Medical Review by Jennie Stanford, MD, FAAFP, DABOM
Summary
- Stress, anxiety, and depression can make it harder to build healthy habits and lose weight—so managing your mental health may help make it easier to stick to your weight loss plan.
- High cortisol levels from stress can increase cravings and lead to overeating. Managing stress can help control appetite and weight.
- Using food to cope with emotions can lead to overeating and unhealthy habits. Strategies like CBT and mindfulness can help break the cycle.
- Poor sleep disrupts metabolism, increases hunger, and slows weight loss. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night.
Taking care of your mental health can support your weight loss progress
When it comes to weight loss, most advice focuses on what to eat and how much to exercise. While those are important, your mental health also plays a role.
Stress, anxiety, and depression can make it harder to build healthy habits, stay consistent, and achieve your weight loss goals. Managing these factors can help you stick to your weight loss plan and deal with challenges that come up along the way.
In this article, we’ll explore how stress hormones, emotional eating, and sleep affect weight loss. We’ll also tell you more about when to reach out to a healthcare practitioner to support you on your weight loss journey.
How stress hormones are related to weight
Stress is a normal part of life and a natural response to challenges—it helps your body stay alert and focused when needed. When you’re stressed, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that can affect your appetite and weight. Cortisol prepares your body for a “fight or flight” response, giving you extra energy. However, prolonged stress and high cortisol levels can lead to:
- Increased appetite: Higher cortisol levels can make you crave “comfort” foods that are high in sugar and fat.
- Weight gain: The extra food you eat, combined with cortisol’s role in fat storage can lead to weight gain, particularly around the abdomen.
- Muscle wasting: Long-term high cortisol levels may cause your body to break down muscle tissue for energy instead of burning fat.
Stress management to control cortisol
Managing stress and keeping cortisol levels balanced can help you maintain a healthy weight. Some healthy ways to reduce your stress include:
- Practice relaxation techniques such as meditation, stretching, or deep breathing.
- Spend time outdoors to enjoy fresh air and nature.
- Keep a gratitude journal.
- Take a break from social media—research shows that excessive social media use can harm your mental well-being and raise your stress levels.
- Do activities you enjoy, such as hobbies, creative pursuits, or physical exercise.
- Spend time with supportive people you feel comfortable talking to about your feelings.
Emotional eating & weight
Emotional eating happens when you use food as a way to cope with tough emotions. Instead of eating because you’re hungry, you might eat to soothe feelings like stress, sadness, anger, boredom, or loneliness. While it may provide temporary comfort, it often leads to overeating foods high in sugar or fat and can leave you feeling guilty or ashamed afterward. Over time, emotional eating can also create unhealthy eating habits that feel hard to break.
Your mental health plays a big role in your weight. One study found that people whose mental health improved or stayed stable over 12 months lost significantly more weight than those whose mental health worsened.
Techniques for controlling emotional eating
Taking back control of your eating habits can help. Emotional eating can be a compulsion that’s difficult to resist, but evidence-based approaches can help you break the cycle and build healthier coping strategies:
- Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT): This approach focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors related to eating.
- Mindfulness-based interventions (MBT): These encourage awareness and acceptance of your emotions, helping you respond to them without turning to food for comfort.
If emotional eating is a challenge for you, these strategies may help. Seeking professional support through counseling or coaching can help you explore these methods and regain control of your eating habits.
Sleep & weight loss
Poor sleep can make it harder to lose weight by disrupting your metabolism and increasing your appetite. An analysis of 20 studies involving 300,000 people found that adults who slept fewer than 7 hours per night had a 41% higher risk of obesity.
Research shows that when you don’t get enough sleep, your body produces more of the hunger hormone ghrelin and less of the fullness hormone leptin. This imbalance can make you feel hungrier and less satisfied after eating, leading to overeating and weight gain.
Poor sleep doesn’t just affect your appetite—it can also make it harder to burn calories. Not getting enough sleep can make your body less sensitive to insulin, the hormone that moves sugar from your blood into your cells for energy. When this happens, blood sugar levels can get out of balance, slowing your metabolism and affecting your ability to lose weight.
Practical tools for success
Taking intentional steps can help you build healthier habits and stay on track with your goals. Here are some strategies to set yourself up for success:
- Manage Stress: Incorporate relaxation techniques, like deep breathing, meditation, or yoga, to lower stress levels and prevent emotional eating triggers.
- Mindful Eating: Focus on eating slowly and paying attention to your hunger and fullness cues. This can help you avoid overeating and become more in tune with your body’s needs.
- Prioritize Sleep: Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Establish a calming bedtime routine, limit screen time, and create a relaxing environment to improve your rest.
- Recognizing emotional eating cues: This allows you to become more aware of the triggers behind your eating habits, enabling you to take proactive steps to address emotions in healthier ways without relying on food for comfort.
- Stay Connected: Surround yourself with a supportive network of friends or family.
- Seek Professional Support: If emotional eating or mental health struggles are affecting your weight loss, consider speaking with a therapist, counselor, or healthcare provider for personalized support and guidance.
Achieving weight loss through mental health with Lemonaid Health
Your mental health and weight loss are closely connected. Stress, anxiety, depression, and poor sleep can affect your hormones, appetite, and metabolism—which makes losing weight more challenging. Addressing these factors with evidence-based strategies, such as therapy, mindfulness, or medical support, can all help you stick to your treatment plan and achieve better results.
Our team at Lemonaid Health can help by providing online consultations with qualified healthcare practitioners. Find support with a qualified US-based health professional who can help you find appropriate solutions—including FDA-approved medication in clinically indicated cases.
