Takeaways

• Beyond increasing your risk of developing a range of physical and mental disorders, chronic stress can impede your weight loss attempts.

• The three mechanisms through which chronic stress prevents weight loss include: 1) promoting insulin resistance, 2) increasing appetite, and 3) lowering metabolism.

• Overcoming stress eating could help nudge your calorie balance back in the right direction so weight loss becomes a reality.

• To stop stress eating, you’ll have to break the trigger-stress-eating cycle. This involves identifying your trigger(s) and finding healthier ways to manage your stress levels.

• Sticking to healthy eating principles (e.g., eating more satiety-promoting and positive-mood-supporting foods) may also help lower the "allure" of stress eating.

 Stress. If you’re an adult with “adult obligations”—think bill payments, work deliverables, household chores, and (if you have kids) childcare—then you likely experience this cortisol-raising emotion more than often than you’d prefer.

Sure, it’s useful … sometimes. For example, when it equips you with the laser focus and mental clarity needed to churn out last-minute assignments with tight deadlines. But when it gets dragged out and morphs into chronic (i.e., long-term) stress? That’s when you face an increased risk of developing a range of inflammation-related physical and mental disorders, including heart disease, diabetes, a weakened immune system, depression, and anxiety disorders.

Oh, and that’s not all. Stress can also thwart your weight loss efforts. Find out why and, perhaps more importantly, how you can better manage stress to (finally) lose the excess weight and reduce your risk for various health conditions.

How does chronic stress prevent weight loss?

Chronic stress leads to persistently elevated cortisol levels, which could prevent weight loss via three mechanisms.

Promoting insulin resistance

With acute (i.e., short-term) stressors, like running into unfriendly-looking wild boars along Clementi Forest, your body releases cortisol to mobilize stored glucose. This raises blood sugar levels and gives you the energy to confront or, frankly, more likely, flee from danger. Once the threat has passed, your body "turns off" the stress response and restores homeostasis. This means your blood sugar level returns within the "healthy range”.

Now, imagine what happens with chronic stress. Your body doesn’t turn off the stress response. Meaning? Your blood sugar levels remain elevated, potentially paving the way to insulin resistance. In this condition, your cells become "desensitized" to insulin and can't easily take up glucose from the blood. This promotes fat storage (especially when you’re eating in a calorie surplus) and, in turn, weight gain.

Increasing appetite

OK, so stress promotes abnormally high levels of fat storage when you're eating in a calorie surplus. Logically speaking, this would mean all you have to do to stay on track with your weight loss goals is to keep a close eye on your food intake … right? Yes. But unfortunately, that's easier said than done. As it turns out, cortisol delivers a double whammy effect of:

• Stimulating ghrelin (the "hunger hormone" that increases your drive to eat) while

• Lowering your body’s sensitivity to leptin (the “satiety hormone” that helps you feel full)

Worse still, research shows you're unlikely to crave healthy, nutrient-dense foods like salads, fruits, and whole grains. Instead, stress increases cravings for hyper-palatable food (i.efood high in salt, fat, carbs, sugar, and, in general, calories), such as potato chips, cookies, and ice cream.

As for why this is so? Scientists have found evidence that highly palatable foods can activate reward centers in the brain—triggering the release of dopamine and serotonin, colloquially known as your body’s “happy chemicals”. In other words, stress eating serves as a temporary, pleasurable distraction from the uncomfortable feelings associated with stress. 

Lowering metabolism

You know how it goes. When it rains, it pours. Beyond ramping up your urge to stuff your face with calorie-dense foods and encouraging fat storage, stress also decreases the number of calories your body burns.

Take this 2015 study published in Biological Psychiatry, for instance. The researchers found that participants who reported experiencing one or more stressors in the 24 hours before the study burned 104 fewer calories than non-stressed individuals. The researchers postulated that the 104 fewer calories burned could translate to nearly an additional five kilograms (or 11 pounds) yearly. 

Your stress-induced metabolism slowdown can also be made worse by sleep deprivation. That’s because stress can adversely affect sleep quality and duration. And research consistently shows that those who experience poor sleep are less physically active than those with healthy sleep cycles.

You might be interested in our medically-backed weight loss management program.

