Stress and Weight Loss - Yes, They're Related
LaReesa Ferdinand, MD, FACOG
Founder/CEO, The Estrogen Doctor Consulting Services & Thrive Beyond Wellness - Menopause Expert - FemTech Physician - Bossa Bars Women's Health Advisor - Past NAWBO Board Member - Speaker - Best Selling Author
Stress is quickly becoming an epidemic in our modern society. Arguably, we are more stressed out than ever before. And with all the excitement around new pharmaceutical drugs for weight loss, we should never lose sight of the fact that there’s always more to the story. A band-aid approach, such as one pill for every ill, fails to address our mindset, stress levels, sleep, gut health, and more—all of which are incredibly important for long-term and sustained weight loss and hormonal balance.
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Research even shows a link between high cellular stress and increased adipose (fat) tissue; The association is real and can drastically impact not only your weight but your overall health and well-being. This brings to light the idea that more integrated tools are necessary to achieve sustainable and healthy weight loss and maintenance.
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New major drugs, like semuglutide , aren’t a one-stop solution. In fact, the research indicates that these drugs combined with lifestyle approaches are what is associated with sustained weight loss as opposed to merely using the drug alone.
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I’ll say it loud for the people in the back: Prescription drugs aren’t the end-all, be-all answer to your health, weight loss, and hormonal woes!
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We need to combine these so-called crutches with sustainable habitual changes that will last a lifetime. In fact, there are companies already doing this.
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Take Weight Watchers , for instance: They recently integrated their lifestyle approaches for weight loss with this new move in the pharmaceutical industry, partnering up with Sequence to increase access to these new and innovative drugs. But only time will tell! And I, for one, am very interested to see how their programming goes while incorporating this new aspect. There is the fear that a lot of people will still fall off when it comes to digital technology. But, what Weight Watchers historically has done well has been creating forums for personalized care and building community. At the same time, these companies are starting to move in the right direction.
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But let’s revisit the stress problem for a quick second: How exactly does stress create problems with weight loss and weight gain?
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For women, especially, stress can have serious impacts on our hormones, leading to fertility issues, menstrual problems, increased inflammation, increased cardiovascular risk, and more. In particular, when it comes to hormones, stress can have a negative impact on progesterone levels, leading to fertility issues, anxiety, and other symptoms. Cortisol, in many ways, steals from progesterone, meaning we may not produce as much progesterone when cortisol (stress) is high.
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With April marking Infertility Awareness Week and Stress Awareness Month, this is important for many women to note. It’s not just about weight loss. While weight loss can be difficult with high stress, getting pregnant can also pose difficulty during stressful times.
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Fat is also metabolically active. This means it impacts our hormones. Adipose secretes certain hormones related to our hunger levels, stress, menstrual cycle, and more. We would be losing sight of half the picture if we didn’t acknowledge this.
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At the same time, we have so much data and information available at our fingertips when it comes to understanding our health, hormones, and feelings. We can use FemTech and wearable devices to guide us toward optimal health and sustainability. Especially for women, there can be underlying issues, like PCOS, driving the surface-level symptoms. As a practitioner, I feel it’s my responsibility and due diligence to encourage women to find out what’s going on beneath the surface and truly take the whole picture into account.
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There’s no such thing as a “miracle pill” for weight loss or good health (as much as we wish there was). In the long run, we need to specifically look at lifestyle changes, mindset, reducing stress levels, and more to actually tackle the problem and get on track.
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Speaking of getting on track…
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Tracking specific data can help guide your experimentation when it comes to making specific lifestyle alterations. Metrics, like body fat and muscle mass, gained from a smart scale at home can help you determine if what you’re doing is working. It’s important to account for body fat vs muscle mass since these two tissues aren’t accounted for on the regular scale and have very different functions in the body, with muscle offering much greater benefits for our hormones, weight maintenance, and metabolism.
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Interested in nailing down one of these entities to tackle your weight and hormones from a holistic approach? Join our Sleep Focus Group. There are only a few spots left; Grab yours before it’s too late! Just email [email protected] saying "I want to participate."
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Did you know there are less independent physician practices since the pandemic? AMA data show that between 2012 and 2020, the share of doctors working at private practices that were at least partially owned by a larger hospital system grew by nearly 40%. “2020 marked the first year independent physicians accounted for fewer than half of all practicing doctors in the U.S.," according to a survey from the American Medical Association .
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Well, I am on a mission to create an integrative healthcare experience that empowers, heals, and transforms women so they can positively impact their lifespan and their community.
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1 年It sure does! And stress equally makes it extra difficult to lose the weight too, doesn't it? ??
Public Affairs Specialist at Palm Beach County
1 年Cortisol is a big bummer.