Can't Lose Weight Due to Chronic Stress

Hanoi: For the 5th time losing weight, Thuy, 35 years old, failed despite spending hundreds of millions of dong. The doctor discovered that chronic stress was the reason why she could not regain her figure.

In 2019, after giving birth to her second child, Thuy, who is currently a communications officer in Cau Giay District, gained 67 kg in weight, while her height is 1m55. She often suffers from menstrual disorders, stress, fatigue, and wants to lose weight to regain her health and figure. Over the past 5 years, the woman has spent hundreds of millions of VND on functional foods, hiring a trainer (PT), medicine, and healthy foods, but all have failed.

Earlier this year, she continued her diet plan. The menu, advised by a nutritionist, had all three food groups, lots of vegetables, and was considered "suitable for her body type." In addition to nutrition, Thuy exercised moderately with a few cardio sessions interspersed with resistance training, a typical training program supervised by a trainer, applied to beginners.

However, by the third day, the woman had hypoglycemia accompanied by fatigue, sleep disturbances, unstable energy, and frequent urges to give up dieting.

Doctor Phan Thai Tan, Homefit weight loss health coach, took a medical history and found that Thuy had mental problems, often suffered from insomnia due to family problems, and was currently unstable. In addition, she had reflux syndrome - often found in people with chronic stress, causing constant coughing, sometimes difficulty breathing, and nausea.

"Chronic stress is the reason why women cannot lose weight," said Dr. Tan, who advised Thuy to stop dieting to focus on solving mental problems, helping to stabilize her mood and energy.

People with stress should address their mental health before embarking on a weight loss regimen. Photo: HuffPost — People with stress should address their mental health before embarking on a weight loss regimen. Photo: *HuffPost*

Dr. Tan acknowledges that for people with underlying mental health problems, applying a weight loss diet and exercise regimen can increase the stress hormone cortisol. This can lead to the risk of fatigue, exhaustion, hypoglycemia, and falling into a vicious cycle: lose weight - fail - gain weight again.

Therefore, these people should change their approach, ignore goals and body indexes to achieve, and instead focus on rebalancing, reducing stress, and taking time to love themselves.

You can start by adopting habits like deep breathing, doing some gentle exercises to warm up the whole body, activate the lymphatic system after a long night, and increase energy.

Or some ways to increase energy instantly and effectively in the morning, including sunbathing, bathing or body massage. You can choose herbal baths, soak in ice baths or simply alternate hot and cold baths, or warm and cool baths. This method is performed with the general principle of two modes differing by about 15-20 degrees Celsius, slowly switching to change the temperature and listening to the body's feelings, the purpose is to increase metabolism, alertness, resistance and muscle relaxation after exercise.

You can also scrub your body with a loofah or soak your face in ice water. These methods can be included in your daily morning personal hygiene routine to help improve energy, reduce sleepiness, caffeine cravings, and stimulate collagen production to help reduce aging.

During work hours, set your watch to take a 5-minute break every 45-60 minutes to breathe deeply, rest your eyes, walk around lightly, and calm your mind.

Practicing mindfulness in eating is very important. Mindful eating means focusing on the experience of consuming food. It is the joy of eating, chewing slowly to feel the texture, color, and flavor of the food. At the same time, eating at the right time, at the right place, promoting clean, safe, and healthy foods.

Experts say that mindless eating is the root cause of many health problems such as obesity and chronic diseases. Therefore, modern people easily fall into a state of "portion distortion" and lose the ability to self-perceive the amount of food suitable for the body. The act of "eating slowly and truly enjoying the food" can be a remedy for health problems arising from industrial lifestyles, helping people avoid external distractions, avoid overeating and have a healthier body.

In addition, cleaning your home and workplace in an orderly manner is also a way to regenerate energy. A messy living environment is also the reason why you lack inspiration and become more stressed. Before going to bed, you can practice some yoga stretches, massage, go to bed early, and avoid using mobile devices too late at night.

Experts recommend losing weight slowly, the ideal weight loss is 0.5-1 kg/week. You can set a goal of eating healthy at an increasing rate, for example, starting by reducing 5 things that are harmful to health that have been scientifically proven, including foods high in sugar, trans fat (snacks, ice cream), processed meat (sausages, ham, cold cuts, canned meat); alcohol; cigarettes...

Regarding exercise, it is recommended to exercise 30 minutes a day in any sport you enjoy.

"Weight loss needs to be done scientifically and persistently. Most importantly, listen to your body. It's better to go slowly and for a long time than to go fast and then give up," the doctor said.

Thuy Quynh

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