Stress + Weight Gain

Stress and Weight Gain

When people try to lose weight, often times it’s a matter of trying to eat less and work out more. But when stress and cortisol enter the picture, “calories in vs calories out” doesn’t work, and you’ll often feel like you have no control over what’s going on in your body, and you’ll start to feel like your metabolism has slowed down.

(If you’re wondering if stress may be the culprit behind your weight gain, you can take my free metabolic quiz to find out, and get tips on how to start addressing your hormones to improve your metabolism.)

*Disclaimer about weight: 

There is not a magic number on the scale or certain size that equals health for all people and I do not believe that we all need to lose weight to be healthy. Everyone’s version of health and body type is different and weight itself is not usually the issue. But if your body is holding on to excess fat and you can’t figure out why, chances are, stress, cortisol or other hormones may be to blame. 

Signs of Adrenal Insufficiency and Cortisol Issues

• Weight gain in mid-section
• Weight gain despite a healthy diet and exercise routine
• Fatigue/lack of energy
• Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
• Easily stressed/irritable, hard to manage stress
• Pain or knots in body
• Acne (usually around forehead)
• Sensitivity to light
• Salt cravings
• Pain in the middle to lower back

How stress and cortisol affect the body

Your adrenal glands produce your stress hormones – cortisol and adrenaline. These are really important hormones that get produced when our bodies feel like we are in danger; they are meant to give us energy and keep us alert so we can stay alive in times of danger (like outrunning a lion).

Because they are survival hormones, they will always be the most important, and our bodies will prioritize making these, using all of our resources.

When our bodies are under prolonged periods of stress – whether that’s mental or physical (as you can see below), our cortisol levels will not fluctuate how they should, our HPA axis (that communicates with other hormones) doesn’t function optimally, and all of this not only changes how we store weight, but also affects every other system in the body, as you’ll learn later in this post.

What causes cortisol issues?

• Stress from work, family and other life events
• Working out without fueling your body with enough energy (food) or carbs for your workouts
• Fasting for more than 12 hours during certain times of the month
• Drinking coffee on an empty stomach
• Drinking more than 1 cup of coffee a day
• Consistently sleeping less than 7-9 hours a night
• Drinking more than 8 alcoholic drinks a week
• Not eating enough carbs during certain times of the month and certain times of the day

Stress and weight gain due to adrenal insufficiency

While we aren’t outrunning lions these days, every time we put our body under mental or physical stress, it’s the same stress-hormone response as if our lives were in danger. Even though our modern day stressors aren’t life or death – it could be family, relationships, work – our bodies are still stuck in survival mode.

When our bodies are in survival mode, they may start storing weight around the mid-section to protect the vital organs. A small amount of this is not usually a problem, but excess visceral fat around the organs can lead to inflammation and affect your blood pressure and arteries.

If you are storing weight due to stress hormones, working out harder or trying to eat less may actually cause more stress on the body and further exacerbate the issue (if you feel like “nothing you do works anymore,” this is usually what’s going on).

You may actually need to adjust your workouts to put less stress on the body, give your body more rest and make sure you are fueling with enough protein, fats and carbohydrates to keep your hormones happy.

Stress, weight gain and blood sugar

Cortisol raises blood sugar by releasing stored glucose (so the body can use it for energy when it feels like it’s in danger), while insulin (the hormone responsible for bringing sugar from the blood to cells to be used for energy) lowers blood sugar.

Having chronically high cortisol levels can lead to persistent high blood sugar which not only leads to cravings and energy crashes, but may also cause the body to store weight around the mid-section.

Stress, weight gain and the thyroid

Your thyroid gland controls how we use our food for energy and a lot of what we think of as our “metabolism.” There are certain thyroid hormones that are converted in the gut and the liver, and stress/cortisol interferes with the conversion of these hormones.

When your thyroid hormones aren’t converting efficiently, your metabolism essentially “slows down” so you can conserve energy. Weight gain and extreme fatigue are usually indicators that your thyroid may not be working optimally. This is one way in which stress can lead to weight gain.

Stress, weight gain and reproductive hormones

Because our stress hormones are meant to keep us alive, they are the most important and our body will use all resources for these first. Having babies is possible if we aren’t alive, so if our body thinks it’s in a constant state of survival, our reproductive hormones take the hit.

When our reproductive hormones like estrogen and progesterone are not fluctuating as they should throughout the month, it can lead to hormonal imbalances like estrogen-dominance which is often expressed as PMS. With estrogen dominance, you may experience painful cramps, mood swings, anxiety, headaches and extreme fatigue, and you may also even store weight around your hips and thighs.

Stress, Weight Gain and Gut Health

If you’ve ever had a knot in your stomach from being upset, or butterflies from being excited, you are very aware of how our brains and gut are connected.

Our bodies like to be in a calm state while we eat, so we can properly break down all of our nutrients and absorb them efficiently. When we eat in a stressed out state, we do not produce the same digestive enzymes and it may lead to bloating, gas, indigestion and malabsorption.

If we aren’t breaking down our food and absorbing the nutrients, we may be missing out on key vitamins and minerals that are needed to support our other hormones and to support a healthy metabolism. This is one example of how everything is connected and how stress can affect weight gain by affecting how well we digest foods.

Think stress may be a culprit behind your weight gain?

Take my free metabolic quiz that will give you insight into the root cause and hormones that may be affecting your metabolism.