Ray Says Belly Fat From High Stress Hormones -- Why?

[mayweatherking]

I read somewhere that ray said if you are high stress hormones, you will get increased belly fat. I actually noticed I had increased belly fat. However, when I think about it, it would make more sense that belly fat would be there if you lower cortisol since you won't be burning fat anymore, so it's possible you are getting more fat with less cortisol.

Does anyone know the reasoning behind that?

 

[NathanK]

Ill give a shot though over simplified and inexact. I hope others will chime in. Its not nearly as simple as you might think.

Under stress your body releases free fatty acids mobilized by cortisol and adrenaline. Your body continually does this regardless whether under low stress, while sleeping, or on the 10th mile of a marathon. What we want to avoid is excess stress hormones. if youre hypothyroid then your body is excessively using these stress hormones to compensate for low thyroid to generate glucose for energy production.

The less thyroid you have, the more your body needs to compensate for lost energy production. Your body does this via stress hormones, which liberate excess FFA to convert to glucose from your muscles (gluconeogenisis) and adipose tissue (likely full of PUFA and estrone to be converted to an active form of estrogen). In time, released antithyroid PUFA and estrogen in fat and the breakdown of prometabolic muscle through gluconeogenisis will further lower your metabolism. Fat also has increased cortisol "receptors" and I think stores the inactive form cortisone, which perpetuates the stress cascade.

Lowering stress hormones will slow down the release of excessive FFA full of PUFA and will allow your metabolism, and therefore your body, to heal over time and prevent further damage. Otherwise FFA will continue to wreck havock systematically throughout your body causing slow physical degeneration through progressively lowered metabolism.

Excess FFA leads to more estrogen-which leads to higher prolactin, lowered liver function (NAFL) and increased gut permeability, increased serotonin and other stress hormones, and lowered protective hormones like T3, testosterone, progesterone, etc. Its a downward cascade that will ultimately leave you fat and tired.

I assume the body stores the excess fat around the abdomen to serve as a physical protective barrier to vital organs though women tend to store more of the estrogenic fat around the hips and thighs.

 

[NathanK]

Anecdotal evidence: if I exercise too hard then I will actually put on weight. Heavy weight lifting will anabolically increase muscle but not have much less effect on burning fat tissue due to increased cortisol.

The same will happen by excessive stress hormones created by too much stimulation from caffeine. Even things like ECA stacks, created for fat loss, can cause fat gain because too much stress hormones may be saturating andrenegic "receptors". One guess is that the blood gets saturated with FFA and causes the body to store them in adipose and triglycerides because it cant expel them fast enough (or as noted below it causes the body to not be able utilize them).

Very interesting: http://m.care.diabetesjournals.org/cont ... 2/399.full

They state that relative high dose caffeine can cause insulin desensitivity potentially leading to diabetes. They dont say it exactly (but they do hypothesize), but when FFA get too execessive from excessive stress hormones it blocks insulin receptivity for an undetermined amount of time. Diabetes is a progressive disease of less and less insulin receptivity. Less insulin sensitivity will definitely cause you to gain weight.

 

[Nicholas]

post 111807 if I exercise too hard then I will actually put on weight.

post 111807 The same will happen by excessive stress hormones created by too much stimulation from caffeine.

i have the same experience in both scenarios....but isn't there also room to consider that some of that weight is not fat or muscle?

 

[Westside PUFAs]

High stress hormones can do many things. If you then go through a low stress period and still have bellyfat then that shows that bellyfat is a result of your metabolism and what you eat. Men store fat mostly around their belly. Walk around a city and look at men with bellyfat and look at what they eat in the food court or at a restaurant. It's the food.

 

[NathanK]

post 111808

post 111807 if I exercise too hard then I will actually put on weight.

post 111807 The same will happen by excessive stress hormones created by too much stimulation from caffeine.

i have the same experience in both scenarios....but isn't there also room to consider that some of that weight is not fat or muscle?

