Does stress cause weight loss?

For many people, “life is stressful” is an understatement. 

Sometimes, stress can become overwhelming and unbearable. Stress affects your mood, sleep, sex drive, and even hair. And, it can seriously mess with your appetite, cravings, and eating habits too — leading to weight loss or weight gain. 

Below we explore the relationship between stress and weight loss (as well as weight gain), and offer suggestions for healthy ways to reduce your stress levels.

Weight loss

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Yes, stress can cause weight loss, primarily by activating your fight or flight response. If you’ve ever ridden a roller coaster, you know what a rush of adrenaline can feel like. But when your body senses a threat — whether it’s a roaring lion or a rude email from your coworker — that same response gets triggered. Here’s how it works.

When you experience stress, your body releases epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol, the stress hormone. Your body suppresses nonessential functions, like your digestive and reproductive systems, so you can focus exclusively on the threat. At the same time, your adrenal glands keep on releasing cortisol, revving up your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. While these actions prepare your body to face the threat, they also happen to burn calories — in addition to the calories you burn as cortisol sources more energy to deal with the threat. 

Live with stress long enough that it becomes chronic, and your body will adapt by releasing elevated levels of stress hormones. Over time, this can lead to health issues like fatigue, burnout, depression, anxiety, and even a weakened immune system or heart disease.

There are several ways stress can lead to weight loss. You may be so busy with work that you skip lunch. One study found a link between high job stress and weight loss in men. Or maybe you’re so emotionally overwhelmed that you just don’t have the heart to eat. Let’s look at some of the causes of stress-related weight loss.

Gastrointestinal discomfort

Stress can cause changes in your eating behaviors, and preliminary research suggests that it might affect hormone levels that cause either weight gain or weight loss. In some people, stress might stimulate the release of leptin, or the satiety hormone, so they may eat less when they’re stressed, but more research is needed here. 

What’s more common is that stress can cause gastrointestinal symptoms that make eating less enjoyable, such as:

• Stomach pain or indigestion

• Bloating

• Gas

• Diarrhea

• Nausea

• Burping

• Heartburn

Vigorous exercise

While using exercise as a stress management technique can be super healthy and helpful, it is possible to overdo it. Working out too hard can increase stress and inflammation, worsening fatigue and mood. Even if you’re not overdoing it, you may be pushing harder during your workouts to blow off steam, which can lead to unintentional weight loss. 

Also, some people react to stressful situations by moving more, period. Anxious finger tapping, knee bouncing, pacing around the room, and other kinds of fidgeting can expend energy, too, leading to more burned calories and weight loss. 

Not enough sleep

If you’re losing sleep over your stress, that can also lead to weight loss. Too little sleep can wreak havoc on your circadian rhythms, the internal 24-hour body clock that dictates not just your sleep cycles, but also your appetite, sex drive, and other aspects of your physical health. Sleep disruptions can also mess with your cortisol production, affecting your metabolism or eating habits.

If you are not overweight and don’t actively try to lose weight, a little weight loss here and there may not be anything to worry about. But, if you’re noticing a significant amount of unexplained weight loss — particularly without any obvious cause — make an appointment with your healthcare provider, especially if you’re experiencing other signs of stress, like headaches or emotional eating.

Yes, stress can also do the opposite. It can cause weight gain and stymie weight loss efforts. While some people respond to stress by eating less, others eat more and gain weight. Levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, may increase, leading to emotional eating and changing how your brain responds to food. The more you rely on comfort foods for relief, the more your brain starts to crave them for stress relief, creating a vicious cycle.

Research has found that stress can disturb sleep, increase your appetite (along with cravings for junk foods), and reduce your motivation to work out. Stress not only influences what you feel like eating, but it also impacts your body’s metabolic response to unhealthy food. For example, people who are stressed or depressed tend to eat fewer fruits and vegetables. Instead, they may eat more snacks, sweets, and fast foods. 

If your stress is disrupting your sleep, as stress often does, you may find yourself increasing your food intake, especially from snacks or overeating. In fact, sleep is a predictor of weight loss success.

No matter if stress triggers you to eat more and gain weight, or restricts your appetite and makes you shed some pounds, stress is never healthy. Try these tips for relieving stress.

1. Make sure you’re eating

It sounds obvious, but all those meals you skip due to stress can worsen how you feel. Make time for a few meals each day and stick to a regular eating schedule. Don’t skip meals, and refuel with a snack after you exercise. 

In many ways, you are what you eat, so try to opt for healthier, stress-reducing foods when possible. For example, fruits and vegetables are associated with a more positive mood, and less inflammation and oxidative stress. 

Avoid foods high in fat, sugar, and sodium that can increase inflammation, cause blood sugar crashes, and make stress feel worse. Instead, spice up your diet with the following foods:

• Leafy greens rich in vitamin B, which can help calm your nerves

• Soybeans, whole grains, and complex carbohydrates may help increase your serotonin levels and improve sleep

• Mood-boosting omega-3 fatty acids, found in nuts, flax seed, salmon, and tuna

• Magnesium for better sleep and less fatigue

2. Practice relaxation techniques

There is a whole world of relaxation techniques out there. Explore and see what works for you.

According to one study, progressive muscle relaxation may make it easier to stick to a healthy diet. With progressive muscle relaxation, you start at your toes and slowly work your way up your body, squeezing each body part for five seconds, before relieving the tension for 10 seconds. 

Different types of meditation can also relieve stress, from repeating a positive mantra to mindfulness meditations, which help you tune into the here and now. You might try guided imagery, where you transport yourself mentally to another place, imagining the sights, smells, and sounds you might feel while gently swaying in a hammock by the beach, or sitting underneath a big, leafy tree. Guided imagery has been shown to relieve stress and anxiety, and improve well-being. 

Deep breathing exercises can help your body understand it’s safe to let go of the fight-or-flight response. Simply take long deep breaths, or practice 2:1 breathing — taking twice as long to exhale as you do to inhale. One study found that doing this twice a day for a little over five minutes significantly reduced blood pressure. Or, try box breathing, where you inhale for four, hold for four, exhale for four, and hold for four. 

3. Make time to sleep

Getting enough sleep can reduce your cortisol levels and help regulate your appetite, making it easier to choose healthier foods. Try to get at least seven to eight hours of sleep per night. 

You can use tools to relax into sleep, like eye masks, earplugs, sleep meditation, or a white noise playlist.

4. Keep working out

If you're able to exercise, do what you can to keep up your exercise routine. Stress may make you feel less motivated to work out, but physical activity can work wonders for your mental health and stress levels. Working out reduces stress, with stress-relieving effects that last for several hours after your workout ends. Further, research shows that moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise can help keep you from reaching for unhealthy foods as a way to cope with stress.  

The World Health Organization recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise.

5. Seek support from others

Finally, reach out to the people who care about you. Lean on your family and friends for support. They love you and want to help you get through what is troubling you. 

If your stress is significantly interfering with your quality of life, consider therapy. From cognitive-behavioral therapy to exposure therapy, there are a number of options you can try to explore the root of your stress and develop healthy coping strategies to manage it and feel more at ease in your daily life.

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Every article on Health Guide goes through rigorous fact-checking by our team of medical reviewers. Our reviewers are trained medical professionals who ensure each article contains the most up-to-date information, and that medical details have been correctly interpreted by the writer.

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Current version

May 17, 2023

Written by

Amelia Willson

Fact checked by

Felix Gussone, MD

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About the medical reviewer

Felix Gussone, MD, Ro

Felix Gussone is a physician, health journalist and a Manager, Medical Content & Education at Ro.