A New Perspective in Counting Calories

Do you ever feel as though you are doing everything right and not seeing the results you had hoped for? Are you hyper-focused on meals and exercise? What about one critical piece of the puzzle…Mindset.
The human body is one big stress barometer. Your mindset around stress is so important and almost no one pays attention to it.

Stress is the thing. Mindset around rest, recovery and relaxation is the cure

How many people do you know, including maybe yourself think “I’m having trouble losing weight, and begin a google search for the next “big thing” supplement, magic smoothie, exercise twice a day, push harder, juice fast…the list goes on. When in reality the answer could be as simple as meditation, a walk in nature, reading a book, taking a nap.

We all know stress is calorie free, but ask any health or wellness expert if stress can cause fat gain, or weight loss resistance and you will hear an overwhelming “yes.” But how can that be if we all understand stress has no calories, and fat gain is all about calories? Truth is the calorie model is not the whole story on fat loss or gain. While calories count, they are not king. Hormones, lifestyle, stress, and metabolic mechanisms alter the amount of calories we eat, as well as where on the body we store them and most importantly which type we burn: sugar, fat or muscle.

Historical Reference

Humans have evolved over millions of years, we have had to deal with predators, food shortages, natural disasters, and plenty of other “stressful” things. Humans adapted to respond to acute stress, running from a hungry predator, fighting off an intruder, or catching dinner. Your physiology is hard wired to the realities of your primal ancestors. As far as physiology is concerned whether you are chasing your dinner, or under a severe deadline at work, facing financial uncertainty, or stuck in traffic, you stress response is the same.

The HPA (hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal axis)

The stress response is regulated by a tight knit communications system between the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands. The HPA controls many functions in the body, we will cover more in another post! When the HPA axis gets a signal of incoming threat, it sends command to the adrenals, and in a fraction of a second the adrenal glands flood the body with adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol, whose job is to give the body the energy to stay and fight or run like a cheetah!

Schedule rest, recovery and relaxation into your week. Understand stress reduction is KEY and can make all the difference when it comes to proper hormone regulation and ultimately fat loss.

In the modern day there is nothing to run from, so instead of movement being a response to stress, we sit with large amounts of adrenal hormones surging throughout our bodies….not a good thing.

How It Works

The major action step is of the adrenals is to raise the amount of sugar and fat in the blood to supply the body with energy. The body mobilizes for action. The liver pumps out stored sugar. Muscle and fat aid the creation of new sugar through the release of amino acids from muscle and glycerol from triglyceride(fat). Simply put stress burns fat, sugar and muscle under normal circumstances, but when it becomes recurrent and chronic, fat is usually spared while muscle is taken. Chronic stress, whether real or perceived, continually forces the body to work harder and harder to compensate of the physiological disruptions.

Stress Reducing Recommendations
The solution to a stress filled life lies in understanding that the fast-paced, get it done now, never take a break, mindset is the problem. Lifestyle matters. There are many many choices you can make that lower stress hormones and help the metabolism get back into balance.

Connection Therapy:
• Laughing lowers cortisol, hanging out with friends, family, pets anything that puts you in a
  happy state.

Water Therapy:
• Long showers, relaxing baths
• Hot baths detox the body through sweat
• Spa like baths with candles and relaxing music

Relaxation Therapy:
• Sleep
• Take a nap. Even a 10 minute nap has been shown to undo sleep deprivation
• Get a massage
• Myofascial release (foam rolling)
• Stretching
• Meditation

Movement Therapy:
• Walking outside in nature
• Yoga, the relaxing and stretching kind
• Tai Chi (videos of movements on Youtube)

Rest, Recovery and Relaxation. Schedule it into your week. Understand stress reduction is KEY and can make all the difference when it comes to fat loss. When your feeling stuck, instead of having the MORE IS BETTER harder, faster, longer more strict mindset, give yourself some rest, recovery, and relaxation…your body will thank you!!