As usual, I try to do something constructive during "off" hours, rather than just stare mindlessly at another cooking show. So, I've really been wondering why my size is descreasing, but it seems that my waist is lagging FAR BEHIND!
So, I went to the mighty guru Google and just typed in belly fat, and lo and behold, I found some amazing stuff, after wading through miracle pill twenty-four hour solutions! I'm still researching and am trying to get more organized, but I think I have found my answer- or at least part of it. Seems our body has a hormone called cortisol, which is very necessary and useful in normal amounts. But people with stress secrete more of the hormone, also known as the "flight or fight" hormone. We are supposed to become calm and let our cortisol level return to normal when the stress is over. But, if we don't, we retain excess amount of cortisol and it seems it plays a dirty trick on us- settles around our middle and tells us to eat more carbs!
There are those of us who are in a state of "chronic stress," that is nothing horrible, but some stress all the time and that seems to do the same thing as having a period of horrible stress that we don't relax after. According to what I'm reading, chronic stress can be something as simple as not sleeping well, just daily obligations that you never get relief from, constant pain from some nagging thing, not enough emotional support, etc.
So, now, I'm investigating more, especially how to relieve some of this stress in simple, non-expensive ways. And, of course a little more of the science involved. As soon as some of this is more organized in a coherent way, I'll post it. Meanwhile, this is just a brief look at this situation:
http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/cortisol.htm
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