Is Stress Making You Fat?

Pam Bivans Dec 29, 2012 · 6 min read

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Is Stress Making You Fat? – Maybe

Like just about everyone else I know, I’m pretty much stressed out to the max.

We have family issues, Work issues, Love life issues…..

All this anxiety isn’t good for us.

You probably already know that stress can raise your blood pressure, diminish your sex drive, and cause excessive horn blowing in traffic.

But did you know it’s one of the biggest factors in determining your weight, as well?

Here’s why…

Stress Changes Your Body

Stress isn’t just something you feel in your head. It’s something that trickles all throughout your body.
Under stress, your body produces two hormones: adrenaline and cortisol.
Adrenaline is like lighter fluid, and cortisol is like charcoal.
The former quickly burns off the immediately available sugar in your body, so you can fight or flee whatever is stressing you.
Cortisol continues to fuel the fire, pumping more sugar into your blood so you have energy to burn.
The problem is that excess sugar coursing through your blood is meant to help you flee the saber-toothed tiger or battle the charging wild boar.
It’s made to be burned off quickly as you either escape or attack.
When the stress comes in a more modern form like a pressing deadline or a stack of unpaid bills, you can’t literally fight back or flee.
And without that burst of physical activity, you don’t have the chance to burn off that extra blood sugar.
Instead, it gets stored in your belly as fat.
Every time you feel anxious over those bills or deadline, there’s more mush added around your middle.
In a recent study at Yale, women who were most susceptible to stress had both higher levels of cortisol and greater abdominal fat than non-stressed women.
And the ladies under stress stored fat primarily in one place: their bellies.

Stress Incites Your Cravings

You know the kid in school who always egged you on to do the things you didn’t want to do – throw spitballs, trip the math-club president in the cafeteria, or touch your tongue to the frozen street sign?

That’s what stress is: the instigator.

It goads you to do things you know aren’t good for you, and under pressure, you cave in and do them anyway.

If you reach for chow when you’re stressed, it’s not because you’re weak.

It’s because you’re programmed to do that.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have identified a biochemical feedback system in rats that could explain our stress/craving connection.

In their study, the researchers determined that stress stimulated a flood of hormones that prompted the rates to engage in pleasure-seeking behaviors like eating high-calorie foods.

While observing pleasure seeking responses in rats might explain a lot about Charlie Sheen, what does it say about the rest of us?

Well, a study done at Yale University found that people with higher stress-induced cortisol levels are more food – including more sweets – than people with lower cortisol levels.

Stress Keeps You and Your Weight Up

A University of Chicago Study showed that men who slept only 4 hours a night had cortisol levels 37 percent higher than men who got a full 8 hours.

Men who stayed awake the whole night had levels 45 percent higher than the well-rested guys.

And remember, increased cortisol equals more fat stored in your belly.

Another study tracked the work habits and weights of nearly 1,800 men over a 12-month period and found that those who regularly logged late hours were 36% more likely to tip the scales at above-normal weights than the 9-to-5ers.

One study found that fast food increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Subjects who consumed fast food just two or more times a week gained about 10 more pounds than participants who consumed fast food less than once a week.

The high-fat, high-carbohydrate content of fast food messes up your blood vessels.

A University of Buffalo study found that levels of arterial inflammation remained high for 3 to 4 hours after a high-fat meal. (The study was conducted using an Egg McMuffin and hash browns.)

Soda contains high levels of high-fructose corn syrup.

On average, we drink 50 gallons of soda per person per year.

Yes, you read that right.

Fast and convenient foods are soaked with trans fats.

In a 9-year study of more than 16,500 men, researchers found that for every 2 percent increase in trans fat intake, men added one-third of an inch to their waists. (Mono- and polyunsaturated fats had no effect.)

Plus, 1n 80,000-person Harvard study found that getting just 3 percent of your daily calories from trans fats increases your risk of heart disease by up to 50 percent.

To put that in perspective, 3 percent of your day’s calories totals about 7 grams of trans fats – that’s roughly the amount in a single order of French fries.

So Now What?

Okay, so this is the point in the book where I tell you to relax, not work so hard, and get more sleep.

That would also make it the point at which you close the book, hurl it across the room, and start cursing my ancestors. So let’s see if we can find a better way, shall we?

Like I said, I’m just as stressed as you are. I don’t have any magical solutions for finding relaxation and inner peace, and I can’t call your boss, your kids, your spouse, and your creditors and tell them to back off. (Well, I could, but I’d have to charge you a lot more for this book.)

Instead, we need to learn to embrace the stress in our lives and start making it work for us.

Not to get all new-agey on you (incense is not my thing), but the fact is, we need stress.

For example, too much cortisol may force us to gain weight, but too little isn’t good for us either.

We need cortisol to help with organ function.

Too much stress may make us confused, anxious, and angry, but too little stress makes us bored – and boring.

I do thank the person that accumulated all this data, David Zinczenko, on Men’s Health.

It definitely applies to Women’s health as well!!

I think stress was one of the reasons I got into the home based business field and retired from my JOB of 22+ years.

Now I work with my team making dreams come true while working on our perspective, attitudes, and bottom lines.

See below for more details about my team.