If you’ve been exercising and eating right to lose weight, but haven’t seen the results you’re after it might be time to check your stress levels. Stress, if left to its own devices, can harm your chances of successfully shedding pounds and reaching your goals. It can also cause a host of other problems you don’t want to deal with!
So, why does stress affect weight loss?
First of all we need to understand that stress is a perfectly natural reaction to the demands of daily life and we need some stress to get things done. But when stress becomes overwhelming we can get into trouble. When we’re stressed we release 40 plus hormones including Adrenaline and Cortisol and we’re more likely to binge eat, drink and smoke and have difficulty sleeping. Left unchecked stress can cause serious physical and mental problems.
All is not lost though as there are a few simple things you can do to reduce stress naturally and help your weight loss efforts in the process. Reducing stress will improve your mood, energy levels and even your weigh in results.
Try these simple, but very effective measures:
- Get active – Exercise is one of the most effective ways to reduce the toll stress can take on the body. Exercise helps you remove the circulating stress hormones from your blood and release muscular tension. Not only will you help yourself lessen stress, but exercise will also aid with weight loss. Work with a personal trainer or talk to the guys at your local gym for assistance in creating an exercise program that fights stress and promotes weight loss.
- Get some sleep – Making sure the body is properly rested is an essential key in the fight against stress. When people are stressed out, they tend to sleep less. This, in turn, can lead to irritability and even more stress. Work on getting at least seven to eight hours a night. Exercising can help make this goal reality but make sure you don’t exercise to close to bedtime, leave at least 3 hours to ‘cool off’ physically and mentally from your workout.
- Meditate – You don’t have to go to a yoga class or read tomes of books to gain the basic benefits of meditation. Just learn some very simple deep-breathing techniques and give yourself a few minutes a day to practice them. Clear your mind, breathe in deeply, relax and let go of the tension you’re holding. When this is combined with other efforts – exercise and rest – the positive impacts can really shine.
- Eat right – Proper nutrition is also important not only for weight loss, but also stress reduction. Steer clear of caffeine. Eat your fruits and vegetables. Avoid fried foods. All the stuff you should be doing anyway, but it will really help
Stress has been linked to heart disease, digestive problems and mental illness. Most people don’t realize that their level of stress is damaging their health. Although the causes of stress cannot be changed by implementing the recommendations above, they will feel a lot easier to deal with and you’ll feel a lot better. Good luck!
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