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• On the Blog Post When Exercise Can Cause Us to Gain Weight

  

  Neil Hansen

  1:13 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012

  Another reason one can have a lower threshold to stress is because of emotional stress. And one of the biggest emotional stressors, which can trigger the same stress response (HPA Axis), is taking the approach of trying to lose weight. The focus on trying to get rid of something negative, like the weight you want to lose, can trigger the stress response, thus making your body's tolerance to more intense exercise can cause overtraining--or better, "over-draining". Trying to get rid of the very thing you don't want causes you to focus on that very thing, which in turn causes you to program your subconscious to look more for the thing you don't want. The more you look for it, the more you trigger the stress response--among other neuro-chemical reactions (like leptin insensitivity). It's like trying not to think of a purple cow with white stripes. You can't know what NOT to think about without having to identify it first. The same goes for trying to lose weight--you have to focus on the thing you don't want to know it is gone. If you know where you would end up if you were successful you would change the neural patterning in your brain, thus your subconscious, and then finally, your neurochemistry (those relating mostly to stress) would reduce as well. It's like going to a travel agent and them asking you where you want to go and you say "not here". More stress on emotional stress leads to distress. More: http://fitness-werks.com/blog/how-setting-the-wrong-goal-can-make-you-fat-2

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