Stress and Weight Gain.. Teenagers.. Adults..?

Yeah.. I was just curious as to what you guys thought about this.

Statistical information would be cool

but your opinions would be cool too.. just wondering whether or not any of you thought the whole concept of stress and weight gain correlate.

i know it really just all depends on the person in question; whether they binge under pressure, or they lose their appetite with pressure.

what do you think?

this past week, i've been going through alot. got emancipated from my dad.. just alot of family ****. i won't bore you with the details. its just been really hard and psychologically demanding.

and i dont consider myself the typical teenager.. ive never been told that i was just average or predictable for my age. i'm 15, by the way.

soo.. yeah.

the court ordered me a therapist along with my attorney and stuff. and i was just wondering if happy people equivilates to a happy lifestyle, yaknow?

like, itd just be curious, if my therapist could help me lose weight, mentally and all. HMM..

well.. thanks for any response, if you give them ;]

ill definately appreciate it.

Stress can result in many physical effects on the body as well as mental ones.  For example, a stressed person will have a higher blood-pressure or heart-rate than a relaxed one.  Stress affects the digestion.... can create extra acid in the stomach which destroys appetite.  Stress also affects insulin production.... and when it comes to weight-loss and weight-gain insulin affects fat storage. Excess insulin in the body also triggers cravings for sugary, starchy, fatty foods..

But you're right... stress affects different people in different ways.  And your personality determines whether the stress 'gets to you' or it doesn't.  Some people live in extremely stressful circumstances but can be completely unaffected because they have found constructive ways to cope. Others live with relatively mild stress but go to pieces.  Your therapist will probably give you pointers on coping strategies and some will work for you and others won't.   

What is 100% certain is that a healthy, nutritious diet, regular meals and regular exercise will help reduce the physical aspects of stress and can also help the mental aspects too.  Which will also, coincidentally, keep body-weight under control.  A poor diet, inactivity and 'dieting' by contrast, only add to the stress.

Good luck

I know that when I'm stressed I have a tendancy to seek comfort in eating, and THAT's what makes me gain weight. It's so much harder to care about calories when you're so stressed out all you can think about is an immediate fix.

I can't cite any statistics, but I know that when I'm feeling stressed out I tend to overeat, and the foods that I eat are fatty, salty or sugary.  

I don't know if you could lose weight simply by learning to deal with stressful situations (unless the way you learn to deal with stressful situations is by NOT eating, but this sounds just as unhealthy as overeating ). By learning to deal with stressful situations, you could learn to maintain weight better.  

Stress = me in constant pain (stomachaches, headaches)

But it also makes me feel extremely hungry sometimes, so yeah - I tend to eat more when I'm stressed (ice cream, chocolate, chips... junk food)

Although I agree on the science with gi-jane, unfortunately she missed out on one important hormone thats responsible for that...cortisol. Cortisol is known as "the stress hormone" as it's released when the body is under stress.

Some studies have shown that stress and elevated cortisol tend to cause fat deposition in the abdominal area rather than in the hips. This fat deposition has been referred to as "toxic fat" since abdominal fat deposition is strongly correlated with the development of cardiovascular disease including heart attacks and strokes.

source: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.as p?articlekey=53304

As you also mentioned there is a statistic about different people reacting to levels of stress from this website:

http://www.examiner.com/x-9159-Cleveland-Fitn ess-Examiner~y2009m7d9-Stress-and-Weight-gain -link

The researchers discovered people were more likely to gain weight if they already had a higher body mass index. Interestingly, thinner people dealing with the same sorts of stresses didn't exhibit a similar weight-gain pattern.

Another source talking about the same thing:

http://www.littleabout.com/news/22709,stress-adds-inches-waistline. html

On another note starbunny...whenever you feel like you wanna talk about this **** give me a message. I know how it's like to have family **** going around when it's out of your hand, and not just family a whole lot of things...stuff have happened. And I'll listen and help the best way I can =]

When I'm stressed I deal with it by working out...though that doesn't make the cravings go away sometimes I give in sometimes I don't. It depends on how I feel ya know. Having said that...it helps not having junk-food around the house, the perfect way to fight off these cravings is not having the substance your craving for. Cheat-days are an exception...it helps cheating once in a while, somehow it "relieves" stress in its own ways.

I'm sort of the opposite. I thrive on moderate amounts of stress. I need some kind of pressure and expectations to meet in order to actually do anything well.

Too much pressure and too much stress makes me sick and anxious to the point where I don't eat... everything looks unappealing. 

However, Coritsol doesn't cause excess weight gain, correct?  From what I can see it simply changes where the fat is stored when you consume excess calories, it does not lower your metabolism.

Stress only ever effects my weight if I partake in "mindless eating".  As long as you are always aware of what you are putting into your body, you should be fine, in my experience.

Also as said by others different people deal with stress in different ways.  I don't shove my face when I'm stressed because it doesn't make me feel any better, only worse, some do.  Sometimes when I'm stressed I go for a high intensity run.  This seems to "mellow" me out afterward.

Well, if fat is stored in the abdomen then doesn't that mean 'weight-gain' because you gained fat-weight? And your right das it doesn't lower your metabolism, quite the contrary cortisol is need for a number of function in the body among them is regulating blood-sugar levels.

If you have too little cortisol, you may suffer from fatigue, chronic fatigue, exhaustion and a disease of the endocrine system called Addison's disease. If your adrenal glands are producing too much cortisol, you may develop conditions such as weight gain, especially around the abdomen, depressed immune function with all of the consequences, accelerated aging and stomach ulcers.

source: http://www.advance-health.com/cortisol.html

Well, personally, until the beginning of 2009, I had never gained weight.  I'm almost 27 and since high school, had always been 110-115lbs.  I got engaged last summer and bought my wedding dress last September.  Some people told me that was too early to buy a dress, as I might gain weight... but I've never gained weight.  

Well, since Christmas, I have gained 30lbs and am sitting at 139lbs... the worst of it - I no longer fit in my dress!  Although I've never been very active, I've always eaten healthy and remained in shape.  Once I noticed that I had gained weight, I began to exercise more often and watch what I eat.  After 4 months (Jan-Apr) I saw no change.  I joined a "booty camp" in June and have cut pop out of my diet and began to count my calories.  Still no change. 

I can only assume it is stress related.  I eat three meals a day and my daily caloric intake is between 2000-2400.  I exercise hard for an hour 3x a week.  I'm at a loss... nothing is helping and the wedding is in less than 9 weeks.