Stress And Weight Gain: Why It Happens And What To Do About It

“I’m eating healthy and exercising daily, yet the scale won’t budge. Why?!”
When I hear this, the first thing I do is ask my clients about their stress levels. If it feels as if we’re “doing everything right” but seeing zero results, more often than not this can be due to stress. Let’s take a closer look at the role stress plays in weight gain.
Stress causes cravings for sugary, salty & fatty foods and/or comfort foods, which are often high in calories. While there are many factors at play, if we consume more calories than we burn day to day, we will gain weight. It’s not uncommon to consume more calories than we realize on a regular basis, even when eating healthily, and especially if we aren’t tracking our intake. While I don’t believe it’s always necessary to count calories, if you have never tracked before, it can be a good idea to do so for 2-3 days to get an idea of how many calories you generally eat and adjust from there.
Sometimes though, stress-related weight gain has nothing to do with food. When the stress hormone cortisol rises, so does our blood sugar. When humans had to worry about predators, cortisol and blood sugar would rise together to help us evade danger, leaving us hungry afterwards to replenish spent energy. Nowadays, our bodies don’t know the difference between running from a predator and stressing over a deadline. They still flood with increased amounts of sugar, preparing us for the fight ahead, yet it never comes. It’s as though we’re eating sugary foods all day, even if we aren’t. All that sugar needs a place to go, and since it’s not being used for energy, it’s likely going to settle on our bodies as fatty tissue.
Stress can also inhibit restorative sleep, leaving us seeking out calorie-dense foods to boost energy. To make matters worse, lack of sleep increases hunger hormones and decreases satiety hormones. This means that even if we ate the same foods after a night of poor sleep as we did after a night of restful sleep, we would not feel as satiated and be more likely to consume additional calories. Furthermore, lack of sleep inhibits decision making. If we’re recently eating healthier, but this habit change is still in progress, a night of poor sleep might cause us to choose an easy fast food meal rather than a home-cooked one, as it’s more work to make the healthier choice.
While eliminating stress is easier said than done, below are tips to help reduce it.
Exercise releases endorphins, which help boost our mood and lower stress. Our bodies love exercise, but too much can be stressful too. Aim for 30 minutes 3-5 times each week.
If you tend to choose less healthy foods when stressed, work on cultivating a healthier eating pattern over time, including complex carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, eggs, poultry, nuts/seeds, fermented dairy products, etc. What we eat gives us the nutrients we need to handle stress, and feeds the healthy bacteria in our gut microbiomes that also play a role in reducing stress and anxiety.
Lastly, it may sound simple, but deep breathing really helps! Try taking 3-5 truly deep breaths, where you aim for your belly to expand, not just your chest. This alone can help you pause and reevaluate why you are feeling stressed, and approach the cause with a calmer, more perceptive, perspective. It can also help you get better much-needed sleep.

Braelynne Jurius is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) and Licensed Dietitian (LD) at Meredith Whole Living Center.