So mostly I’ve heard that when a person is very stressed out they tend to gain weight due to eating comfort food, perhaps drinking more alcohol and increased cortisol levels. I’ve found the complete opposite for me. Periods of time when I’ve had lots of stress at work (desk job/administrative) and working long hours, I start to shed weight quickly. No / minimal exercise, eat same as usual but I think going such long hours with heart racing all day due to stress literally sheds the weight. Last 2 months, I’m between jobs (have a new job starting in a few weeks) and been the most relaxed and chill in my adult life. Getting more daily steps in than I have in last 7 years, eating healthy, doing a lot of projects around the house, drinking less alcohol, doing some light strength training and yet I’ve gained more weight than I have in my whole life. Others similar to me or trend more the opposite (gain weight with stress/anxiety)?
Stress levels and weight gain /loss
- Thread starter bubs
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I'm the same way, when I'm depressed or stressed I barely eat. Yet another paradoxical experience some people have that runs counter to the mass-market advice and assumptions. Most people would suggest forcing yourself to eat but this is nonsense, listen to your body, if it's telling you you're not hungry, why force it? I would guess that some people gain more weight when they're in a better place mentally because ultimately it's dopamine that's drives this behavior and for some individuals that might result in stronger appetite and impulsivity, and this doesn't just apply to food.
One silver lining of being depressed or stressed out is you are less likely to **** up your life any more (assuming you at least maintain the status quo and show up) because you don't have the interest or energy to do anything else. It's almost like an evolutionary adaption when viewed this way - your body may recognize that minimizing inputs and outputs is necessary to figure a way out of your current circumstances. Our bodies are in a sense smarter than ourselves (and in actuality, as much of ourselves as anything else), but we seem to think we know better. This all probably comes down the individual and requires you to pay attention to your body and listen to your intuition, instead of following the popular advice that may run counter to your own experience.
I do also find most exercise to be pretty futile or even detrimental when i'm like this too. Hitting the gym is prescribed as a magical cure-all, but when I'm in these states, strenuous exercise tends to result in a miserable experience that will make me feel even worse afterwards. My guess is that when you're stressed, any additional stress from physical activity might worsen it, just like when you're sick you're supposed to rest. Or, another guess is that your subconscious recognizes that exercise isn't the actual solution to your problems, so it feels like a form of action-faking mental masturbation, like cleaning your house instead of making the phone calls you need to make.
I will say try to at least find some kind of physical activity, going for long walks, especially in nature, can definitely help.
One silver lining of being depressed or stressed out is you are less likely to **** up your life any more (assuming you at least maintain the status quo and show up) because you don't have the interest or energy to do anything else. It's almost like an evolutionary adaption when viewed this way - your body may recognize that minimizing inputs and outputs is necessary to figure a way out of your current circumstances. Our bodies are in a sense smarter than ourselves (and in actuality, as much of ourselves as anything else), but we seem to think we know better. This all probably comes down the individual and requires you to pay attention to your body and listen to your intuition, instead of following the popular advice that may run counter to your own experience.
I do also find most exercise to be pretty futile or even detrimental when i'm like this too. Hitting the gym is prescribed as a magical cure-all, but when I'm in these states, strenuous exercise tends to result in a miserable experience that will make me feel even worse afterwards. My guess is that when you're stressed, any additional stress from physical activity might worsen it, just like when you're sick you're supposed to rest. Or, another guess is that your subconscious recognizes that exercise isn't the actual solution to your problems, so it feels like a form of action-faking mental masturbation, like cleaning your house instead of making the phone calls you need to make.
I will say try to at least find some kind of physical activity, going for long walks, especially in nature, can definitely help.
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Muscle weight? Are you happy to be gaining or is it the bad kind of gains you talking about?
Im not sure if I have ever been stressed before, Iv never had anxiety either, regarding weight I have to work out to gain weight its the reason why I train, If I dont workout even if Im eating well I dont gain weight.
I do follow the Church fasts throughout the year, I dont drink juice or soft drinks only water, tea and coffee during the day not sure if that helps? At night at the table I drink dry red wine but not on fast days. Before I followed the church fast days I still didnt gain weight but I have lost even more weight after following the fasts.
I'm not really talking about this in terms of gains or not. In fact 90% of the reason I can even bother to hit the gym with any consistency is for improving mood; gains are hardly even on my radar, they're a distant 3rd, with 2nd goal being functional strength/fitness.