Can Stress Affect My Weight?
It’s very difficult to avoid the stress that enters our lives on a daily basis. It can impact our well-being and have a disastrous impact on any type of fitness program. Many people eat excessively in response to stress since food can have a relaxing effect.
Stress hormones are released when the body is in need of sugars. You can develop a conditioned response so that whenever stress hormone levels become high, you feel the need to eat. It is a downward spiral when people let stress affect them to the point where they can’t eat, and not eating makes it harder for them to handle the stress. Stress has a detrimental effect of muscle, vitamin and nutrient deficiencies. A proper nutritional program is one that incorporates exercises that will help minimize the effect of stress.
Eat smart, not less
There are a certain number of calories for you to eat every day. This number depends on your age, how active you are, and if you’re trying to gain, keep up, or lose weight.
- Eat the most nutritious foods you can from each food group every day. Remember the food groups are bread and cereal, protein, vegetables, fruits and dairy groups.
- Look at the food label to see if the foods you’re eating have important nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and are still low in calories. Some of these foods include: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products. You should eat these more often.
- Be sure to watch how much fats, cholesterol, added sugars, salt, and alcohol you eat or drink.
- To keep your body weight healthy, you have to watch how much you eat. If you don’t exercise and you eat foods that are high in fats or sugar, you could gain weight.
- To stop gaining weight over time, make small changes like eating less and doing more exercise.
Tips on “Dieting”
Frequency:
How often you eat has a great effect on your metabolism. Eating 3 meals with 2 healthy snacks will stimulate your body’s metabolism and increase fat loss and muscle gain.
Water Consumption:
Seventy-five percent (75%) of the American population is dehydrated and are not aware of it. Water is essential for your body to function properly. One should be drinking approximately one ounce (1 oz) of water per pound of lean body weight. The key is to sip water all day rather than guzzle down large quantities of it at once.
Avoiding saturated Fats:
Your body requires some fat. However this applies more to the unsaturated kind. Requirements for saturated fats are minimal. Avoid eating sources of saturated fats such as:
| Fried foods | Mayonnaise |
| Butter | Egg yolks |
| Whole milk or cheese | Chicken skin |
| Untrimmed beef | |
The following pages contains a list of common foods you may encounter when grabbing lunch or grocery-shopping for the week. For each food, which is raw, you will find the portion size and the amount of calories it represents. Since most packaged foods contain labels, which indicate portion size, amount of calories and macronutrient breakdown, they are not included in this consolidated list.
We encourage you to keep this tool with you so you can make choices that may fit into your overall nutritional plan.
Remember, sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest differences.
Click here to view a Food Calories Reference Chart 
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
WHAT IS A WORKOUT
A workout is 25 percent perspiration
and 75 percent determination.
Stated another way, it is one part physical exertion
and three parts self-discipline.
A workout makes you better today than
you were yesterday. It strengthens the
body, relaxes the
mind and toughens the
spirit. When you workout regularly,
your problems diminish and
your confidence grows.
A workout is a personal triumph over
laziness and procrastination. It is the
badge of a winner - the mark of an
organized, goal-oriented person who has
taken charge of his or her destiny.
A workout is a key that helps unlock the
door to opportunity and success. Hidden
within each of us is an extraordinary
force. Physical and mental fitness are
the triggers that can release it.
A workout is a form of rebirth. When
you finish a good workout, you don't
simply feel better,
YOU FEEL BETTER ABOUT YOURSElF.