We can all pretty much agree that extra body fat stinks – right? It hides your abs from the world, makes your favorite clothes not fit, and increases your risk of heart disease and cancer….but did you know that you know that it can impair how your body responds to stress?
Here’s how.
Increased levels of visceral fat (i.e. not the stomach fat you can pinch, the fat sitting around your organs) lead to increased levels of cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone that have been shown to decrease mental performance.
I just came across a pretty cool study that looked at body fat and its effect on one’s ability to handle emotional stress…the results were not good if you have extra belly fat.
The researchers found that the people whom had the lowest body fat percentage had the greatest ability to rebound from bouts of emotional stress (in the study they used sky diving).
So the connection is
More belly fat –> More cortisol –> Decreased brain power and ability to cope with emotional stressors.
I’m sure that some of you may question whether body fat is the cause or not (as NNN readers are pretty savvy) but I don’t think that whether or not body fat is the cause really matters.
The people with lower body fat percentages are probably more active and thus their bodies were accustomed to dealing with stressors or they may have better nutrition which could also help them cope better with stress.
Better nutrition and more exercise are important factors that allow them to have lower body fat levels and deal with stress better.
The key point is that you need to get rid of the extra body fat hanging off your body as it is literally stressing you out. As I write this January has just ended.
Did you set any weight loss related New Years resolutions 30 days ago?
How are you doing on them?
Last week, Patrick Streit from Cincinnati, Ohio posted a note on my Facebook Wall letting me know that in the first 17 days of using Warp Speed Fat Loss he lost 13.8lbs (Great work Pat!). He is achieving his New Years Resolution at top speed.
How are you doing with your 2009 weight loss goals?
What do you need to achieve them faster? Post a comment below and let me know.
-Mike
P.S. Last month was the biggest month for the Naked Nutrition Network. Our web traffic was almost 3x what it was in December. Thanks for coming by each day/week to read the site and if you have told friends about it, thank you for that too.
Hey Mike,
Excellent points, and more reflections to use with those who have resigned themselves to “healthy at any size”. What articles might you recommend regarding same? It still seems the evidence is yes, you can be as healthy as possible at any size, but optimal (physical) health at any size is questionable!
Lani Muelrath
Mike:
Ended up down 17.2 for the entire 28 days. I’ve sent out an email to my clients and mailing list members telling them to get on over to the WSFL website. Great program. Also, John Wallace, my client from the WSFL pilot program replicated his success from last time. After a day of free eating yesterday for the superbowl, we are back on the wagon today.
Speaking from experience, while being extremely overweight I was on anti-depressants and anxiety meds. Now that I have lost 3/4 of my 100 lb goal, I am off of both of those medications!
Did they actually have people with different amounts of body fat go skydiving?
That’s interesting – the relationship between visceral fat and ability to handle stress. I’m a skinny fat person (someone who appears is slim but is made more of fat than lean muscle mass) and my relationship with my BFF hasn’t been great thanks to my poor response to stress. Any little thing would set off my bad mood and my poor BFF cops it.
I told myself I’ll get toned and fit. Well, knowing this is more reason to. I don’t like carrying the dead weight. I dislike even more being grumpy and stressed (and hurting my BFF consequently).