Weight Gain Due To Cortisol

Insulin Resistance And High Cortisol Levels

When cortisol levels are high, the body also increases blood glucose levels so that it has enough energy to get through the stressful situation . When insulin is restricted from sending glucose to the cells for a long period of time, the cells become resistant to it and we therefore are storing the glucose as fat instead of preparing to use it for energy.

During this stressful situation, cortisol also signals a release of glucagon to release more glucose into the bloodstream. This means we have a HUGE SURGE of glucose in our bloodstream to get used up as energy. But if we are not actually in a situation that we need this much energy for, the body is going to store it as extra fat .

If we are raising our stress levels day after day, and increasing glucose release, we are going to end up with a lot of insulin resistant cells and stubborn fat that does not want to budge.

Will I Need To Do Anything To Prepare For The Test

The preparations will depend on the type of test you are having. Be sure to follow all the instructions that your provider gives you.

Stress can raise your cortisol levels, so you may need to rest before your test. A blood test will require you to schedule two appointments at different times of the day. Before a saliva test, you may need to stop using certain medicines. Let your provider know about all medicines you use, including skin creams. But dont stop using any medicines without talking with your provider first.

Also Check: Supplements To Avoid With Estrogen Positive Breast Cancer

Cortisol And Weight Gain

It shouldnt be a surprise that chronic stress and weight gain have a close-knit relationship for many reasons. However, we now understand that chronically elevated cortisol levels may be a factor in weight gain or resistance to weight loss.

How does cortisol affect your weight? First of all, chronically elevated cortisol levels can increase your appetite and lead to increased intake of food especially foods that are high in sugar . This stress hormone may also blunt your bodys ability to send the Im full signals to your brain, leading to a vicious cycle of increased appetite and a reduced ability to feel satisfied after meals. High cortisol may also shift your metabolism to store more fat, particularly in the abdominal area and around your organs .

Other than unintentional weight gain, high cortisol levels may also lead to disruption in your menstrual cycle, infertility, heart disease, and digestive problems .

Also Check: Zarbee’s Sleep With Melatonin Reviews

How To Lower Stress Levels

The diet industry has attempted to capitalize on findings from these studies by promoting dietary supplements claiming to lower cortisol and enhance weight loss. No independent studies published in respected, peer-reviewed medical journals have shown that these supplements have any value in cortisol reduction or weight loss. In fact, exercise is the best method for lowering cortisol levels that have risen in response to stress and has the added benefit of burning calories to stimulate weight loss. Practices such as meditation, yoga, and other relaxation techniques can also be used to keep cortisol levels in check.

Exercise But Not Too Much Or Too Late

Regular exercise is a great way to reduce stress and improve your overall well-being. It can also lower your cortisol response to stress and low-intensity workouts can actually decrease cortisol levels.

However, high-intensity workouts increase cortisol levels â you are putting your body under a type of stress, after all. While this is okay every now and again, if youâre over-exercising, you may suffer the consequences of high cortisol. So, be sure to throw some yoga or gentle swims into your week instead of back-to-back HIIT classes.

As well as not over-exercising, be sure to get the timing of your exercise right. Avoid working out too close to bedtime or you run the risk of disturbing your sleep, which, of course, can lead to high cortisol and weight gain.

You can learn more about exercise before bed here and the best time to work out here.

Read Also: How To Lower Cortisol For Sleep

How To Overcome Adrenal Fatigue

Adrenal fatigue can be a debilitating disease that often takes a long time to cure.

Consulting with a medical clinic about diagnosing and treating adrenal fatigue is the first step to understanding the root causes of adrenal fatigue, such as how your adrenal glands release cortisol into your bloodstream and what your blood sugar level fluctuations may be. This initial testing helps doctors to better understand how to prepare a medical treatment suitable for each patients specific set of circumstances.

In combination with a medical diagnosis, lifestyle changes are a useful consideration to support a monitored professional treatment plan.

Too Much Cortisol And Weight Gain

Long hours at work, sleep deprivation, relationship problems, financial issues, and a poor diet are constant stressors in your life. The truth is our modern lifestyles are fraught with stress, and your body was not designed to live in fight or flight mode all the time. Chronic stress can lead to various health problems that Ill discuss shortly.

Cortisol stimulates your fat and carbohydrate metabolism to give your body a rush of energy as it prepares to fight off a threat. Your appetite naturally increases to signal that your body needs more fuel to keep up with the energy demand.

Cortisol production triggers cravings for foods that offer a quick energy source, such as a simple carbohydrate. Simple carbohydrates, or sugar, enter the bloodstream fast and spike blood glucose levels for a short burst of energy. In our hunter-gatherer days, a piece of fruit would be a welcome source of quick-release energy.

