Most of us already know how cortisol plays a part in weight gain. The more stressed you are (physically or emotionally) the more the body releases and makes it difficult to lose weight. I am not an expert on how cortisol actually works or does not work. It is a necessary to our physical well being as healthy levels give us energy and stamina but in excess, I know it creates issues with weight. If you want more information you can either do a web search, ask your doctor (always a strong recommendation) or you can being here with this article. Again, I am NOT an expert in this category.
So, now for what I do know. I know I held onto about 40 additional pounds for years. I tried every diet under the sun and found I either did not lose weight or I gained it. I had two serious problems in my attempt to drop those pounds. First: Was my marriage. It was wrought with stress. I spent my days battling toxic in-laws in which my spouse generally ignored the dysfunctional behavior and the more it went on the more I felt that I did not matter. The marriage itself had a great deal of stress as I always felt I was trying to live up to some impossible goal of "good enough" and I ate about once a day.
When the marriage ended, I made a few conscious choices and one of them was to keep nutrition in my body. Under great stress, I had a habit of forgetting to eat and land myself in the ER being treated for dehydration and a undernourishment . I was NOT going to allow that to happen and make myself look weak to my then husband. Funny thing happened when I did that. The stress of the in-laws and the day to day with the husband was gone and I was giving my body much needed nutrition. I lost those forty pounds and ate whatever the heck I wanted. I also ate many times a day. This weight literally fell off of me and I wasn't even trying to drop pounds, I just wanted to maintain my dignity.
This was not only a valuable lesson but a wake up call. When one drops 40 lbs while eating mostly fast food and smoothies (I eat much better now) there is a very clear message. I heard that message and made a conscious choice to keep stress at bay as much as possible, treat myself better and feed not just my body but my soul.
Remember, the physical body has one purpose; To keep itself safe. So, when it was stressed and starved, it help onto every bit of protection that it could and in my case that was fat cells. What I ate at that time made little difference (eating that much fast food would not sit well with me now, because I have become way more conscious about also keeping my body healthy with real food). My weight was not about what I was eating but it was about what my body was holding.
My marriage certainly played a part in it but so did some very old wounds. My body knew nothing else but to be in fight or flight mode and it protected itself at all cost.
Part of my way of taking care of myself daily both body and soul is through EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). It helps me keep stress levels down, remain reasonable even when things are out of control and just feel good. The more I tap on the issues in my life the less I am inclined to eat and entire bag of Reese's cups or stuff my feelings with food (yes, I can do that as well). I feel good in my own body even if there are a couple of extra pounds from lack of activity in the winter and I feel good about myself.
I am including a tapping audio to help you begin to move stuck feelings. I am going to start releasing recordings on this blog every Monday. If you have a request or a suggestion for future audios feel free to email me.
More information about EFT, cortisol and tapping: http://www.zimbio.com/Emotional+Freedom+Techniques/articles/YiSrnY2DJKY/EFT+Tapping+Cortisol+Stress
Live With Passion
~Bel
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