chronic stress can block fat burning and prevent us from losing weight even if you don't feel like
you're constantly stressed out you still might have high cortisol which is the stress hormone
maybe being stressed out has just become your normal and you don't even realize that it's
impacting you now before we get into the three warning signs that you have high cortisol I want
to make it clear that stress is not always a bad thing short duration stress can be a good thing
it increases alertness and focus which is ideal in some situations when we exercise for example
this is a stressor that allows us to adapt and grow when stress becomes a problem is when
it's constant or chronic leading to high cortisol levels for extended periods of time when our body
is in this heightened state of stress it's more likely to hold on to fat and cortisol also impacts
our hunger hormones which can cause us to overeat and contribute to the problem even further even
if you feel like you're doing everything right you're eating a good diet you're exercising but
you're still not losing weight High cortisol might be to blame and here are three key indicators that
you're in this situation the first sign of high cortisol is what is referred to as a buffalo hump
which is this little lump of fat just behind your neck high levels of the hormone cortisol
lead to increased fat storage and this storage happens in areas of the body that it typically
wouldn't including behind our neck when people gain weight from Simply overeating this fat tends
to get stored evenly throughout the body when fat builds up in one particular area this is an
indicator that there's an underlying issue and in this case it's high cortisol the second indicator
that high cortisol is stopping your weight loss is that you bruise easily the hormone cortisol can
weaken our blood vessels and cause the breakdown of certain proteins in our skin this means it
takes less impact for a bruise to form if you're someone who is always finding unexplained bruises
on your body high cortisol might be to blame and the third sign is belly fat as I mentioned
earlier high stress hormone levels can cause the body to store fat in areas that it typically
wouldn't which includes around our midsection but there's an added layer here the type of fat that
we store in our abdomen is actually different than the type of fat we store Elsewhere on our
body this fat is known as visceral fat and it builds up around our organs this fat is hard to
the touch you can't pinch it if you've ever seen someone with a disproportionately large belly to
the rest of their body and particularly if it's hard this is the type of fat we're talking about
and this type of fat is actually additionally problematic because it releases certain proteins
that cause inflammation throughout the body which leads to further issues the other type of fat is
subcutaneous fat this is the type of fat that you can pinch and it's simply your body stored energy
now I will say that you can have visceral fat below subcutaneous fat so if you can pinch your
belly that doesn't mean you're in the clear if you are prone to storing fat around your midsection
then High cortisol is definitely something to consider and address okay but what can you do
if you have high cortisol one of the top causes of chronic high cortisol is poor sleep so before you
even make any other changes I would make sure that your sleep is on point study after study has shown
that cortisol levels are higher in shift workers versus non-shift workers and this is mainly to do
with their inconsistent sleep patterns even after just one night of poor sleep we have higher levels
of cortisol the following day so stick to a consistent bedtime and wake time limit blue
light exposure in the evenings and have a good wind down routine which can include a hot shower
before bed which will lead to your body rebounding and lowering in temperature consistent with our
circadian rhythm this will help you sleep it can also mean reading before bed meditating before
bed anything you can do to calm your nervous system will help the next thing you can do is
practice breath work and this kind of ties in with what I was just saying about our nervous system
controlling your breathing in particular extending your exhales helps to regulate your nervous system
and helps you to calm down even just three big inhales followed by extended exhales can
slow down your heart rate it can bring down your stress levels and bring down your cortisol and I
know some people are a bit iffy on breath work whether it works or not but let me tell you it
is supported by the literature I'm going to put some links to studies in the description box down
below the next way you can reduce your cortisol levels is to decrease your sugar intake high sugar
diets can increase our stress and our cortisol levels now if you are someone who has a sweet
tooth I'm gonna give you my number one tip that has helped me as someone who naturally does have
a really big sweet tooth this is something I've implemented that has helped me to keep My Sweet
Tooth under control for years and the tip is to eat at least 30 grams of quality protein at every
single meal not only does it help with satiety so you're less likely to be hungry in between meals
but it also helps to regulate your blood sugar because usually when we're getting sugar Cravings
it's because we've had a blood sugar Spike and our blood sugar is now crashing if we don't have this
Spike then we won't have the crash and we won't have as many cravings and quality protein can
help with that now when I say quality protein I am specifically referring to animal protein and I get
this from butcher crowd but your crowd is a meat delivery service here in Australia that offers 100
grass-fed and finished beef and lamb pasteurized chicken and pork and wild caught Australian
Seafood all locally sourced with the exception of their salmon which is sourced from overseas
because no salmon in Australia is wild caught so in order to get the salmon wild caught they
had to Source it from elsewhere but all the other Seafood is wild caught from Australia they have a
range of boxes to choose from and also the option to customize your own I recently just switched up
my order to a completely custom box and the one thing I always make sure to include in my order
is their sausages they contain no added sugar or filler and they are so delicious if you want to
check them out you can head to healthcoachkait.com forward slash butcher crowd I'll put that link in
the description box down below and you can use code HCK15 at checkout to save 15 off your order
and there's a reason I recommend animal protein plant protein simply doesn't compare it's not as
bioavailable you're not able to use as much when you consume it from Plants versus animals and it's
really hard to get enough throughout the day when you're just focusing on plant sources because 99
of plant protein comes with a whole lot of carbs and a whole lot of calories let me know if you
have any of these sides of high cortisol in the comment section down below and which of the steps
you're going to implement first to lower it thanks guys for watching I will see you next time bye
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