Refined sugar, however, is a modern invention that our bodies did not evolve to have the capacity to deal with properly. While this simple supply of energy is beneficial in the occasional dangerous situation, this process is not as helpful when it becomes a part of your daily routine due to chronic stress.

Also Check: Pregnancy Estrogen Levels By Week

How Stress Increases Cortisol

Cortisol is produced by the adrenal glands, and sends signals to the brain to regulate blood pressure and immune functions. A cortisol spike will signal your body to consume more calories and put insulin production on hold. These responses are conditioned to boost your energy and immunity, which is helpful in stressful situations such as fighting predators and getting out of dangers way.

Hormones And Weight Gain: How To Fix The Hormones That Control Your Weight

Did you know that your weight is directly related to your hormones? This is a fact many of us forget as we travel along the often slow and frustrating road to weight loss. To maintain a weight thats healthy for our unique bodily makeup, a delicate balance of hormones is required. If certain hormones are off-kilter, weight gain often results.

In order to lose weight and keep it off we must understand the intricate inner workings of our many hormones. Once we understand the relationship between hormones and weight gain, we can take the proper steps to balance these hormones and lose weight in a sustainable, healthy way.

Also Check: Mantality Health Testosterone Replacement Therapy

Can Stress And Anxiety Cause Weight Gain

Many people tend to use the terms stress and anxiety interchangeably. But the difference is that stress is a response to threatening situations, while anxiety is the bodys natural reaction to stress.

Anxiety can be defined as excessive worry or fear about situations to come. Anxiety that becomes persistent can affect your body in many of the same ways as chronic stress.

Symptoms that occur in those who experience chronic stress and anxiety include:

• Irrational anger

Just like stress, symptoms of anxiety can upset the bodys healthy hormonal balance to cause fluctuations that ultimately cause weight gain. Sleep deprivation is another major factor that can cause weight gain, since the body produces less melatonin when youre not getting enough sleep. Melatonin drives metabolism, weight loss, and muscle gain, which is why those who lack sleep tend to have a slower metabolism and are more prone to gaining weight.

Its Easy To Get The Care You Need

See a Premier Physician Network provider near you.

Weve all felt that surge of energy as we confront something threatening or startling. A barely avoided car accident. A call that your child has been hurt. The pressure to meet a deadline.

As your body perceives stress, your adrenal glands make and release the hormone cortisol into your bloodstream. Often called the stress hormone, cortisol causes an increase in your heart rate and blood pressure. Its your natural flight or fight response that has kept humans alive for thousands of years.

Normal levels of cortisol also are released when you wake up in the morning or exercise. These levels can help regulate your blood pressure and blood sugar levels and even strengthen your heart muscle. In small doses, the hormone can heighten memory, increase your immune system and lower sensitivity to pain.

If your body experiences chronic stress, you may begin to feel unpleasant and even dangerous effects, such as:

• Muscle pain or tension in the head, neck, jaw, or back

Recommended Reading: Getting Rid Of Hormonal Belly

What Does Cortisol Have To Do With Gaining Weight

The level of stress that accompanies you every day has an extremely significant impact on your weight. Sometimes it causes its loss, and other times it contributes to the deposition of adipose tissue. This is due to your bodys response to cortisol, which is closely related to metabolism, insulin and glucose levels, and the accumulation of body fat.

Stressful experiences and trauma such as loss of a loved one, divorce, accident, financial crisis, exam or chronic stress can lead first to long-term blood cortisol levels, then to excess weight, and then to obesity. This is because elevated blood cortisol levels lead to increased appetite, including frequent and uncontrolled cravings for snacks rich in sugar and fat.

Common Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms

Adrenal fatigue can present itself differently from person to person.

One of the most common adrenal fatigue symptoms of this condition is a change in appetite.

People who suffer from adrenal fatigue tend to crave foods that may be deemed unhealthy. This includes salty and sweet food.

This means that people with adrenal fatigue tend to consume more sodium and sugar than necessary. If left unchecked, this can lead to unhealthy weight gain.

These adrenal fatigue symptoms include:

• Fatigue in the morning
• Higher energy in the evenings
• Heavy reliance on caffeine products
• A worsened immune system

Other less common symptoms of adrenal fatigue include:

• Muscle weakness

You May Like: What Does Hormonal Birth Control Do

What Causes Abnormal Cortisol Levels

Stress is certainly not the only reason having for abnormal levels of cortisol. A number of diseases and conditions can result in abnormal levels of cortisol in the bloodstream. Cushing’s syndrome is a term used by doctors to describe a condition in which various medical problems result in very high levels of cortisol, leading to changes in the body’s appearance and function.

Weight gain or loss is dependent on a number of factors including resting metabolic rate, food intake, amount of exercise, and even the types of food consumed and the times of day food is consumed. Genetic factors also likely influence our metabolism and may explain some people’s tendency to gain or lose weight more rapidly than others.

