Stress can make you fat?

Maybe this is not the best time to be talking about putting on weight, as Christmas approaches and we traditionally eat far more than usual.  Rather than dampening your festive sprit, my aim is to share insights about stress and how it can lead to weight gain.  Now is also an especially good time to start planning the changes you’d like to see in the New Year.

The stress response and the way in which it impacts on weight gain is complex.  Here are the bottom-line facts for you to digest:

1. When we feel stressed, the body secretes hormones. Some of these (glucocorticoids) increase our appetite.  The stress response makes the body work harder in certain ways.  Increasing appetite is the natural way to re-stock our energy cupboard.

 2. Sugary, starchy and fatty foods provide quick fixes. It’s cakes, biscuits and chocolate that many crave when in the grip of stress.  Even people who normally eat healthily, reach for these comfort foods when stressed.

3. We eat more and also store more. Glucocorticoids cause the body to deposit fat, specifically in the abdominal area, rather than in other places.  Bodies are sometimes described as apple or pear-shaped.  When we are stressed, we tend to become apple-shaped, with fat stored around the middle, rather than pear, where fat is stored on the bottom and hips.

4. This apple-type of weight gain means that you may otherwise be very slim, yet with excess abdominal fat.

5. To confound it all, recent research shows that abdominal fat may actually help to suppress the stress response, making us feel better. Nature’s way of helping us to cope.

So, why do apple-shaped bodies get such a bad press when putting on weight round the middle helps us to feel less stressed? We may not like the spare tyre, but if it’s helping us to cope, then maybe that’s the price we choose to pay?

The answer is that excess abdominal fat is clearly linked to metabolic and cardio-vascular problems. The more we rely on eating sugary and fatty foods as a day-to-day coping strategy, the less likely we are to look for healthy ways to tackle stress. We may, for example, stop exercising which compounds the problem.  Exercise is not only good for burning calories but changes the way the body responds to stress, helping recovery and building resilience.  Exercise also brings huge psychological pay-offs.

So, if you are trying to lose weight, don’t overlook a key factor: tackling your stress. As well as exercise, try yoga, meditation, dancing or gardening...