Is Stress Interfering with Your Nutrition and Fitness Goals?

Written by Krista King, MS, RDN, LDN, CHC, CPT, Owner of Composed Nutrition.

I see clients all the time that feel like they have tried all the things but cannot seem to achieve their health goals. They exercise consistently, attend every HIIT class the gym has to offer, and strip away foods from their diet one-by-one. The problem: something isn’t clicking and the results they are striving for are not happening. They want to feel vibrant, full of energy, with a balanced mood, toned body, and confidence in their health. But they feel exhausted, depleted, confused, and wondering why all of this hard work does not seem to be paying off. The answer: we must address the root causes in order to feel our best.

Stress is often at the root of why my clients are not seeing the results they are working so hard to achieve. We hear all the time about the importance of stress management, but what is actually happening in the body when we’re stressed? Cortisol is the stress hormone that gets released from the adrenals, which are small glands that sit on top of the kidneys like little hats.

The stress response is one that is imbedded in us from the times where our ancestors would need to run away from threats, like a tiger or bear. The response activates and our body would gear up to run away from the stressful situation by releasing cortisol. The most important part: once we escaped the stressor (the tiger or bear) we would shake it off. We would shake off the stress and go back to what we were doing.

Today, our busy lives keep us in a state where we keep pressing the on button and we are constantly fighting tigers in the form of crazy schedules, projects at work, managing our social, work, and homes lives, getting the kids to school, and feeling like we need to do it all. We are not giving our bodies time to reset or de-stress. Keeping this response in the on position overtime can start to produce too much cortisol then stop producing it. We start feeling low energy, fatigued, anxious, depressed, depleted, exhausted after workouts, and less motivated to make healthy food choices.

Our bodies will do everything it can for us to manage stress to make sure we’re safe; however, because all our hormones are all connected and operate in a cascade, when we pull resources to manage our stress, then our other hormones, the thyroid or sex hormones, can get thrown out of balance as well. Hormonal imbalances in your body can present as gut issues, chronic fatigue, mood disorders, headaches, and also account for stubborn weight gain that is difficult to lose.

Hormone imbalance is often a missing link I see in clients who have tried all the things and are not meeting their goals. When we uncover this root cause we can implement targeted nutrition and exercise strategies like balancing blood sugar, getting enough essential nutrients, individualizing supplement recommendations, and tweaking workout routines to help ease the stress response.

Reasons to test your hormones and follow up with a knowledgeable functional health provider:

• Complete in the convenience of your own home

• Uncover the missing link to achieving optimal health

• Implement actionable and realistic steps to fit into your busy day

• Receive accountability and follow-up on your progress

• Achieve real results targeted to you and your needs