I'm 40 years old, a Father of 2 children, one with Down syndrome and Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. My wife had Stage 3C breast cancer a little less than 2 years ago. Medical bills from visiting UC Davis hospital, UCSF hospital, Stanford and our local hospital killed our financial security. Due to all of this happening at the same time, I ended up severally depressed, overweight, my memory started getting extremely bad (enough that I lost my job with a major bank as a Commercial Banker - and no, I'm not a bad banker rolling in money, I actually had a conscience), and we ended up losing the house and claiming BK (we never eat out, go on trips, or buy anything not absolutely needed, we tried to fight to keep afloat, but we just couldn't).
So after all of this, I started exercising more. I used to be an Endurance Mt Bike racer doing 24 hour events. I also competed in many centuries road riding. However, I stopped biking the past several years and started gaining weight. We also recently (within the last year) changed our diet to almost all organic foods, fresh fruits and veggies, limited red meat (and only non-hormone meats), use all non-rBst milk products, non-BPA plastic containers, juice with a pro-grade juicer, and limit TV and computer time. Here is a typical day of eating for me at 230lbs, 6'2", 40 years old...
Breakfast: 1 egg, 1 piece of wheat toast, 1 non-fat Greek yogurt with all natural ingredients
Lunch: Fresh veggie juice and piece of string cheese
mid afternoon snack: A few wheat pretzel sticks
Dinner: Typically a piece of chicken, some brown rice and some fresh veggies with a glass of low-fat milk
Desert: Either a yogurt or handful of dark choc chips from freezer
From doing this for almost a year, I have put on 25 lbs. I exercise 30 minutes to 60 minutes a day 2-4 times a week. So this got me thinking.
What I can figure out so far is that stress can increase or decrease cortisol levels. Cortisol is used to increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis; suppress the immune system; and aid in fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism. Also, long-term exposure to cortisol damages cells in the hippocampus; this damage results in impaired learning. Furthermore, it has been shown that cortisol inhibits memory retrieval of already stored information. These issues along with gastric issues and other symptoms, suggested that my cortisol levels are way out of whack due to chronic stress. I read an article on cortisol affecting weight loss and seem to remember it saying that even if you work out and burn more calories than you take in, the cortisol stores the fat in your body so you don't lose any weight, just muscle, and fat stores increase to make up for the muscle weight loss as well.
So I wanted to see if anyone has heard of this, had any experience, or suggestions besides what I am doing to try and lose some of this weight. I'm thinking I just need to turn into a workout King to get anywhere, but time and money keep that dream in the pipe for a while...
Thanks in advance for any input.
BTW, my wife is now cancer free (after 5 surgeries, 3 rounds of chemo and radiation, and reconstruction). My daughter is also doing better with some medications and exercise/diet changes. I also was just hired on after 6 months to a large bank with a bump in salary and benefits, so things are looking up! :^)
So after all of this, I started exercising more. I used to be an Endurance Mt Bike racer doing 24 hour events. I also competed in many centuries road riding. However, I stopped biking the past several years and started gaining weight. We also recently (within the last year) changed our diet to almost all organic foods, fresh fruits and veggies, limited red meat (and only non-hormone meats), use all non-rBst milk products, non-BPA plastic containers, juice with a pro-grade juicer, and limit TV and computer time. Here is a typical day of eating for me at 230lbs, 6'2", 40 years old...
Breakfast: 1 egg, 1 piece of wheat toast, 1 non-fat Greek yogurt with all natural ingredients
Lunch: Fresh veggie juice and piece of string cheese
mid afternoon snack: A few wheat pretzel sticks
Dinner: Typically a piece of chicken, some brown rice and some fresh veggies with a glass of low-fat milk
Desert: Either a yogurt or handful of dark choc chips from freezer
From doing this for almost a year, I have put on 25 lbs. I exercise 30 minutes to 60 minutes a day 2-4 times a week. So this got me thinking.
What I can figure out so far is that stress can increase or decrease cortisol levels. Cortisol is used to increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis; suppress the immune system; and aid in fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism. Also, long-term exposure to cortisol damages cells in the hippocampus; this damage results in impaired learning. Furthermore, it has been shown that cortisol inhibits memory retrieval of already stored information. These issues along with gastric issues and other symptoms, suggested that my cortisol levels are way out of whack due to chronic stress. I read an article on cortisol affecting weight loss and seem to remember it saying that even if you work out and burn more calories than you take in, the cortisol stores the fat in your body so you don't lose any weight, just muscle, and fat stores increase to make up for the muscle weight loss as well.
So I wanted to see if anyone has heard of this, had any experience, or suggestions besides what I am doing to try and lose some of this weight. I'm thinking I just need to turn into a workout King to get anywhere, but time and money keep that dream in the pipe for a while...
Thanks in advance for any input.
BTW, my wife is now cancer free (after 5 surgeries, 3 rounds of chemo and radiation, and reconstruction). My daughter is also doing better with some medications and exercise/diet changes. I also was just hired on after 6 months to a large bank with a bump in salary and benefits, so things are looking up! :^)