Losing weight when life is stressful is difficult. An article on the Mayo Clinic site has suggestions on how to control stress-induced weight gain. The suggestions are to get adequate sleep, engage in regular physical activity and ask yourself before eating if you are truly hungry. These all sound like sensible comments, but when I am stressed out, the last thing I want to do is exercise or ask myself anything. What I want is comfort – a comfy couch, a movie, chocolate and/or a bag of chips. Unfortunately, this ends up in a bad cycle. Lack of sleep means more craving for bad carbs, which in turn leads to sluggishness, which means no exercise. During times of stress, cortisol is secreted at higher levels causing weight gain and increase in appetite.
It seems that everyone I have talked to lately has had one problem or another, leading to increased stress. Are the stars out of alignment?
It doesn’t look like I’ve lost anything this week and tomorrow is weigh day. I’m on target, but barely, and need to get back on track if I want to reach my goal of 25 pounds by Labor Day. I wore my pedometer and kept a strict eye on what I ate which was eggs, grapes, tuna, salad, water-melon and yogurt. Tonight I’ll look for something healthy with lots of veggies and commit to at least 30 minutes of exercise. I’ve got just over three weeks to lose 7 pounds.
