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In this episode of the Fit for Hiking Podcast, I dive into how chronic stress and cortisol imbalances might be secretly stalling your fat loss, strength gains, or overall health—even when you're doing everything "right." I share the physical and emotional signs of high and low cortisol, how to spot the difference, and practical tips to manage stress naturally. If you're active, outdoorsy, and want sustainable results, this episode will help you understand what your body truly needs.
For next level fat loss strategies, hormone/gut health help, serious performance goals and unparalleled support, apply for Mountain Metabolic coaching. Learn more HERE.
For next level fat loss strategies, hormone/gut health help, serious performance goals and unparalleled support, apply for Mountain Metabolic coaching. Learn more HERE.
For more free wellness resources, hiking/travel guides, and other blog posts, check out my website HERE.
What is Fit for Hiking?
Where fitness and outdoors meet. In this space we chat all things hiking, exercise, wellness, adventure, motherhood, and metabolic health from a female perspective! Get ready to learn + be inspired to live your fullest, most adventurous life!
How Stress Secretly Sabotaging Your Results? What to Do About It
Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a long time fitness professional and midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. And combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for hiking podcast. Hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the fit for Hiking podcast. This is your host, Brady. And today we're going to be talking about the effects of stress, how stress can potentially sabotage your results in the gym, what you're working on physique wise and with your health, and how to kind of know what's going on stress wise. If it's high stress, if it's chronic, low stress and what to do about it. Ultimately, I feel like in the fitness space, stress and cortisol are kind of buzzwords right now. And so I really want to get to the root of how do you know if you actually have an issue with stress versus maybe you're just not kind of doing those foundational things that actually will get you the results, right? Because we don't want to just blame lack of progress on stress or hormones or things like that when we're not actually putting in the work. So let's dive into it so we can really differentiate, differentiate between do I need to take a closer look at my stress, or do I need to focus on the foundational things first? Okay, so let's dive into it. First of all. I want to say that it's really important that you are already in a solid fitness routine, right before you really like getting nitpicky with this stuff and decide to run tests and things like that. First, you really need to be lifting weights at least three times a week, consistently for weeks, months on end. Before you decide I have an issue with stress. Okay, so lifting working out at least three times a week for months on end, optimally at least like a year. Um, walking consistently, basically every single day, really prioritizing that non exercise movement. Um, spending time outside, watching your diet, actually keeping track of like kind of what you're eating to see if you are eating in a range that aligns with your goals, whether that's in a calorie deficit, that maintenance or in a surplus. Right. So make sure that you're looking at all of these things first and doing those consistently first, ideally with a coach before you're like, oh my gosh, Clearly, stress is just ruining everything for me because there's a really big difference between making that diagnosis when you haven't done anything else for your health versus when you've already done all of these things and you're still feeling stuck. Okay, so this is for the person that's like already crushing it in the gym, crushing it with their steps, looking into their nutrition, really being diligent with their food quality as well as monitoring portion sizes and quantity. Um, and still they're like, not feeling their best. Definitely struggling with, um, some of these effects that we're about to go over of high stress or low stress. So first let's talk about high cortisol. So this is someone who chronically is stressed out. And experiencing hyper cortisol is another word for high cortisol. So here are some of the physical symptoms of this weight gain especially around the abdomen or face often called moon face and upper back. So if you have kind of like that round very inflamed Lamed face. Um, that can definitely be a symptom of like high cortisol, high inflammation, thinning skin or easily bruising, muscle weakness, acne or skin issues, missed periods or irregular cycles. If you're noticing that your cycle is really irregular, that's definitely a sign of high stress. Increased facial or body hair, high blood pressure, appetite changes like you're just not hungry at all in the morning when you should be, um, elevated blood sugar or insulin resistance eventually, and then slow wound healing. So those are all signs of high cortisol physical symptoms. Some of the more mental or emotional symptoms are things like anxiety or panic attacks, irritability, constantly feeling on edge or like you're in that heightened state of like fight or flight. Um, trouble sleeping, especially waking up around 2 to 4 a.m., brain fog and low libido. So now let's talk about low cortisol. Hypo cortisol. Um, so really how this happens is as a result of being high cortisol for so long that now your body's struggling to produce enough cortisol. Okay. So this doesn't just happen overnight. This is for someone who's like, chronically, extremely overstressed, overworked, not getting good sleep. Um, constantly in that that heightened