Ever feel like you’re doing everything “right”, and yet you can’t lose weight?

Or perhaps you don’t know where your motivation for working out seems to go.

Or maybe you can’t find a reason why you consistently gravitate toward less healthy foods.

There might be a common culprit for each of these scenarios:

Stress.

Stress can play a large roll in our overall health and our ability to achieve our health goals.  If you answered “yes” to any of the above, read on to find out HOW stress can derail your health goals, and WHAT to do about it.

How Stress Derails Your Health Goals

It impacts the energy in/energy out process¹:

You may have heard the term “energy in vs. energy out”, or “calories in vs. calories out”, especially when describing weight loss.  It’s a simple equation and when the energy you expend (via exercise, daily activity, and simply staying alive) equals the energy you take in (via food that’s eaten and absorbed, etc.), you maintain your weight.  

When one of these becomes greater than another, you either lose weight or gain weight.

Though the equation is simple, the process of increasing or decreasing energy in or out (ex. “eating less and moving more”) is not. 

How does stress fit in here?  

Stress can affect both sides of this equation.  If coupled with poor sleep, it can up your hunger hormone ghrelin, while decreasing the hormone leptin, which helps you feel full.  It can also increase your desire for high or quick energy foods, rather than healthier foods.  

Stress can impact your desire to do any exercise, because the body already “feels” like it’s done a lot of work.  If you consider what happens when you know you’re stressed, your heart rate and breathing are both increased.  That’s the same thing that happens when you exercise!  

Not to mention many of the “fight or flight” hormones are turned up, which is good for exercise or if you find yourself in a life-threatening situation, but not so good if they’re turned up constantly.

It messes with cortisol²:

Speaking of hormones, cortisol is a common one you’ll hear of when talking about stress.  When you experience an acute stressor, your brain, eventually tells the adrenal glands (by way of other hormones) to release cortisol and adrenaline.  After it’s done this, the adrenals tell your brain “mission accomplished” and the fight or flight response should subside.

However, in chronic states of stress, this communication seems to get broken.  Either the adrenal glands stop telling your brain they did what it asked, or the brain doesn’t receive the message.  Think of it as a “call failed” message on your phone when you’ve lost service.

Being in a state of stress long-term then, can keep constant cortisol coursing through your body, which can eventually lead to feeling sluggish…which then impacts the energy out/energy in equation.

It compounds:

Though experiencing occasional stressors shouldn’t do much harm to the body, the piling up of stressors can.  This is termed the “allostatic load”³, which is the combination of all your stressors.  

It’s important to note here that exercise itself is a stressor.  This is a good thing, as it helps your body adapt to the “stress” you put it through when you work out.  However, if you’re already under a lot of stress, it’s wise to change up your exercise routine to be lower in intensity, so as to get the benefits from exercise, while not adding a large stressor onto an already big pile.

Remember, stress impacts how energetic you feel, so if you’re stressed and exercising hard, you may find you’re not recovering as well from workouts and/or you’re experiencing signs of overtraining (ex. elevated resting heart rate).²

Finally, it’s helpful to remember that negative feelings about your body and negative self-talk can contribute to your overall stress load.  If that hits a little close to home, know you aren’t alone!  Read on to see what you can do about it.

What to Do About Stress

Recognize stressors:

So how do you combat the effects of chronic stress if you realize this might be happening for you?  (And how do you not get stressed out by what you’ve read so far?!  😁 )

Start by getting curious.  Pay attention as you move through your days and see how you feel after doing usual activities.  For instance, how do you feel after spending time on social media?  Reading or listening to the news?  Taking a walk with your child?  

Pay attention to what seems to increase, and what seems to decrease your stress levels, and start to eliminate those things that add to the stress when and where you can.

Add in stress relievers²:

After you’ve recognized the stressors, now you can do the fun part…figure out your stress-relievers!    

It can be helpful to realize that these don’t have to be earth-shattering or expensive (ex. an all-day spa experience).  Rather, these can be small items you add throughout your day:  

• Prayer/meditation
• Getting outside
• Creating something
• Enjoying a hobby
• Helping a friend, family member, or neighbor
• Giving back to a cause you’re passionate about
• Recognizing what you can and cannot control
• Keeping a gratitude journal
• Replacing a stressor with a stress-reliever (ex. replacing screen time with reading a book)

If you don’t know what deflates stress for you, then consider this another invitation to get curious!  Start by considering what you liked to do when you were young or had less responsibilities.  And don’t be afraid to try something new!  

Additionally, allowing space in your schedule for transition time may prove to be a big stress-reliever.  Moving directly from one thing to the next to the next doesn’t give any down time or reflection time.  Even if you can only spare a few minutes, you may find you enter into the next event much more relaxed.

Consider wellness coaching:

Finally, consider wellness coaching!  When you meet with a wellness coach, you intentionally take the time and space to process your health goals and habits, as well as some time for yourself, which can be a big stress-reliever.  As our client, Jessica, stated “our weekly sessions forced me to set aside some time for myself…more importantly, to prioritize my health and time so that I can be the best mommy, wife, and teacher I can be.”

Wellness coaching is designed to not only help you with exercise and eating habits, but also to thrive as a whole person-which means reducing stress levels!  Through the coaching process, we help you recognize what you can and can’t control, and be empowered to make sustainable changes.⁴

And if you find a big cause of your stress is body negativity, you’re in the right place! Our mission here at Smart Fit Womxn is to help you rise above the current health culture and equip you to see your body as strong, capable, beautiful, and worthy.

If you haven’t tried coaching yet, simply add your name and email here for a free 30-minute session and see if this is one stress-reliever you’re excited to incorporate.

Sources:
¹Berardi, J. (n.d.) Calories in vs. out? Or hormones? The debate is finally over. Here’s who won. Precision Nutrition. https://www.precisionnutrition.com/calories-in-calories-out
²Maciel, R., Feit, A., & Bowman, A. (n.d.) Do you have a Stress Bod? The surprising science of feeling awful—and what to do about it. [Infographic]. Precision Nutrition. https://www.precisionnutrition.com/effects-of-stress-on-the-body-infographic
³Magyari, P., Lite, R., Kilpatrick, M., Schoffstall, J. (2018). ACSM’s resources for the exercise physiologist (2^nded.). Philadelphia, PA:  Wolters Kluwer Health
⁴Moore, M., Tschannen-Moran, B., & Jackson, E. (2016). Coaching psychology manual (2^nd edition). Wolters Kluwer.  

Photo Credits:
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
Photo by Derick McKinney on Unsplash
Photo by Sean Thomas on Unsplash