A few weeks ago I went to a doctor’s appointment. It had been months since I had gone into a clinic. They performed the standard vital assessments. They then asked me to step onto the scale. Usually, I turn my back to the scale and let them take note of the number they see without knowing.
This time, curiosity won.
I faced the scale. The number was significantly different than what I remembered it being in February, just before the world as we knew it descended into shutdown, quarantine, and “the new normal.”
I started to think: Is this scale right? Did I change that much in the last 8 months?
As you may know, I’m not one to talk much about weight. I think there is already too much chatter about ideal weight and BMI. In my professional work, I rarely weigh my clients as a method of progress tracking. But this time, I think it is important to talk about it. I want you to know you aren’t feeling alone if you’re experiencing changes to your body right now. It really comes down to one common factor, stress. Let’s break it down.
Yes, Stress
I’m going to be very real with you right now. Being a person under normal circumstances can be stressful. Balancing work, relationships, finances, health, and family obligations can be enough for one person already. Then, 2020 happened. We ended up facing one common, scary, and invisible enemy. And if that wasn’t bad enough, many more things were thrown into the mix. Murder Hornets. Social distancing. Political unrest. Unemployment. An Election. Wildfires. I could go on, but you know what I’m getting at. The things we are experiencing right now are some of the most stressful events we may encounter in our lifetime.
Your survival instincts
Approaching human beings from an evolutionary perspective, our bodies have evolved to be really good at a few things. To oversimplify things, we are essentially social creatures meant to hunt and gather for food. We have this amazing and complex system called our sympathetic nervous system which releases a series of cascading hormones at the response to an acute stress. That’s when we experience the typical symptoms of an acute stress response. An increase in heart rate, shakiness, and sometimes sweat.
The acute stress that developed this response thousands of years ago were genuinely life-threatening situations. Maybe it was the sound of wolves circling us in the darkness. A mama bear chasing after us to protect her cubs. But what about when that bear or those wolves are microscopic, airborne, and seemingly everywhere all at once? That’s when we get into the topic of chronic stress.
Chronic Stress
Where I live, my last “normal” day was March 16, 2020. The following day, everything closed down, and the stay at home order came into effect. It is now October. We are talking about seven months of ongoing stress. Not to mention a dramatic shift in routines, the loss of employment, and other personal things that piled on top of this already stressful change.
We can’t exist in that trembling, rapid heartbeat, sweaty state all the time. When the threat is larger and more ongoing, our bodies adapt to continue functioning when a “fight or flight” response isn’t needed. We can’t run away from this bear. To adapt, our body also retains higher levels of cortisol, commonly called the “stress hormone.”
Cortisol and Body Composition
Cortisol plays maaaaany different roles in our bodies. For today’s topic, I’m going to talk about just two of them:
Muscles for fuel
Normally, our body releases cortisol throughout the day and while we are sleeping. Cortisol triggers a myriad of responses in the body, and our cells have receptors for cortisol in almost every system in our body. One pathway Cortisol takes stimulates our metabolism to break down proteins to use as fuel, rather than carbohydrates and fats. Through this mechanism, Cortisol can essentially tell your body to breakdown and use your muscles as fuel. This can mean you might be feeling a change in your strength or muscle mass.
2. Increased fat storage
Additionally, Cortisol has been linked to an increase in abdominal fat storage. The best way I can describe this phenomenon, is that your body knows it is in danger. Think back to our prehistoric selves. What did danger mean to us then? Often, a lack of resources for food. Maybe a loss of shelter, health, or safety… which is pretty similar to what a lot of us are experiencing today. So to protect you and the possibility of less food or a need to survive, your body stores more fat around your abdomen, buttocks, and thighs to save for the worst case scenario.
The bottom line:
Your body is doing exactly what it is designed to do. It is adapting and changing it’s muscle, fat, and metabolic composition to keep you alive. Sure, we aren’t a nomadic hunter-gatherer society anymore, but our bodies don’t quite know that. All your body knows is that you are in a stressful period of your life, and it is doing what it can to protect you.
So if you feel like your favorite jeans are tighter now, or there are some clothes that just don’t fit you anymore, thank your body. It is taking care of you and doing everything it can to keep you safe.
xo,
Julie Ann