FAT LOSS + STRESS: HOW YOUR STRESS AFFECTS YOUR WEIGHT

I see this all too often -- "I'm eating healthy and exercising but not losing any weight? What am I doing wrong?"

I see many women who are so detached from their body, un-educated about their body, and cannot read the signals their body is giving them because they are more interested in their outer world than their inner world.

When I hear this my ears alert me to the word “healthy” – the meaning of which is something completely different for everyone, and their meaning of the word may not actually be what their body needs for optimum health. So I always dig a little deeper...

Q. “What do you typically eat for breakfast?”

Q. “And lunch? And Dinner?"

Q. “Do you eat snacks?”

Q. "And what beverages do you drink? And when do you drink them?”

Only then I get a picture of what might be going on for them. But not the whole picture.

Is STRESS affecting your weight loss goals?

If I were to take a stab at the numbers, I’d say 9 out of 10 individuals have no idea that stress is ridiculously high in their life, and this is affecting their weight loss goals. Women in particular.

// Physical stress - running too far for too long everyday, eating "terrible" foods or any food (no matter how "healthy" it may be) that your body dislikes and has a reaction too, drinking too much coffee and alcohol, not sleeping enough or having a very poor quality of sleep.

// Emotional stress - a relationship breakup or family feud, or on-going emotional issues that have been left unaddressed.

// Mental stress - from too much (perceived) work to do, juggling too much in all areas of your life, mental health condition … or all of them put together.

Your body doesn’t know the difference between stress from your 3 coffees each morning as you run late to work, or stress from a real threatening incident such as an oncoming car. One of them is stress that you don’t need in your life and that you are creating yourself, ongoing, day in and day out, that ends up being a long term low grade chronic stress that may lead to all sorts of health problems (weight GAIN, if not only an inability to shed the kilos, as one example)… and the other would be a short term stress response that is shortly outlived once the car swerves out of the road (or it should be - it may affect you longer term if your stress levels are already through the roof as in the first scenario).

What can you do about it?

Lowering your stress levels is the number one, obviously. But how do you do that?

MORE:

// Restorative and/or Yin Yoga (and schedule it in!)

// Meditation or Visualisation (again - schedule it in if you have too. Start at a few minutes a day if that's all you can do for now)

// Movement your body actually loves. Like, for real! It may be walking, dancing, roller blading, diving, swimming, jogging, ice skating...

// Deep belly breathes whilst lying down with your legs vertically up the wall (listen to a visualisation at the same time and this is very restorative). Or deep belly breathing on your commute to work works a treat!

// See a counsellor or someone to talk too if it all seems too much

// Have a weekly massage, kinesiology, energetic healing or something similar once a week/fortnight/month

// Take time out for yourself each and every day - if only 5 minutes

// Anti-inflammatory foods, wholefoods, fruits and vegetables

// CREATIVE FUN STUFF THAT MAKES YOU COME ALIVE!

LESS:

// Coffee drinking. If you have more than one a day, try to cut back. Whether it's one less coffee, half a shot, or some decaf. The same goes if you're adding sugars. If you have trouble sleeping, definitely no coffee after midday.

// Alcohol drinking. Weekends only if you have too. I see it's become very common to have a few glasses most nights of the week these days, and my guess is because most people are just that stressed! Counter productive right?

// Sugar. Refined sugar. Processed foods. Packet foods.

// Stressful exercise - for now. I know that in and of itself may increase your stress levels mentally, but check in with yourself on this one. Long distance running and cross fit are two biggies here. So ask yourself, Is this the best movement for me right now? And sense the answer you get - does it feel light or heavy?

// Head tripping. You know the ones. Catch yourself. Turn it around. Ask for a different possibility. Question your thinking.

// Boring, heavy, crap you find yourself hugely resistive too. You don't need that shit in your life so LET IT GO and your excess weight might just go with it!


So my dear... LOVE to hear your thoughts below! Have a ripper weekend!