Diet plus exercise equals weight loss right, “No” it’s not entirely correct. Weight loss does have many other factors to consider too. Undoubtedly diet and exercise are the prominent factors for losing weight but weight loss is not entirely dependent on them.
Any form of stress, no matter how mild, affects neurotransmitters that control:
- Mood
- Thinking
- Appetite
- Behavior
- It and Likely to make you eat poorly, skip exercise, and gain weight.
High-stress levels cause your body to release the hormone cortisol, which makes us crave energy and comfort. Production of cortisol and other vital hormones gets disturbed which indirectly leads to belly fat as it acts as a defense mechanism that protects the organs of your body from stress.
Inner peace, happiness, and positivity are the vital aspects that contribute majorly to your journey of weight loss. When you are happy, there is a boost in dopamine levels in the body. The body releases endorphins, which stimulate a happy mood and promote a healthy mind and body.
Especially while you do any activity such as Eat or Work, you shall do it with a good mood in mind.
Your mood while eating also plays a major role as it affects your digestive health, which ultimately could lead to an imbalance in metabolism and leads to weight loss. Dieting limits the happy chemicals in our brain, which can affect our mood. Carbohydrates release Serotonin, a “feel good” hormone, which concludes that you should eat more complex carbs.
Talking about other macronutrients, High protein foods release dopamine and norepinephrine, which boost energy and concentration.
Whereas, highly processed or deep-fried foods tend to leave you feeling down and tired, leading you to skip meals, which hinders your process of weight loss.
If you don’t have very healthy habits, you need not worry. Start by making one better food choice each day.
Scientific Ways to Increase Inner peace, Happiness & Reduce Stress, and ultimately your chance of achieving WEIGHT LOSS:
- Ditch the Digital World. Digital Detox for a minimum of 4-5 hours a day is a must. You adopt the wrong posture and develop stress when you use digital devices for a longer period. It also can obstruct breathing in your body, thus leading to blocking the oxygen transportation to your brain, which will ultimately make you feel tired and irritated.
- Drink Up. If you’re dehydrated, you’re more likely to feel more tired and stressed, and have less energy.
- Meditation. Rewire Your Brain for Happiness. Meditation helps improve focus, clarity, and attention span, as well as helping to keep you calm. It is one of the best stress-coping strategies to date. You can also include deep breathing to calm yourself down or find an activity, like a hike or walk outdoors.
- Stretch it out. Don’t sit for too long in the same posture or place, stretching a bit in small time intervals helps you feel more relaxed and avoids stress and tiredness. As a bonus tip, if you are working at home, you can roll a tennis ball while sitting barefoot on a chair to relax your leg muscles. Muscle tiredness could be sometimes very irritating, so keep stretching and prefer mobility over stability.
- Sleep More. Quantity and quality of sleep is a very crucial step in your journey of weight loss, improper sleep can affect your metabolism by Up to 25%. You’ll Be Less Sensitive to Negative Emotions if you had a good and sound sleep, and It also helps us focus and be more productive.
- Spend More Time with Friends/Family.
- Eat something healthy / snack Smart. As I always say, snacking can make you or break you. Smart snacking over binge eating can be hugely life-changing and can promote a lot of weight loss. Some of the healthy snacking options include: Nuts & seeds, that can boost levels of serotonin; Eat Dark chocolate & fresh fruits; and Chickpeas & other beans contain folate, a B vitamin that’s needed to produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter that’s most associated with pleasure, and happiness.
- Laugh or smile more. Laugh more, it costs nothing. Find happiness in small things and you will see how beautiful the world is. Find small reasons to laugh or at least smile, and see how big of a game-changer it is!
- Get Outdoors frequently. Prefer going outdoors for a walk, absorbing natural vitamin D & enjoying nature.
- Be grateful. Start each day by acknowledging things you’re grateful for. Gratefulness is proportionate to happiness, peace, and contentment. The more you are grateful, the more you get happy and stress-free.
- Plan a Trip. Even if You Don’t Actually like traveling, do plan a trip with your loved ones, that will surely uplift your mood, and help you stay happy.
- Move Closer to Work.
- Keep a journal. A journal is a good way to organize your thoughts, analyze your feelings, and make plans. They say writing is the best way to pen your feelings clearly and discretely. When you know how you feel, it is less likely to get stressed or unhappy.
- Perform these small gestures every day to experience joy:
- Give a compliment to someone.
- Hold no grudges and forgive.
- Positive thinking affects your performance, so stay positive.
- Treasure your experiences more than your possessions, or materialistic obsessions.
- Help others, they say when you help someone, God helps you.
- Focus on your strength and develop them.
- Don’t self-ruminate.
- Don’t compare you, your belongings, or anything with anyone else. You are unique and self-sufficient.
- Chose uplifting friends. Vibes play a huge role in your life. Good vibes drive you towards a good life.
- Declutter. Keep your surroundings clean & organized. Follow a Minimalist approach in life.
- Plan your week & Day. You can get a fancy planner, but even a sticky note on your computer or a piece of scrap paper in your pocket can do the job. Planning helps you feel relieved and stress-free.
These were some very basic and easy tips I would advise you to keep in mind and apply practically to see the change.