How to stop stress eating

To recap, stress hurts your weight loss efforts by:

1. Promoting fat storage

2. Increasing appetite

3. Lowering metabolism

Of course, you cannot prevent your body from storing fat. Nor can you press a “metabolism-boosting button” to persuade your body to burn more energy. What you can do, however, is break the cycle of stress eating—so you consume fewer calories, which could help you achieve the calorie deficit needed to lose weight. Psst: better still, this also discourages insulin resistance and excess fat storage.   

Break the stress eating cycle

Here’s how:

1. Understand the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger: While physical (or “real”) hunger can feel different for everybody, it’s often accompanied by symptoms like a growling stomach, feeling faint or weak, loss of energy, and irritability. So, be sure to practice mindful eating.  Be present and check in with yourself before and during eating; are you really physically hungry? Or are you simply looking for a distraction from your stressful situation?

2. Identify your stressors: Once you practice mindful eating, you’ll likely start noticing patterns of when you’re most likely to engage in stress eating (e.g., specific situations or events). This is helpful; having this information puts you in a good position to break the vicious stress eating cycle.  

3.  Rely on healthy stress management strategies: Let's say you've identified that you’re prone to stress eating during your lunch breaks at work. Instead of raiding the pantry for sugary, fatty, and sodium-laden snacks, consider practicing healthy stress management techniques like heading out for some fresh air outside the office, practicing controlled breathing, and leaning on close friends (including your colleagues!) and family for support. If you have the time and energy for it, physical activity—cardio and resistance training—could help relieve stress and increase your psychological resilience (i.e., you’ll be less vulnerable to the effects of stress) over time.

Stick to healthy eating principles

Adopting healthy eating principles like the following could also help lower the chances of stress eating:

1.  Build your diet around nutrient-dense, satiety-promoting foods: Protein is the most satiating of the three macronutrients. So, it's crucial that you get enough of it; a general guideline is that you should aim to eat about 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. Other satiety-promoting foods to add to your plate include high-fiber foods, such as whole grains, leafy vegetables, fruits, beans, and legumes. 

2. Stick to consistent meal timings: This means not having your lunch at 11 am one day and 1 pm the next. That's because research shows that an inconsistent meal pattern is associated with an increase in hunger-related hormones and metabolic disturbance that could ultimately lead to weight gain (and an increase in cardiovascular risk).

3. Prioritizing foods that are rich in feel-good nutrients: Examples of foods that could help stimulate your body’s production of feel-good hormones—improving your stress resilience—include:

   1. Fatty fish: Fatty fish, such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna, are jam-packed with anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids believed to support mood health.

   2. Fermented foods: Besides supporting good gut health, fermented foods (e.g., tempeh, yogurt, and kimchi) may also positively impact mood by boosting serotonin levels. Fun fact: your gut provides approximately 95% of your total body serotonin.

   3. Dark leafy greens: Examples include kale and spinach. These dark leafy greens are rich in B vitamins, which play a vital role in the synthesis and regulation of mood-regulating dopaminergic and serotonergic neurotransmitters.

   4. Dried beans, legumes and nuts: These (from soybeans and baked beans to almonds and cashews) brim with magnesium, a mineral that plays a critical role in mood regulation.

4.  Avoiding ultra-processed foods loaded with simple sugars: Consuming ultra-processed, refined carbohydrates leads to a rapid and dramatic spike in blood sugar levels, resulting in a “crash and burn” effect that leaves you tired and craving more sugary foods.

Stop letting stress eating get in your way of losing weight

When stress eating is your go-to way of coping with uncomfortable feelings (and frankly has been so for a long, long time), overcoming it can feel like attempting an Ironman Triathlon when the furthest distance you’ve clocked in a run is 2.4 km. But here's the good news. As with nearly anything in life, you can overcome stress eating with the proper support and guidance. Especially when it's from NOVI's team of health professionals.

With NOVI, there’s none of that “one-size-fits-all” approach nonsense. Instead, the NOVI Optimum Plus program pairs personalized modern medication with medically backed health coaching and nutrition counselling — providing you with the biological and emotional support needed to keep stress eating at bay. Even during the most stressful times.