nervous system state for like months or even years on end unknowingly. And then your body gets into this place of, um, low cortisol production because it's just been too stressed out for too long. Right? You reach a place of burnout. So here are some of the physical symptoms of low cortisol. Chronic fatigue even after sleep. Like no matter how much sleep you're getting, you're just freaking exhausted, even after looking into like, sleep quality and really working on improving this. Unexplained weight loss. Low blood pressure or dizziness when standing up, craving salt, shakiness between meals or low blood sugar, nausea or GI distress, joint muscle or pain. And then some of the mental or emotional symptoms are just a poor mood, like you're just constantly feeling down. Depression, lack of motivation, brain fog, feeling emotionally numb, sleep disturbances, and especially trouble waking up in the morning. So just know it might be a sacrifice for you for a time, especially if you're someone who loves those high stress type of workouts. But unfortunately, typically people who struggle with high cortisol love those types of workouts because it feels so good to exhaust yourself like that. But really, it's doing the opposite of benefiting your health. Okay, so it might just be an adjustment you have to make for a little while. Um, breathing techniques definitely looking looking into things like meditation or breathing apps. Um, daily sunlight ideally getting like 15 to 30 minutes of morning sunlight to really set your circadian rhythm in a proper manner. Um, setting boundaries, reducing over commitment, saying no more often. Um, and then phone detox, limiting screens, social media, things that stimulate your brain, especially before bed, and really establishing a solid nighttime routine to get your brain into a relaxed state of mind. Nutrition tips. Balancing blood sugar so making sure that you're eating protein, fat, and fiber all together at every single meal versus just having like, these high sugar, high carb meals without a protein or a fat paired with it, and avoid skipping meals. Or just like running on caffeine all morning while fasting. Those are some of the worst things that you can do if you are chronically high. Cortisol. Um, again, just limiting caffeine, not needing to have tons of energy drinks and grabbing a morning coffee and then a mid-morning coffee and then an afternoon coffee. Um, you really want to avoid that, especially on an empty stomach. Trying to set a caffeine limit can be really beneficial to, um, focusing on magnesium rich foods. So these would be things like spinach, pumpkin seeds, dark chocolate and avocado. You can also look for magnesium supplements in the form of like, um, powders that you put in water before bed. Um, or just regular pill supplements. Ashwagandha is another great adaptogens that can help regulate stress, and this might be something that you want to check with, like a practitioner or a doctor about. But in general, ashwagandha is known to help with inflammation and stress. Okay, now let's talk about lifestyle strategies and nutrition tips for low cortisol. So gentle um, movement consistently is going to be important. So morning walks, light strength training not a ton of overexertion. Okay. Your body does not need that right now. Morning sunlight again signaling cortisol production to rise naturally in the morning and then slowly taper off throughout the day, as it should. Um, stress management really finding some good techniques such as therapy, creative hobbies, journaling, being outside in nature, doing things that really fill your cup. Sleep hygiene. Going to bed before 10:00 pm if possible. Avoiding avoiding blue light at night. Uh, blue light blocking glasses can be amazing for this, especially if you do enjoy like watching TV or, um, reading on a Kindle or looking at your phone before bedtime and having like a set time to set aside devices. So if you're trying to be asleep by ten, maybe you say at 930, my devices are going away. At that point, I'm just going to focus on slowing down my brain, maybe doing my skincare routine, doing some things that help me get into that relaxed state of mind. Um, and then taking naps, really focusing on restoring restoration and giving your body a break during this time, if you're trying to get chronically low cortisol under control. Now's not the time to hustle. It's not the time to hit it hard. You can do that again later. But first you got to get this under control. Nutrition tips for low cortisol would be eating every 3 to 4 hours. Avoid fasting or skipping meals. Adding salt to your food. This will help with the low blood pressure and electrolyte balance. Supportive nutrients are going to be things like vitamin C, which can be found in bell peppers, citrus fruits and broccoli. B vitamins found in things like eggs, meats and legumes, and then electrolytes and things like bone broth, coconut water and sea salt, and then licorice root if you have very, very low cortisol. But this is another one where you might want to do this under the guidance of a practitioner, um, for either low or high cortisol, no matter what, if you feel like your cortisol is off. There's a few things that you need to do. So one is to start to become aware of the people, tasks, habits, mindsets, things in your life that are constantly keeping you in a stressed out state. Be really honest about it, because I think oftentimes we live in the stressed out state where we don't even know that we're in fight or flight because we're so used to feeling stressed, because we maybe have a stressful home environment, and then we get in the car and we're in stressful traffic, and then we go to a stressful job, and then we're on our phone and getting overstimulated, and our brain is like, on overdrive and we're