Do you find yourself doing all the right things but you’re still struggling with weight gain? You’re eating well and working out, do all the things you think you need to do in order to be fit and healthy but you’re still not shedding those pesky extra kilos? Well it turns out it’s more than just poor diet and no exercise that contributes to weight gain. There are many other factors that contribute to weight gain and here are two of the main ones:

Stress

Stress is a huge contributor to weight gain mainly because it messes with you hormones. When your body goes into panic mode you body releases chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol. This then send the message to your brain and body to prepare yourself for ‘battle’ so to speak. At first it will make you feel alert and you most likely won’t feel hungry however, once the adrenaline wears off, cortisol which is also known as the stress hormone starts signaling to your body that you need to replenish your food supply. This is because in primal days the ‘stress; that your body was under would have being running away or even hunting a large animal so your body needs to be refueled to regain the energy. However, now days we don’t burn as much energy and our version of going into battle mode may be dealing with a break up or a horrible boss at work. While these things are very stressful they are not the same as running away from a large animal for hours so we really don’t need to go and eat a huge meal to refuel us after going through something stressful.

Some great ways to de-stress your body include:

Lack of Sleep

If you’re not getting at least 7-9 hours of sleep a night then this can not only effect how well your brain and body is functioning but it can also effect how effectively your body burns off fat. Here are some of the main reasons lack of sleep can lead to weight gain:

  • When you sleep you are giving your body the opportunity to repair and restore itself which means you’ll have a faster metabolism and you’ll have healthier balanced hormones
  • The less sleep you get the more your body produces the stress hormone cortisol, which increases your appetite
  • You have less energy so are more likely to reach for ‘easy’ comfort’ foods or order takeaway
  • It slows down your bodies ability to process sugar, the mitochondria in your cells which helps your body digest food start to shut down.
  • When you are severely sleep deprived your body can go into survival mode, which means it will hold onto and store fat rather than burn it off.