Previous articles have emphasized the importance of combining a healthy diet and exercise program with equally healthy lifestyle habits. The questions then are: What exactly are these lifelong lifestyle habits and what are their effects on weight loss? This article will answer these two questions.
But first, we must emphasize that the discussion will focus on three aspects of lifestyle: smoking, stress, and sleep. Other aspects such as patterns of sexual and social behavior are not discussed.
Of smoking
If there is an advantage to cigarette smoking, it is that the activity stimulates your metabolism. In smokers who are in the habit of carrying a pack a day, 250 calories are burned with activity alone. Therefore, when you quit smoking, you are likely to gain up to 2 pounds within 2 weeks of quitting as your body has to deal with an additional 250 calories.
Then you will return to the habit of smoking because of your fear of gaining weight, illogical as it may seem. But you should keep quitting because your metabolism will stabilize in about 2 months. Therefore, the extra pounds can be lost with the right diet and exercise soon enough.
Also, you should consider the benefits of quitting smoking in relation to exercise and therefore weight loss. Your heart, arteries, and lungs become healthier, which means you have the physical capacity to do more intense, more frequent, and longer cardio than before.
Stress
Yes, stress can lead to weight gain, which is possible both physiologically and psychologically. First, the neuroendocrine system activates the fight or flight hormones present when we face stress situations, these hormones being adrenaline, CRH (corticotropin-releasing hormone) and cortisol. High levels of adrenaline and CRH decrease appetite, but the effect is temporary, while cortisol increases appetite. Combine the impact of these three hormones and you are likely to choke on food.
Second, stress can lead to emotional eating even when stressors have been absent for a long time. For example, the death of loved ones in a tragic accident places extreme stress on the emotions of those afflicted with food as their main source of earthly comfort. We have heard of many stories of people growing older as they grieve.
To sleep
When it comes to sleep, its link to weight loss can be traced back to two hormones: leptin and ghrelin. These two hormones work in a system of control and balance that controls the sensation of hunger (ghrelin) and satiety (leptin).
When you don’t sleep enough hours a day, your leptin levels drop while your ghrelin levels rise. The result is that you don’t feel satisfied even after a large meal, and you always seem hungry. This is the beginning of overeating and therefore weight gain.
So if you want to lose weight, we suggest that you kick the habit of smoking, control your stress levels, and get enough sleep – the hallmarks of a healthy lifestyle, indeed. There are many ways to achieve these goals, such as exercising, adopting a healthy diet, and applying relaxation techniques, among others. But the most important thing is to start now.