comparing ourselves to other people. were feeling like we're never doing enough, we're never successful enough, and it's just never ending. And then we're getting poor sleep on top of it. So it's like this vicious cycle where we're just constantly stressed out because we were never meant to experience the level of stimulation and busyness that we have in today's society. So it's no wonder we're all stressed out. But you really have to start by becoming aware of like, what are the biggest drains on you when it comes to your stress? Is it a certain person? Maybe you need to look at distancing yourself and putting in proper boundaries. Are there certain habits in your day maybe just sitting and scrolling on your phone anytime you have free time is what you feel like a stress relieving activity, but in reality, it's not doing anything to help your stress levels. It's actually heightening your stress. So how can you replace that with something, um, actually restful that's going to fill your cup? Are there certain mindset patterns that have you just completely feeling like crap about yourself that leads to this constant stress, right? Really identify those things. It might be helpful to just get a notebook out and write like your top ten stressors on a daily basis and look at, okay, what can I do? What boundaries can I put in place? What swaps can I make realistically to help lower some of these stressful components in my day to day life? Um, and then also identifying coping mechanisms that do promote your happy hormone production and get you out of that fight or flight state of nervous system in mind, because that's really important. Making that switch from being in fight or flight to rest and digest and truly being able to, um, feel that switch and not spend our entire life in that fight or flight state is going to be huge. So we need to figure out what are those things for me. So some of mine are reading, going for a walk by myself. Sometimes going for a walk with my family is like a little bit stress producing, depending on everybody's moods. So sometimes I just need to go for a walk by myself. Spending time in nature, sitting on my deck, um, cooking when I don't have a ton of like, distractions or stress can be, um, really nice and relaxing for me. Um, taking a hot shower at the end of the day and just having that me time. Things like that. Calling a friend, things that are going to produce dopamine and serotonin for you, and, um, oxytocin as well. So looking for those things in your own life and trying to implement them as often as possible. Um, a few other tips would be go back and listen to episode 43. This is about stress and exercise. How much is too much? If this is something that you tend to struggle with and you like to really push it with your workouts, but you find that you're not really actually seeing the results despite doing like Tuesdays and all these intense F45 style classes, or CrossFit, or running and training for marathons all the time, and then doing hit on top of it, if you're not seeing the progress that you want, and you're noticing some of those symptoms of high stress that we talked about in this episode, um, I definitely would check out episode 43 and hopefully that will provide further insights for you. Um, episode 66 also is how to optimize your cortisol. So a perfectly laid out day for optimal cortisol production. Ideally, you want your cortisol curve to be, um, where it peaks in the morning and then it slowly tapers off throughout the day. So how do we accomplish that? Definitely go back and listen to episode 66. That will be very, very helpful for you. And then ultimately, if you're still feeling like, okay, I think I need some answers, Then I would look into a four point cortisol saliva test, or a Dutch test to show your cortisol rhythm throughout the day. That's how you're going to know if things are off. And that's going to be much more helpful than like a single blood test. So those types of testing I definitely would look into. We love doing Dutch tests with our Mountain Metabolic clients who feel that something is off because they're much more comprehensive than other tests. So that's something that we can absolutely provide within the program. If you feel like something is definitely off despite doing all of the right things. All right, you guys, I hope that this deep dive into stress and cortisol has been helpful for you. If you feel like you want to talk more about this and learn about what we can offer you within Mountain Metabolic Coaching to help you work towards getting your cortisol balanced and getting your body composition where you want it, your health where you want it. Then hit the apply link in the show notes and I will book a discovery call with you to kind of chat about what's going on with you, what your goals look like, and if the program is going to be a good fit for you. Um, and as always, if you can leave us a rating and review, we really appreciate it. Um, every little bit of that, um, good promotion really, really helps keep the show going. And also, it makes my day when I really feel like what I'm doing here is helpful to those of you who are listening. So thank you so much for tuning in. Um, if you'd like to chat, you can also message us at the Fit Underscore for Hiking Instagram page and we'd love to talk with you there. Let me know what you're enjoying on the show. If there's a certain topic that you would like to hear about. Thanks for tuning in you guys, and I will chat with you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning into this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this, be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Pony Tail Underscore on a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at Pony Tail on Etrailer.com. Happy and healthy Trails.