The FastDay Forum

If I remember right, you have anxiety problems unrelated to the dieting as well. Is that right? I struggle with anxiety and panic attacks. I'm medicated now and it's made a world of difference. I don't have the thoughts about it that you do, but I pretty sure I'd have similar thoughts as you do if I'd tried IF before being diagnosed and treated.

So with that background out of the way, I think you have the right attitude and plan. Think too much about something and we get caught up in the worries about what might happen. It's exhausting when the mind works overtime. The trick is to avoid that if at all possible. I've eased into this WoE and experimented. It helps me to keep my focus on that rather than the factors that tripped you up your first try. I look forward to reading your blog.

Hi Sophie,

Lovely to see you back here again. Be kind to yourself, just take things easy, enjoy all the chit chat here and being art of this world, put no pressure on yourself and you may find that gradually, you may start to want to get into the whole thing again, least way or another. I agree that if you have more than enough on your plate, pun intended, then any extra stress can be just TOO MUCH!

Relax, have a glass of wine and just go with the flow but please keep posting, there are enough topics on here to keep you busy without ever going near dieting,

Ballerina x

Ah, there you are Sophie, I wondered where you had gone, I've missed you! You remind me so much of when I was younger and my children were young and I was so stressed out with life in general, in the end I had to have some medication to help with my anxieties and for quite a while too. Not enough money, children upset at school, meals to cook which everybody (husband and three kids) would ALL eat, the list goes on and on. When you are overwhelmed with life in general (and when you look around, everybody else seems to be coping fine!) it only takes one more thing to try and do and you feel as though you are folding. All I want to say to you is that it does get better and easier eventually as you get older and wiser!
Don't make this diet to difficult.
Five days eat sensibly.
Two days restrict.
That's it.
Stay in touch. Toni x

Sophie, welcome back!
How about if you plan what you will eat on the day before? Or will that be more stressful?

I feel a bit teary reading all these lovely supportive posts! But I have been up since 5:30am listening to next door's dog barking so maybe I'm a bit tired lol!

I have ordered some low cal but delicious soups with my shopping delivery, to come next week - so the experiment will begin!

O'Dell, I do have some anxiety issues, I'm in the middle of a CBT course & finding it very interesting and helpful - it's definitely making a difference.

I think I've just thought too much into it, I'm going to do the experiment and see what works best, if it ends up being the 24 fast, or 16/8 or 6:1 or even 5:2 in the end, so be it - but I'm not going to beat myself up about it and I'm going to try and turn around this feeling that it is something to be afraid of. If it works, then great, if it doesn't, then I will find another way. I eat healthily (generally - if you ignore the chocolate...) and I exercise every day in one way or another, dog walking, running, yoga, so I am going in the right direction.

I am definitely too hard on myself, a lot of that seems to be to do with low self esteem (this is where the CBT is leading), that if I can't do something perfectly then I've failed, but like everything else at the moment, I seem to be on a learning curve & hopefully once I've addressed the issues in my life, things will seem more natural - it's just learning a new way of being and looking after myself. It will come to me, I know it.

Thanks again for all your lovely replies, it's good to be back, I won't go AWOL again!
Much love & have a great day xx