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.
Now, having stress is bad enough, but now knowing that it can hurt weight loss may put you into a tailspin, but don’t worry.
Here are a few tips that I use to help de-stress my life.
- Make lists– Make a to-do list. Weekly, daily, whatever. Write down what you have to do for the day. Why? WE FORGET THINGS. I found that when I put my schedule down on paper, not only is it out of my mind, I can easily see exactly what needs to be done and time accordingly. Far too often we try to keep everything inside our heads. It just causes more stress
- Fuel the fire– Turn a bad day at work into a great workout. Use some pent up anger at your boss for fuel. When I’m angry, I do interval sprints. I seem to run faster for longer and by the end of them not only did I get a great workout, but I’m not mad anymore.
- Get it out– Let your stress go. Yell, scream, hit a heavy bag, punch a pillow. Whatever works for you, just let your stress air out. You will feel calmer and can look at your list and start working.