Symptoms of anxiety can lead to changes in your metabolism, decreased food intake, increased body movement, changes in bowel functioning, and increased muscle tension, all potentially leading to weight loss.
When you have intense anxiety you start to lose your appetite. You begin to feel as though you're genuinely not hungry and eat much less than you need to. You may not even realize how little you're eating, but in essence, you're starving yourself, and that can cause massive weight loss very quickly.
Stress and weight loss
Stress is known to cause a loss of appetite for some people, meaning that they end up eating less food. The circumstances surrounding the stress may also lead to poor eating habits – for instance, if you're working long shifts or irregular hours, you may not find the time to cook for yourself.
For example, a 140 pound person can lose 20 to 40 pounds over the course of a few months. The heavier you are, the more likely it is that you'll lose more weight. On average, it's not uncommon to lose 10 to 15 percent of your overall body weight due to anxiety and the chronic stress it causes.
Causes of unintentional weight loss
It can also be caused by malnutrition, a health condition or a combination of things. Some causes of unintentional weight loss include: mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
Anxiety disorders can trigger weight loss in some people. Research suggests that this might be due to increased metabolism during high anxiety periods and certain anti-anxiety medications that cause weight loss as a side effect.
But many health care providers agree that a medical evaluation is called for if you lose more than 5% of your weight in 6 to 12 months, especially if you're an older adult. For example, a 5% weight loss in someone who is 160 pounds (72 kilograms) is 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms).
About 60 out of 100 people with lung cancer (60%) have a loss of appetite and significant weight loss at the time of their diagnosis. In people with upper gastrointestinal cancer, this number is 80 out of 100 people (80%). Upper gastrointestinal cancers include: food pipe (oesophagus) cancer.
As a rule of thumb, losing more than 5% of your weight over 6 to 12 months may indicate a problem.
You would need to consume only 500-1,000 calories per day, which is an extremely low amount and likely not sustainable or healthy for most people. In fact, trying to lose 5 kg in one week is generally not realistic or healthy.
Depression can cause a loss of appetite, which may lead to weight loss. However, depression may instead cause an increase in appetite and therefore weight gain. Researchers now describe two types of depression: Type 1: Symptoms of type 1 include a loss of appetite, weight loss, insomnia, and suicidal thoughts.
Insufficient sleep is associated with higher levels of the hormone ghrelin, which increases appetite, and lower levels of the hormone leptin, which leads to feeling less full. This sets people up to gain weight.
Losing weight helps improve many aspects of your emotional health, such as sleep, energy, vitality, and mood. All of these can have a direct impact on your confidence, personal outlook, body image, sex life, and social life.
Serotonin is important for weight loss because it is essentially nature's appetite suppressant. It curbs your appetite, decreases food cravings, and makes you feel satisfied. If your serotonin levels are imbalanced, you may have difficulty controlling what you eat in order to lose weight.
Additionally, losing weight can improve physical health, which can boost self-esteem and overall well-being. This can lead to a positive cycle of improved self-esteem, increased motivation and continued weight loss. Weight loss can also improve mental health by reducing the risk of depression and anxiety.
This can be boiled down to good genes with a high metabolism, although experts say nutritional and behavioural factors could play a part to stave off the extra pounds of a person's body weight.
Unexplained Weight Loss
If you lose more than 5% of your weight in 6 to 12 months, tell your doctor, especially if you're an older adult. That would be about 8 pounds if you weigh 150, or 10 pounds if you weigh 200. Sudden weight loss without a reason can be a sign of a health problem.
Specifically, rapid weight loss can indicate a wide range of internal problems, such as mental health issues like anxiety or stress, autoimmune issues, thyroid imbalances, and more.
Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat. The fat loss from around the organs makes you leaner and stronger.