Woman Gains 20 Kg In A Year Due To 'Work Stress'. Here's What She Did Next

A Chinese woman stated that work-related stress caused her to gain 20 kilogrammes in a single year. After working for a year, 24-year-old Ouyang Wenjing of the Guangdong region in southern China reported on her Xiaohongshu page that her weight had climbed from 60 kg to 80 kg. The woman said that her employment had turned into a “disaster” for her psychological and physical well-being, but she did not disclose the name of her employer or the specifics of her work. The report has reignited online debates regarding “overwork obesity,” a phrase used to characterise weight increase brought on by stress at work.

Wenjing said she was “feeling much better” after quitting her job in June in an interview with news portal Star Video. She said that in addition to frequently working overtime and having erratic hours, she also bought takeaway for every meal.

She said that during her time in secondary school, her weight was 105 kg. Over the next four years, she lost 45 kg of weight, but her current employment had ruined her attempts to lose weight and she had begun to put it back on.

“Overwork obesity” in China is often linked to irregular lifestyles, lengthy work hours and workplace pressure.

South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that Wenjing, who has 41,000 Xiaohongshu followers, is presently working as a freelance weight reduction influencer.

She also changed her diet, cutting back on sugar and fat and concentrating on well-balanced meals that included grains, proteins and veggies. After these adjustments, SCMP reported that she shed 6 kg in just one month.

Chinese media outlet Health Times was informed by Zuo Xiaoxia, a physician at the People’s Liberation Army No 309 Hospital’s Nutrition Department, that late meals, binge eating and sleep deprivation are the causes of “overwork obesity.”

She advised individuals to try eating less meat and more vegetables and to avoid letting work get in the way of their normal mealtimes. To keep in shape, she also advised exercising.

Even though China’s labour laws stipulate that workers shouldn’t put in more than 40 hours a week at work, a lot of businesses often violate these regulations.