Stress Can Make You Fat

Being stressed out and especially chronic stress can cause you to gain body fat. There are many studies that have found a direct link between stress and obesity. The more stress you endure, and the longer the duration of the stress, the more likely you will gain body fat. Chronic stress has been associated with the derangement of metabolic homeostasis that contributes to obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Cortisol is a stress hormone that plays a role on motivating intake of caloric dense foods. An University of California study found that stress leads to “reward based stress eating”, where stress and food stimulates the release of opiod (a chemical substance similar to morphine) in the body that appears to be a defense mechanism that protects the individual from the negative effects of stress. The study stated that repeated stimulation of this type of “reward based stress eating” leads to neurobiological adaptations that promote the individual’s compulsive nature of eating.

Because of the link between stress, cortisol, and obesity, there have been various diet pills and fat burners that claims to reduce “belly fat” such as Cortistress, Cortislim, Relacore and several others. However, some of these diet supplements make unsubstantiated claims, where the FTC eventually got involved alleging that unsubstantiated claims were made in the advertising of these products.

Instead of relying on diet pills and fat burners such as these, you should focus on the three core aspects that will work to promote healthy, but consistent weight loss.  Start off by identifying your sources of stress and learn to better deal and handle the stress. Avoid eating calorie dense foods for comfort, which only become a self reinforcing habit.

Get your diet and nutrition in check, and ensure to have a balanced diet that is not too restrictive. A diet that is too restricting only leads to failure. You should aim to create a small calorie deficit daily and weekly to promote slow, but healthy weight loss. Become active and start strength training and interval cardio training. Strength training will not only help you put on some lean muscle mass, it will also help you burn off more calories.  Take your weight loss effort seriously, and do not view it as a short term, temporary goal. Please see the resource link below for ideas on losing weight and keeping it off.

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