Stress and your weight.
Author: David Rainham M.D., C.C.F.P.

"I'm putting myself on a strict diet. I'm not going to eat between snacks"

"Lose 30 pounds in ten minutes!!" scream the banners and book titles. "The miracle way to guaranteed weight loss!! The bad news? There are no quick fixes for being overweight - or for the stresses of modern life.

Although obesity is partly genetic, the basic cause is the intake of more calories than we use up. Some people gain weight when their lifestyle or job responsibilities change, perhaps they eat more, or do less exercise and sports - but for many overweight people stress plays a major role.

Research shows that the best way to lose weight permanently is to persist until you find reasonably healthy, balanced diet and exercise routines that you can stick with until they are a habit. The best rate of weight loss is about one pound per week which means taking in about 250 calories less per day and using up 250 calories more through exercise.

This sounds easy, and it often is - at the beginning, but when people feel stressed, maintaining a change in lifestyle can be very hard. Many experts think that it's just as important to consider our adjustment to life's problems as it is to plan an eating or exercise program.

Eating can help ease tension and anxiety - it's a distraction when you're nervous, a comfort when you're feeling lonely or down, and a pleasure when you're bored or frustrated. And when you're overloaded, if do you have some spare time it's easier to sit and watch TV than to get out and exercise. In addition, being very overweight creates stress not only by increasing rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, and other illnesses - but also by lowering self-esteem and making daily activities more difficult

If stress makes weight loss difficult, start keeping track of when you overeat or don't exercise and try to get in touch with the feelings you have at the time. Does eating relieve painful feelings such as anxiety, anger, loneliness, boredom and depression? Low self-esteem, self doubt, and problems with relationships and sexuality also affect our ability to change habits, and so do early life experiences such as abuse, or the simply the way we learned about eating and food .

Sometimes we overeat automatically - while reading, cooking, watching TV. Sometimes there's a mental 'tug-of-war'. You might say: "I should lose weight....but right now I need to feel calmer, more comfortable, or .... " : "Oh, who the hell cares anyway" - not realizing the emotion behind the craving - and with no other way to soothe feelings and urges which play on your mind until they're satisfied.

People under stress often eat past the feeling of pleasure - to the point of discomfort and even nausea . Then they feel guilt and regret, and criticise themselves, saying "I'm weak", or "I'm useless" which is untrue and unfair. The person who regularly overeats may be coping with serious emotional pain - it's not a matter of 'self-control' or 'willpower'.

The good news is that becoming aware of your stresses and feelings gives you the chance to find ways to manage them more effectively. Losing weight permanently often takes hard work, lots of mistakes, and perhaps more time than you wish, but what you learn makes you stronger and more able to achieve your life's goals "I went on a diet. I had to go on 2 diets at the same time because one diet wasn¡¯t giving me enough food." (Barry Marter)

Dr. Rainham is the author of "A Simple Guide to Weight Loss" and a Weight Loss resource for health professionals.

For more information, visit www.optimumhealth.ca or call 1-800-771-5776








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Dr. David Rainham is a family physician, author and speaker. visit www.optimumhealth.ca

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