With your body? Your weight? What to eat? What NOT to eat?

So is the world around you!

The “skinny bitch” era couldn’t be more dominant in its form, overriding the minds of people, especially women- who are constantly haunted by this issue.

Besides the inner intuition, the overly cluttered ads on TV, internet, print and outdoor media adds to the stress, increasing apprehension. Internet in particular has the most number of ads that pop out of nowhere on your browser screen- with cheesy one liner’s and often misleading links. Unfortunately, even if you plan to take a holiday and chill-out for a bit, chances are you might catch a billboard on your way asking you to pop a pill to flaunt the excess fat.

In short: you’re ambushed. And what’s worse is that these “messages” cannot go unnoticed. So what’s to be done? Does being overly obsessed help?

Maybe not

According to Dr Melissa Conrad of medicinenet.com stress may promote weight gain and result in an adverse effect. In one of her recent article on the same website regarding stress and weight-loss, she says: “Cortisol (a critical hormone that is responsible for many actions in the body) has been termed the “stress hormone” and excess cortisol is secreted during times of physical or psychological stress. The normal pattern of cortisol secretion (with levels highest in the early morning and lowest at night) can be altered. This disruption of cortisol secretion may not only promote weight gain, but it can also affect where you put on the weight.”

Studies in the past have also shown that a happy person, who doesn’t stress too much, burns more calories than the obsessive kind.

Does this mean there is more to weight-loss than sweating it out?

As told to Psychology Today by Dr Mitchell Robin of New York City “The pressure we put on ourselves to succeed—and the self-criticism we indulge in when we fall short of the mark—can have dire emotional and dietary repercussions”- clearly indicating the negativity involved in stressful thinking.

On a healthier note, here’s what she asked the readers to do:

· Never hate yourself if you over eat

· Don’t evaluate yourself callously – go easy and start off with a “take-it-easy-attitude”

· Accept the needs of your body and treat it humanely- catering to its needs and also slowly cutting down on the amount.

· Gradual progress is the key to long term success- people who lose weight on a rash diet also gain back rapidly.

· And lastly, one should remain numb to social issues that might affect the thought process and continue with their routine and most importantly believe in themselves.

The skepticism surrounding the methodologies of healthy weight loss is something that can be cleared with many answers. In fact the not-so-new subject has had a vast array of studies being conducted even as the world moves on with a regular attitude towards work-out’s and diet. But what will be interesting to see is how seriously will this topic be perceived?

For Sarah Johnson, a regular at the midtown NYSC, articles featuring the psychological issues of health and weight loss are simply “not as important”.

“Honestly, to me a workout routine is very physical. When people start talking mind and body I kind of lose interest because eventually it all seems disconnected”

According to her and many others who follow a fitness routine strictly adhering to physical work out alone, overly detailed medical articles give information that is less than secondary. To them, stress and obsession act as a driving factor that will make them hit the gym at any time of the day and this discipline can never go wrong in its results.

However, this may not be entirely contradictory to what the studies have to say.

“There’s a very thin line” says Dr Anand a cardiologist from Lexington, Ky. “Discipline doesn’t necessarily mean they’re stressing it out too much. But, if you get upset and angry because you skipped an aerobic class and instead had a cheeseburger, then there’s clear indication of being stressed-out”. According to him stress is more a beginner’s characteristic as opposed to those who have a routine. “People start out enthusiastically and want to see results within days- this is when they push themselves beyond their capacity”

Dr Anand also indicated that the best way to a healthy work out is by combining mental relaxation and physical activity. “A combination of yoga and tread mill is my favorite. I have been an admirer of yoga for quiet sometime. A healthy heart needs this kind of combination”.

In all its forms, it’s evident that the stress factor plays a vital role during weight-loss. Clearly, it is something to be taken seriously and could also prove to be an element that makes or breaks your long term goals