A fat pad can develop in the lower-neck and upper-back area, called a “buffalo hump.” 2 I believe the reason the body creates this is to anchor the belly so you don’t fall forward. Fat accumulation in the face gives a round or “moon face” appearance. 3 The face also has redness because of weakened blood vessels. Reddish purple striations (strips or bands resembling stretch marks) can appear on the stomach, thighs, buttocks, arms and breasts as well. This type of individual generally has a large midsection with thin arms and legs. The reason is very interesting. The adrenal stress hormone cortisol breaks down leg muscle and turns it into sugar. This is a stress response by the body to supply quick energy; if you were being chased by a lion, you would need this energy.
This sugar, if not completely burned up, will be converted to fat around the belly where the vital organs lie. The person’s legs could eventually become thinner and weaker too, particularly at the knees. Cortisol will also take muscle from the buttocks, causing loss of tone in that area. A common problem with the Adrenal type is the inability to fit into clothing, especially around the waist. Some people even wear elastic bands to hold the belly in, but this can constrict vital organs within the abdomen.
Cortisol can be very destructive on the body’s proteins, especially bone tissue, leading to “thinning of the bones” (osteoporosis). It steals these proteins to use them as fuel, and during stress mode the body will go after any type of fuel, even your own body tissue. This might explain why some people have difficulty losing weight on high-protein diets. High protein is supposed to trigger fat-burning hormones, but if the adrenals are releasing so much sugar from the tissues and even turning the muscles into sugar, these fat-burning hormones get blocked. In this state, the body is trying to increase its survival by holding on to fat energy around the vital organs in the stomach area and the face. Of course, the body doesn’t seem to care what the person will end up looking like. The face and eyes will become puffy, and a double chin and rounding of the face can develop.
In order to get into fat burning, there must be NO extra sugar or very limited sugar present in the blood. In the presence of sugar or refined carbohydrates, your body CANNOT and WILL NOT burn fat. 4 So, if the adrenals are constantly releasing sugar, how the heck are you supposed to lose weight? 5 In fact, sugar triggers the fat-storing hormone insulin, which will override all other fat-burning hormones and turn them off. The body will ALWAYS burn sugar in place of fat. In women, adrenal hormone increases can result in a deeper voice, facial hair and male-pattern hair loss (receding hair line)—but other than that, the person is totally fine! I’m kidding. They can really mess with a woman’s body.
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