I work with my clients, they learn how to stop stress from affecting them by learning how to process the feeling of stress. It is about stopping it from being wrong or bad as well as stop resisting it by allowing it to be there.
Doing this takes practice, but it absolutely works!
When you can allow and be with the feeling you then feel the release it has over you. My clients tell me that it feels like a balloon slowly releasing air, and when the balloon is empty, they feel a calm feeling inside.
When you can be with that feeling, the next step is to work on the thoughts that created the feeling of stress in the first place, because every thought leads to a feeling. I have them sit down and write down every thought, every sentence they have in their brain. We are not aware of so many of our thoughts, but to change things, we have to become aware of them.
Give this a try and let me know how it goes. If you need support in stopping the stress from sabotaging your weight loss, reply back to this email or book a call here and we will go through this process so that you can lose the weight for the last time.
You are worth it, Hugs!
Karen
Certified Weight and Confidence Coach
