Between working, everyday life, random mishaps, and trying to find time to lose weight, stress is bound to happen. Well, Chill Out before you give yourself a coronary. Stress may be doing more than just making you feel bad, it can actually be stopping your weight loss, and may even promote weight gain! This problem isn’t just for adults, but for young people as well. According to new research, people are comfort eating more due to stress. Kids who are stressed are more likely to become overweight. Stress is also linked to water retention and that pesky belly fat that we are all trying to get rid of.
It seems to me, the stressors in our lives are affecting just about everything in our lives. If you’re like me, when you are stressed you put the gym on hold, or have a lack-luster workout. All that water retention combined with a bad workout really does not do wonders for the scale.
This guest blog comes from Rebecca Scritchfield, MA, RD, ACSM HFS, a Washington, D.C. based dietitian and weight management expert. Together with Bernie Salazar, at-home winner of The Biggest Loser, she co-created “The Nurture Principles” – Five mantras to help people change their lives and find wellness within.
It’s no secret. We are all stressed out, whether it’s lack of personal time, work pressures, or life issues like the economy. There is no shortage of things to wig us out these days. While a little stress can be a good thing, too much can put your life out of balance. Work seems unmanageable, you can’t remember the last time you cooked a meal for your family, and your dumbbells are better utilized as paperweights to keep your stack of mail in place because you’re not even thinking about a workout. (Whew. That’s exhausting!)
For the almost 200,000 American women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer every year, yoga may offer respite and rejuvenation during their arduous journey with this most common form of cancer (excluding skin cancer).
A recent study from Duke University Medical Center suggested that when women with breast cancer engaged in yoga postures, meditation and breathing exercises for two months, they experienced less pain and fatigue and were significantly more relaxed.
Although this study was small, just 13 women who have advanced breast cancer, it does provide the first, tentative evidence for yoga’s potential benefits in this vulnerable population of women with limited life expectancy, says lead author of the study, Dr. James W. Carson.
A really excellent way to control your eating is to be aware of what you are eating. Too often we eat while watching television or working, sometimes not even looking at what we are eating before putting it in our mouths. Being a busy, involved individual, I have had to work on breaking the habit of eating too quickly, while driving, and other mindless eating habits. Many find when they start keeping a diary of what they are eating that they are actually eating much more than they realized. Even if we know how much we are eating, it is hard to actually enjoy food that way.
Memorial Day weekend can be the start of the vacation season for many people. It’s a time to escape the routine requirements and experiences of life and find rest and renewal. 
Relaxation and renewal are important to our ability to think clearly and creatively, manage stressors, and feel good about ourselves and our lives. Common ways people try to achieve this relaxation on vacation is to lay on the beach, feeling the warmth of the sun and hearing the rhythm of the waves crashing, curl up with a good book, spend quality time with loved ones, and/or surround yourself with beautiful scenery. Calming your mind and body, focusing on your environment, absorbing yourself in literature, being with supportive people, and experiencing beautiful sights can all be positive ways to relax. But have you considered an active vacation?
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