"I'm always on the go. There is too much to do and my days are very hectic." Could that be you? And what has it to do with losing weight permanently over 40?

Stress can be a good thing. Stress hormones put ourselves on the fast track, we are energetic and powerful. However, long time stress is a severe health risk: Diabetes, hard attacks, high blood pressure etc. are correlated with stress.

Even worse: Stress makes you fat and keeps you from losing weight permanently. Endless stress encourages fat deposits on your abdomen and your hips- stress fat. Stress fat is the body's energy pool to react physically in stressful situations. This was very useful for our ancestors, facing natural challenges.

Today, we do not need to react to physical threats any longer. There is no need to fight wild animals. Today, our reactions need to be mental. So the stress fat sits on our bodies and doesn't get burned. Especially for women stress fat increases the risk for heart diseases, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, strokes, diabetes and cancer.

The adrenal glands release adrenalin in stressful situations. Your metabolism slows to make more energy accessible and the blood sugar level rises. Under lasting stress you burn less calories, preventing you from losing weight permanently. The changing blood sugar levels will result in feeling hungry- so you'll eat more while burning fewer calories.

When you are under stress, the hormone cortisol is released. It affects your muscles, bones and the immune system. It's much riskier to get an contagious disease. The bone density is getting less, making osteoporosis more likely. And the muscle mass is down, so you'll burn less fat.

Cortisol has another serious effect threatening your ability to lose weight permanently. The body's energy storage is filled up when your stress level is reduced. Cortisol will give you a voracious appetite then. Have you ever noted that in stress-reducing, relaxing phases you don't desire vegetables or fish, but high-calorie food, like sweets, ice cream, chocolate or cookies?

The longer fat cells are exposed to high cortisol levels, the sensitive they become. This process leads to a growing figure of fat cells- not a positive outlook if you want to lose weight permanently.

Continuous stress means endless hunger at a reduced metabolism. When we become older we usually accumulate more responsibilities- and accordingly more stress. You need to decrease your stress level if you want to lose weight permanently over 40.

If the stress level is high losing weight permanently is particularly tough for women over 40. Women over 40 frequently have periods of eating not enough, followed by periods of eating too much if they are chronically stressed. The perpetually shifting weight makes it hard to lose weight permanently for women over 40.