In the past year I seem to have gained excess abdominal fat and extra fat gain on my lower body. Despite this my weight has dropped. I'm wondering if this could be due to some stress that I was under in the past? I have been fairly stress-free in the past few months, am very athletic (plenty of exercise) and eat a healthy diet, yet despite continuing to lose weight the abdominal and lower body weight won't budge. Any suggestions on how to lose it?
You're very insightful to suggest that perhaps stress has something to do with your additional, persistent weight gain. When we're stressed our bodies produce a number of stress hormones, one of them being cortisol. When stress is persistent and prolonged one of the side effects of excess cortisol production is weight gain in the trunk region. Even regular exercisers can find it difficult to lose that 'belly fat' despite regular efforts at fitness and good nutrition. Often there are other factors that contribute.
Were you exercising throughout the stressful period? Stress often causes us to exercise less than normal and even small changes in your routine will contribute to minor weight gain.
Did your diet change during the stressful period? Stress also causes many people to crave comfort foods such as muffins and breads (another side effect of cortisols presence) so we can gain weight that way too.
You say that the stress has mostly passed and that you have been exercising and eating well for a few months now. That's great. The first recommendation I would make is stick with it. After a stressful period our bodies often need time to adapt back to normal. Your body may be holding on to fat because it's not entirely convinced that the stress has passed. Sometimes it just takes a bit longer for the weight loss efforts to kick in.
Does your current fitness program include cardio and weights? For optimal weight loss, it should. The cardio element will help you burn calories for fat loss and the weight training will build up your muscle which will increase your metabolism (your body's capacity to burn calories). If you're already doing regular cardio, I suggest that you increase the intensity through some sort of interval program once per week (this could be as simple as a run or walk on the treadmill), and plan for one day where you do a longer cardio workout (40-60 minutes). Both efforts will add energy to your calorie burning.
Good luck!
Michelle Cederberg, MKin, PFLC www.liveoutloud.ca
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