Gaining Weight? Stress May be a Factor.

Is your furious boss pestering you to work unpaid overtime? Kid unable to get into the college he or she wanted to? Are you on the edge of a divorce? I am not here to provide you one shot solutions to all your problems but I am here to draw your attention towards a slow poison which we all include in our daily diet.

It is sugar, it is salt and yes oxygen too from some perspective but today, I am going to talk about obesity, about unnecessary weight gain. We all have some kind of tensions and stress in our lives and we often find ourselves struggling to deal with it.

Have you ever thought what all this stress can lead to? I am not sure about solutions but if continued for longer periods then it can definitely lead on the path of you gaining weight. Stress is inevitable but here are some of the steps you can take to avoid gaining weight. Have a look.

Gaining Unnecessary Weight?

Are you also degrading your diet?

In a recent study it was found out that people who are on senior management posts and are under serious pressure often skip meals and replace them with fast foods to save time. They chew less and gulp fast. Do you know that skipping breakfast can significantly decrease your metabolism which increases weight? Also not just food but not drinking water after regular periods of intervals also pushes your weight up.

Busy life can often make you forget to take in water but no worries there are tons of smartphone applications which can help you remember to take a sip or two and you can set the frequency of notifications as you like.

What can be classified as bad food habits?

1. Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is when you kick away all your diet restrictions and jump in to eat what you crave for and generally it is fast food. When you are stressed, cortisol is released, it makes you want food which is suitable for your taste buds and not for health. And so begins the end of your long kept diet.

2. Too Busy To Eat?

When you are too busy to eat, you chew fast and reduce the reps. Try to swallow big mouthfuls in a rush and often run as you eat. When you chew well, your saliva gets mixed with the food which gets activated when it comes in control with HCL present in your stomach. So if you are not chewing it well enough then you are putting stress on your body to digest the food which is not broken properly, hence your body struggles to digest it. This confuses your body and it releases digestive fluids which are either too much or vice versa. You may even face acid reflux because of that.

3. Got A Sweet Tooth?

Eating processed foods and foods high in sugar boosts glucose in your body. Simple carbs like sugar and white rice are no exception to it. They also make you crave for more sweet and processed foods. And regular intake increases your weight and not exercising may give you diabetes. This is again, not a happy result.

4. Trying Fancy Diet Plans?

Committing to such diet plans is another fashion and problem that we are experiencing as a society. It’s not that all the plans are at fault. Some are really good and many people have benefitted from them. I am not talking about the fault in them or the fault in your stars. I am talking about the fault line in motivation and perseverance. Most people are highly determined but most of us are not and no one should shy away from admitting it.

The problem occurs when a person gives up on dieting midway due lack of motivation or some other reason. When you give up on foods that you like and after some time you start to crave for them. If you ignore this craving then it will keep nagging you and eventually you will give up. Result? Back to binge eating.

5. Do you even sleep?

Ask yourself? Do you? If the answer is yes, then ask when was the last time you woke up and felt like getting up smiling because you were relaxed, refreshed and re-energized? If that too is a yes, then ask when did you last slept like a baby? Sleep, though we do nothing much while sleeping, but it does a lot to our body and mind.

We spend ⅓ part of our daily day sleeping. It is a sign of how much importance it holds. Sleeping less slows down metabolism, cognitive functions, response time, motor functions, kills motivation and what not. So I ask again, Do you even sleep?

So these were some of the key points which project the relationship between stress and weight gain. Many of these problems can be solved by simply following a routine and a little bit of discipline. There will be times when you will feel like giving up and you just might. We all fall at times, just remember to get back up. Because this is when the real progress starts. Hope it helps.

Thanks for reading!