If its from weight lifting, it could also be your body is growing or swelling and possibly retaining water. If its from stimulants, I was hypothesizing that it's from excessive FFA lowering insulin sensitivity=fat

 

[Nicholas]

post 111810

post 111808

post 111807 if I exercise too hard then I will actually put on weight.

post 111807 The same will happen by excessive stress hormones created by too much stimulation from caffeine.

i have the same experience in both scenarios....but isn't there also room to consider that some of that weight is not fat or muscle?

If its from weight lifting, it could also be your body is growing or swelling and possibly retaining water. If its from stimulants, I was hypothesizing that it's from excessive FFA lowering insulin sensitivity=fat

when i overdo stimulants or experience high stress, (even in a matter of a couple days) i notice my body can get more jiggly along with a little heavier....so i've always thought that to be something other than fat, but maybe retaining water. whereas, with excess aerobic exercise i've noticed slowly building fat - takes longer to develop and is not a jiggle-factor.

 

[NathanK]

post 111813

post 111810

post 111808

post 111807 if I exercise too hard then I will actually put on weight.

post 111807 The same will happen by excessive stress hormones created by too much stimulation from caffeine.

i have the same experience in both scenarios....but isn't there also room to consider that some of that weight is not fat or muscle?

If its from weight lifting, it could also be your body is growing or swelling and possibly retaining water. If its from stimulants, I was hypothesizing that it's from excessive FFA lowering insulin sensitivity=fat

when i overdo stimulants or experience high stress, (even in a matter of a couple days) i notice my body can get more jiggly along with a little heavier....so i've always thought that to be something other than fat, but maybe retaining water. whereas, with excess aerobic exercise i've noticed slowly building fat - takes longer to develop and is not a jiggle-factor.

Rataining water/edema is a stressed cell reaction. Id lower stress. Turn that "cardio" into simple walking or yoga (if you do that). Stress comes in a lot of forms, but its all stress. Our current health determines how we can handle it individually. A healthier person not as saturated or adapted to stress hormones (maybe a younger you) would not have that kind of response. Sounds like youre overdoing it even if you think you might be taking it "light" compared to others or your past self. Most of us on this forum have a lower tolerance for additional stress because we already have so much going on systematically due our current physiological (and often emotional) state. Im personally at the conclusion, that its best to master lowering stress before adding more in if that makes sense. Caffeine and exercise will help us to heal, but I think many of us can be a little too zealous in our attemp to get better NOW. lol.

 

[Nicholas]

post 111818

post 111813

post 111810

post 111808

post 111807 if I exercise too hard then I will actually put on weight.

post 111807 The same will happen by excessive stress hormones created by too much stimulation from caffeine.

i have the same experience in both scenarios....but isn't there also room to consider that some of that weight is not fat or muscle?

If its from weight lifting, it could also be your body is growing or swelling and possibly retaining water. If its from stimulants, I was hypothesizing that it's from excessive FFA lowering insulin sensitivity=fat

when i overdo stimulants or experience high stress, (even in a matter of a couple days) i notice my body can get more jiggly along with a little heavier....so i've always thought that to be something other than fat, but maybe retaining water. whereas, with excess aerobic exercise i've noticed slowly building fat - takes longer to develop and is not a jiggle-factor.

Rataining water/edema is a stressed cell reaction. Id lower stress. Turn that "cardio" into simple walking or yoga (if you do that). Stress comes in a lot of forms, but its all stress. Our current health determines how we can handle it individually. A healthier person not as saturated or adapted to stress hormones (maybe a younger you) would not have that kind of response. Sounds like youre overdoing it even if you think you might be taking it "light" compared to others or your past self. Most of us on this forum have a lower tolerance for additional stress because we already have so much going on systematically due our current physiological (and often emotional) state. Im personally at the conclusion, that its best to master lowering stress before adding more in if that makes sense. Caffeine and exercise will help us to heal, but I think many of us can be a little too zealous in our attemp to get better NOW. lol.

i actually don't choose to do any exercise besides bodyweight strength building occasionally. the part i can't choose at the moment is my job (physically strenuous in a cardio sense....but also anaerobic). i've managed to meet the demands for the most part....but i know it's made things more difficult to heal and work out.