Stress Adding Weight?

One of the biggest problems we face, whether we are male or female, is our body image. They are constantly changing and adapting. At some point in our lives, probably many times throughout the days, we think about what we eat, or maybe we don’t think about it and we just eat to eat. We stress about looking good, being sexy, skinny, muscular or whatever you want. We try so many things in order to make our dream bodies a reality and the majority of the time we are still dissatisfied with the results and what we see in the mirror.

I have struggled with my body image since I was a little girl, never happy with what I saw in the mirror, uncomfortable in all the clothes I wore, and thinking I was ugly. It showed in my self image and how I carried myself. I was a person who was sad and uncomfortable which affected my life and made my whole weight loss journey even harder. I am now 25 and think that I have finally found what works for me, and maybe even you!

Now, let me share a little bit about me and my body type to give you an idea of where I am really coming from. I have been an active person for pretty much all my life, played group sports as a little girl, tennis as a teen, and now martial arts since I was 14. I also have a sugar addiction so bad where I could pour raw sugar in my hand and lick it. I LOVE Sugar but sugar does not love me. Duh! I As I got older, I wanted to be more sexy and have all eyes on me and just feel happy about myself, so I began to eat healthier, work out harder, and put myself on a strict diet. I would eat at specific times of the day, certain amounts, and specific food items where I weighed everything out. I even got to the point of taking pills to help me lose weight, which never worked and made me feel sick. After a few months, I saw little to no change in my body. So naturally, I get depressed that all this hard work I was doing was getting me nowhere and I binge ate all the foods I had been depriving myself of. During all these months and even years I worked full time and went to school, adding on extra stress to my life.

About 7 months ago I made the decision to leave my full time job and to focus on finishing school and spend time with myself, get to know myself. Long story short, I feel better and look better than I have in all my life. I realized that part of what was causing my weight problems and my self hatred was the fact that I was working in a full time job that I hated and it affected my life in many ways.

I have come to learn that I love my body. I feed it things that makes it happy and I work out differently. What I find most important is that I still eat candies, have a few sodas, and pretty much eat what I want when I want but I balance it with good foods and strong workouts.

My main point is that having unnecessary stress in your life is a big factor and may be why you are not able to lose the weight or feel good about your body. I am not giving this advice to tell you all that everything you are doing is a lie and will not work and you should stop everything you are doing to do what I am saying. I am sharing this as a way to open up your minds and expand your way of thinking to help.

End thoughts:

• What are all the possible things that adds stress to your life?
• What can you do to eliminate those extra stressors?
• What makes you most happy?