Whether or not a particular individual’s stress levels will result in high cortisol levels and weight gain is not readily predictable. The amount of cortisol secreted in response to stress can vary among individuals, with some people being innately more “reactive” to stressful events. Studies of women who tended to react to stress with high levels of cortisol secretion have shown that these women also tended to eat more when under stress than women who secreted less cortisol. Another study demonstrated that women who stored their excess fat in the abdominal area had higher cortisol levels and reported more lifestyle stress than women who stored fat primarily in the hips.

Busting Stress With A Nutrition

While there are certainly unforeseen event and stressors that we have no control over, we do have choices when it comes to what we put in our mouths each day. Luckily, there are a number of things you can do with your nutrition to reduce high cortisol levels.

First and foremost, keeping your blood sugar level balanced and steady throughout the day keeps cortisol levels in check. To do this, we teach our clients to eat a mix of protein, real-food carbs, and healthy fats several times per day. Most of our client need to eat this combination every 3-4 hours. This prevents our blood sugar from going too high or too low, which in turn prevents a stress response.

Read Also: Best Exercise To Reduce Cortisol

The Connection Of Cortisol Depression Weight Gain And Anxiety

Americans today are more stressed than ever. We face stress at work, home, in our relationships and even from lack of sleep. Unfortunately, we are finding that chronic stress is causing a serious impact on our lives and our health. We now know that chronic stress can lead to:

High blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndromeFatigueAnxiety & DepressionLow libido

There is a growing body of literature that is looking at just how our bodies respond to stress, and how we can treat the deleterious effects of stress. But what is stress exactly? And why, when you are cramming for your final exam , are you polishing off your last Twix and not a carrot?

What is stress?

Regulates insulin

Manages how your body uses / stores fats and proteins in times of stressAdjusts blood pressure and glucose levelsControls your sleep / wake cycleInfluences immune systemAffects learning and memory in times of stress

In a healthy response to stress, the body will quickly raise cortisol levels in an effort to handle the stress. Once the stressor is gone, the parasympathetic system kicks in , and cortisol levels fall. However, when a person is burdened with continued stressors, the cortisol levels are unable to fall. This persistent state of high cortisol production can lead to various metabolic and psychiatric disorders.

How do high cortisol levels affect your weight?

Finally, there is the behavioral component of eating and stress. Stressors work on three parts of the brain:

How To Break The Cycle Of Stress And Weight Gain

When you’re stressed out, healthy behaviors likely eating properly and exercising regularly can easily fall by the wayside. Maintaining a schedule and/or routine can help make these healthy behaviors a habit and combat stress-related weight changes. Here are a few strategies that can help you break the cycle of stress and weight gain:

Read Also: How To Test For Cortisol Levels

What Happens If Cortisol Is Too Low

Remember cortisol is a Goldilocks hormone.

You learned that high cortisol levels can lead to health symptoms, challenges, and weight gain.

But low cortisol levels also arent good.

Cortisol naturally lowers at night for melatonin production to aid in sleeping, reduced inflammation, and immune system support. But, if cortisol levels are low at any other point in the day, you may experience:

• Chronic fatigue
• Food and sugar cravings
• Poor exercise tolerance or recovery

As you can see, cortisol levels need to be just right in order for your body systems to function optimally.

When youre going through perimenopause and menopause, you have an excess of cortisol. Its okay to have elevated cortisol levels, but you want to be sure cortisol levels are high for the right reasons, at the right amounts, and at the right duration. I work with my patients to have this control in their cortisol levels. Controlled cortisol levels will help you to not experience symptoms of perimenopause and menopause and will help in your weight loss journey too.

Lets discover what you can do to control your cortisol levels.

How Low Cortisol Levels Adrenal Fatigue And Weight Gain Are Connected

Do you feel a constant sense of fatigue that wont go away? Even with a proper diet and regular exercise, do you still have a belly that wont seem to shrink?

If yes, and if your doctor cant diagnose you with any specific condition, you may have a case of adrenal fatigue.

Adrenal fatigue is a condition where the adrenal glands are no longer functioning optimally. Its often a follow-up of an episode of chronic stress, but it can also follow conditions such as flu, bronchitis, or pneumonia.

Adrenal fatigue symptoms are often caused by adrenal insufficiency, depression, among other health problems. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, adrenal insufficiency occurs when the adrenal glands dont make enough of the hormone cortisol.

Cortisol levels tend to be low in cases of adrenal fatigue, which may also be referred to as underactive adrenal glands. This is because the adrenal glands are unable to produce cortisol that is needed in stressful conditions.

This, in turn, leaves your body vulnerable to illnesses and infections. In essence, if youre fatigued and sluggish, your adrenals may be to blame.

Lets explore how low cortisol levels and weight gain affect each other.

Recommended Reading: Best Food To Increase Testosterone

How To Normalize Cortisol Levels