Does stress counteract your ability to lose weight?

Question

I work out 30-40 minutes a day - have normal meals and cheat eat maybe once a week - I havent lost a pound (nor inches) in months. Could stress be the culprit & if so how do I combat that?

Answer 1

~If you were serious about this, you would consult with a dietary profession or a physician. Since you are asking here, you can't be serious about it so I won't waste my time giving you my sage advice. Weight loss is easy, if you really want to do it.

Answer 2

Well stress could be part of it, but there can also be other factors. It is not always the amount of food, but what we eat. The amount of calories you eat a day should be about what you burn off and not more. If you burn off 2000 calories a day, you should only eat about 1800 to 1900 calories per day. Also for some people there may be a chemical problem that keeps you from loosing weight. you can check with a nutritionist. If you work out you may go to a gym, some gyms have nutritionist working for them. If it is stress there are a couple of things you can do. First, make sure you are getting the right amount of sleep. don't just work out to help stress, that just keeps it inside. Messages and Acupuncture can also help. Good Luck.

Answer 3

This is very complex. Stress do increase the amount of fat in your blodstream and causes dangerous heartdiseases. Whether it has a large impact on your ability to lose weight is harder to say.

If you work out every day though as you say, it might be two reasons for you not losing weight: 1) muscles weighs more than fat. Your fat volume reduse as your muscle volume increase. This should show as loss of inches though. 2) your eating habits may be wrong. You need to analyze what you eat. If you eat too much fast carbs, this may be the reason for your not losing weight. You will need to change certain foods: No (or very little)white bread, potatoes, pasta, fruits, dairyproducts, animal fats and more vegetables, vegetable oils (oliveoil), white meat, fish, shrimps, white cheeses and so on.

If you'd like to learn more about this:

Answer 4

It certainly can. Try to make time for yourself. Give yourself a "me" time everyday. I know how hard that is, but you need to find something that will help you relieve the stress. Maybe your favorite show, a book, or just a quiet time in the tub. Also make sure that you are getting enough water and fiber. Fruits and veggies work wonders. If you're looking for a metabolism starter, try a grapefruit every morning.

Answer 5

Stress causes your body to release a hormone called cortisol. The hormone causes a deposition of fat around the abdominal and trunk areas. Relieving stress in your life could help decrease the levels of activity of this hormone and help you back on your way to weight loss. It sounds like you're at the "plateau" phase of weight loss. Monitor your calories closely and eat smaller portions around six times a day. This will help your metabolism overcome the plateau.

Answer 6

Yes, because some of the hormones that causes stress cause for it to be hard to lose weight. Meditation is good, and relaxation. Have you tried yoga, or to use some of your aggression or stress in your exercise?

Answer 7

In women, absolutely. They've started coming out with scientific evidence that stress causes women to maintain or gain weight.


http://www.fitwoman.com/fitbriefings/stress.shtml

Answer 8

Absolutely! Due to the stress hormone, cortisol. Take Relacore, reduce stress, lose weight.

Answer 9

Stress does make it harder to loose weight because you tend to gain weight when your stressed so, find something that makes you relax and try to relax more often and you could start to loose weight.

Answer 10

Stress does, it's true.

I'd look closer at your "normal" meals for hidden calories. Too many restaurants & TV dinners put in 2-3x the amount of calories a person should have at one sitting.