Holiday’s + Stress = Weight Gain – Oh My!

Have you ever noticed that the you tend to gain weight and hold onto weight during stressful times or points in your life, like the holiday’s?  I first noticed this in 2012.  My husband and I had moved to Southport, NC from Northern Virginia, and I had just won my IFBB Bikini Pro card and competed in my first Pro Show and placed 4th.  I was on  a natural high – feeling like I was finally achieving some of my hardest goals.  Then life got complicated, we moved back to Northern Virginia with NO money, NO jobs, NO place to live and I began to stress out about EVERYTHING and causing me to turn to food for comfort.

I went from 119 lbs to 164 lbs in a matter of 7 months.  I would binge eat on sugary cereals, pizza, chips, cheetohs, cookies, cookie dough…anything that would make me happy in the moment. And that was just it – I was happy in the MOMENT, and then after the food was gone I was miserable again, and even more stressed about my circumstances and the junk food that I just devoured and the vicious cycle continued.

I found that when I looked in the mirror my body composition had changed (obviously).  Not only had a gained a lot of weight, but I had gained the weight in my mid-section, which is not where I usually gain weight.  I usually gain weight in my lower body, hips, thighs and butt. 

I also noticed that it was extremely difficult for me to lose my now “muffin-top.” I hear women say that they can’t lose their gut ALL the time.  I will sit down and do a consultation with a new client or challenger and they will say – I just want to lose my belly. Can you help me lose my “middle?”  As they are tugging on their love-handles.

This is a difficult area to lose weight quickly but one big factor that will cause this area to stay the same or grow larger is STRESS.

When stress becomes chronic and prolonged, the hypothalamus is activated and triggers the adrenal glands to release a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is normally released in a specific rhythm throughout the day. It should be high in the mornings when you wake up (this is what helps you get out of bed and start your day), and gradually taper off throughout the day (so you feel tired at bedtime and can fall asleep).

Recent research shows that chronic stress can not only increase absolute cortisol levels, but more importantly it disrupts the natural cortisol rhythm. And it’s this broken cortisol rhythm that wreaks so much havoc on your body. Among other effects, it:

• raises your blood sugar
• makes it harder for glucose to get into your cells
• makes you hungry and crave sugar
• reduces your ability to burn fat
• suppresses your HPA-axis, which causes hormonal imbalances
• reduces your DHEA, testosterone, growth hormone and TSH levels
• makes your cells less sensitive to insulin
• increases your belly fat and makes your liver fatty
• increases the rate at which you store fat
• raises the level of fatty acids and triglycerides in your blood

You have to find a way to cope with your stress.  If you don’t face it head on and find a solution you might as well kiss your fitness goals and bikini body good-bye.
Here are 10 Tips for Dealing With Stress As a Mom from Parenting.com:

1. Rise Early

“It’s wonderful for busy moms to wake up 15 minutes before their children and take a little retreat,” says Jennifer Louden, author of The Woman’s Retreat Book (Harper Collins). “Do a yoga stretch, read something spiritual, and ask yourself, ‘How can I have a more balanced day today?’ ” Or simply lie in bed and breathe deeply for a few minutes.

2. Unplug

The average American home is a noisy place, thanks to the telephone, television, radio, and CD player. When you’re feeling overloaded, try turning down the background noise in your life by “unplugging” some of these electronic taskmasters. Or take what New Age guru Dr. Andrew Weil calls a “news fast.”

3. Start Small

You’re tired and just don’t feel like making dinner, but you don’t want to serve fish sticks again. So set a new, much smaller goal: “I will go in the kitchen and make a salad,” or even, “I will go into the kitchen.” Such steps may seem ludicrously small, admits Mary LoVerde, a motivational speaker, but she finds that “microactions” help us approach overwhelming tasks.

4. Be Here Now

Like the sixth-grader worrying about the SATs, our minds constantly bring future worries into the present. Richard Carlson, Ph.D., author of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (Hyperion), calls this “anticipatory thinking.” “The best way to avoid stress is to immerse yourself in the moment,” he says. And avoid the trap of comparing notes with other parents about how busy you are.

5. Adapt

Do you fall apart if dinner is not served on bone china at six o’clock sharp? “We get attached to how things are going to be,” says Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., coauthor with his wife, Myla, of Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting(Hyperion). “But if your kids are at each other’s throats while you’re making dinner, maybe the most important thing at that moment is to get down on the floor with them,” Myla says.

6. Talk It Out

“Self-talk” can help us control our emotions, says Georgia Witkin, Ph.D., a therapist in New York City. When things go wrong, Witkin tells herself, “It’s not a disaster, it’s an inconvenience.” Louden explains that by developing an inner voice that, for example, encourages you to stay in bed when you’re sick and let your husband clean up the kitchen, you become, in a sense, your own best friend.

7. Laugh a Little

“Laughter re-enchants daily living,” says Paul Pearsall, Ph.D., author of The Heart’s Code (Broadway Books). Healthy laughter comes from Bill Cosby’s gentle kind of humor that eases little annoyances. Research shows that we experience about 30 of these “heart hassles” every day, stressing the heart both figuratively and physiologically. On both counts, humor is healing.

8. Take a Break

Let’s face it: We’re never going to finish everything on our “to do” lists. In fact, as director of the Stress Program at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Witkin finds that the average mother runs 21 minutes short per day. Usually, the first thing to go is relaxation time. “We’ll never have any downtime unless we schedule it,” she says. You should be able to complete this sentence: “What I do every day to relax is….”

9. Enjoy Nature

Sun, water, wind  — the elements feed our senses and lead us toward serenity better than anything. It may mean relaxing in your backyard, drawing a warm bath, or going out for a brisk run. The important thing is to figure out what soothes you and then where to find it.

10. Just Let Go

“We have to recognize that chaos is a part of life,” says Carlson. “Then we must recognize our own contribution to it. That’s the only part we can control.” The irony is that by taking steps that seem to signify giving up control  — like “outsourcing” certain household jobs  — you will actually be gaining more freedom to enjoy your family life.

If you want to learn how I learned to LOVE my body again, and take care of it the RIGHT way – CLICK HERE and join my next Holiday Hustle Success Group.  We start on Nov. 16th.

Yours In Health,

Lisa Lutz