Ten weeks ago, during a dental continuing education course, I accepted a dare to discover if controlling the stress in my life would decrease my waist size. The speaker asked me to stand up so everyone in the room could see me.
Nervous about being put on the spot, I slowly stood up.
He asked me if I ate correctly and exercised regularly. I stated that I did.
He asked if I was pleased with my weight. I told him that I was not. I gain and lose the same ten pounds weekly. I have muscular legs, arms, and back, but I have a pretty good-sized beer gut. This is frustrating since I don’t drink BEER!
He renamed my beer gut. He said it is called ‘stress-gut.‘ He said I was the perfect example of a physically fit person who was in a chronically stressed state.
That day he gave me a dare.
He asked me to measure my waist. Then spend the next ten weeks researching stress and its effect upon the body. During this time, I would strategically control the stress in my life. After ten weeks, he asked me to measure my waist again.
Ten weeks later, I lost three inches off my waist! I did not change my exercising strategy, but I DID change one thing in my diet. I stopped drinking milk. During my research, I read that milk can increase sinus problems, and I definitely had sinus problems.
As documented in my past blog posts, this is what I did to combat stress…
Week one I learned to recognize stress in my life. Since we live with stress everyday, it becomes our norm. We must learn to recognize when we are under stress, so we can battle it. Once I learned to recognize when my body was under stress, I was could control my breathing, relax, and deal with whatever was causing me the stress.
Week Two I re-discovered hobbies. I found ways to spend my time to counteract the stress I felt during the day. More importantly, I had to learn to carve out time during every day to enjoy these hobbies.
Week Three – my dog, Nakita taught me how to be completely still…to do NOTHING. I am never still, even when I sleep. I take time now every day to be still and contemplate.
Week Four – A frog taught me that when the going gets tough and the task seems impossible….I should roll over on my back and float it out. I don’t have to be in charge in every situation and in control over all the people in my life. I found that if I hold my tongue and quit stepping in to save everyone, life will go on!
Week Five – I learned to put up boundaries and confront people. This was actually the hardest step but the one that paid off the most!
I spent the next five weeks concentrating on these five tips. I learned quickly that these tips were not a quick-fix. I must learn to live by these rules every day to combat stress.
Ten weeks later, I am three inches smaller. I know! It sounds incredible, but it works. In addition, my blood pressure has decreased, and I dropped three pounds.
Stress can make you fat. Control your stress to control your weight!
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