The FastDay Forum

I have Generalised Anxiety Disorder, which I am currently having CBT for. I am concerned that I'm getting a bit obsessed with getting this WOL "right" and beating myself up whenever I don't follow it properly. Thoughts about not eating and what I can eat and when and what to eat on feed days etc etc are taking up a lot of time and I keep feeling anxious about the whole thing - on top of everything else (Jeez, GAD is exhausting... ).

I tried 6:1 but didn't lose any weight, I started running and still didn't lose, yet I found 5:2 was making me feel stressed and anxious and that it wasn't sitting as comfortably with me as I had hoped.

So I Googled it, and found some really interesting articles & because other fasters commented on one of my previous posts, that they too suffered from anxiety, I thought they might be of interest. They have certainly interested me and given me a lot of think about and consider.

http://www.theiflife.com/intermittent-f ... s-anxiety/

http://paleohacks.com/questions/160722/ ... z2Of0nmac4

http://syattfitness.com/nutrition/inter ... thats-o-k/

Anxiety is my middle name. I try to use it in my favour; use the energy that it provides, allow it to help me do things perfectly etc. When It gets more than I can handle, I tend to ignore it. But it took me years to manage to do that.
One of the reasons why I like the 5:2 is that it takes no planning for 5 days and then on the 2 days I can release my inner beast of planning everything and let it blow its steam.
So far, it's working!!!

[carorees]

Thanks for these Sophie. Of course they refer to people doing the daily IF of having an eating window which might be anywhere between 4 and 8 hours. They do raise valid points about revealing hidden anxieties and problem relationships with food. For some, like TML13 the fasting is infrequent enough to be a benefit whereas for you it seems to be too much to have to cope with in your current situation.

I hope that taking some time out will help you to gain some clarity about your situation and how you want/need to take things forward, whether or not that involves fasting at any time in the future.

Good luck!

I have no idea how you can ignore anxiety that is more than you can handle - you should write a book! When I have anxiety that is more than I can handle, I feel like I am losing my mind.

5:2 seems to be adding to my anxiety because I worry about wanting to eat, breaking the fast too soon, how much I am eating, am I losing weight, am I exercising enough, I don't want to go today, I don't feel up to it etc etc. I plan on my feed days too, I thought I liked the control but now, for whatever reason, it's starting to make me feel knotted up and like I can't handle the control anymore. The feelings are so confusing - the articles make sense to me, I think I have things to sort out before I can commit fully. I want to carry on IF, but relax it, and relax myself and stop beating myself up for not being perfect.

Thanks for these Sophie. Of course they refer to people doing the daily IF of having an eating window which might be anywhere between 4 and 8 hours. They do raise valid points about revealing hidden anxieties and problem relationships with food. For some, like TML13 the fasting is infrequent enough to be a benefit whereas for you it seems to be too much to have to cope with in your current situation.

I hope that taking some time out will help you to gain some clarity about your situation and how you want/need to take things forward, whether or not that involves fasting at any time in the future.

Good luck!

Do they only refer to daily fasting? Sorry, I didn't understand them all to be like that, and didn't read them like that.
I still support IF and I hope that I can do 5:2 properly soon, I think I will carry on as I am (more like 6:1 or intermittent 16 hour fasts) until I've finished my CBT and reassess then.

[carorees]

There are so many forms of IF, you have to look closely to find out which form is being talked about! Doesn't make their comments less valid though (apart from the fact that ours may be a little less stressful as its not done every day). It depends so much on the individual!

All I can say is that I continue doing what I do without letting the anxiety interfere with it. It's not successful all the times but now that I'm 38 it is more successful than it was when I was 28 when it was more successful than it was when I was 18.
If I let stress handle me the way it did back then, I'd probably be dead by now... I just try to not think about it and if I do I try to rationalise the reasons that make me stressful.
The way I see it 5:2 is made in a way that is not causing you stress. If it causes you stress, it probably means that you haven't got it right yet. I was anxious on the first 4-5 days but now I'm as happy as can be. A little weight loss helps a lot, so does the fact that I feel better after a fast day.
Take your time, read the forums, have an easy plan and stick to it. I was stressed by the one-meal-a-day method. So I do 3 meals and a snack. Now I'm stress-free and hunger-free and soon -hopefully- I'll be weight-free and free from one of the reasons that make me stressed!!!

I wish I could just do it without all the hassle I feel, hate the feeling of failure. I want my anxiety under control, I hate that I can't do things because of it.

I somehow feel that you can't fail with 5:2...

Well it's not the diet then is it, it's me!

Perhaps if you stopped seeing it as a diet?

Yes, you're right. I'm just not sure how. I think I need to regroup somehow, try and sort my head out in other respects, then set a start date to begin again and plan it better.
My head's up my backside at the moment, and I don't think that's doing my attempts at fasting any good.

Hi Sophie

TML has a point. Maybe you should consider purely the health benefits that accrue from IF and take any weight loss as a bonus.

That's what I did when I began, and I lost weight without even trying - and I only went down to 1200 calories on my 'fasting' days. I didn't even think I needed to lose weight, but it kept on coming off, albeit only very slowly - 8 lbs in 6 months.

So my point is, you don't have to stick rigorously to <500 cals, especially when it's causing you such anxiety. Try not to put yourself under any pressure and relax into this WOL. Easy to say, hard to do, I guess!

Best wishes, B&W

Hi Sophie
I have read a few of your posts and after reading this one the immediate thing that popped into my head was your post regarding your work situation that was causing you stress. You also suffer from GAD so it sound like things are not too good generally for you.

I suffer from Post traumatic stress disorder, depression and social phobia and had years of therapy. It only takes a tiny thing to rock the boat so I was very cautious about starting to fast. I have not had any adverse effects from fasting in fact quite the opposite. I breifly felt a high the day after a couple of fasts. I also feel less anxious as I feel that I am now more in control of my eating habits.

I had many therapists over the years with many different methods of working. Finally I had a therapist who taught me how to be nice to myself and that was the most important lesson I have learnt.

Please try to be kinder to yourself, I look at your photo and see a smiley pretty lady. I can see that you have lost weight and you are at a healthy BMI.

Perhaps you could try to maintain your weight (which is still an achievement each week), but shift your attention to being nice to youself you could even plot it on a progress chart!

A big big hug x.....now you must learn to hug yourself!

Well it's not the diet then is it, it's me!

It's actually not that simple, Sophie, as you probably know since you're undergoing CBT. GAD means that your anxiety is non-specific (as in a phobia) and will latch onto anything, any area of potential conflict/anxiety, and intensify the stressful situation until even the thought of the action/situation is sufficient to trigger feelings of apprehension and agitation. So saying 'it's not the diet then is it, it's me' is both right and wrong. Also it's an indication of how you associate your GAD with your perception of 'me' - i.e who you are. I believe mental states, ordinary and extraordinary, are quite separate from who we are, the fundamentals of our personality - our core values etc. Making this distinction helps people (me included - I suffer from recurring and crippling depression) distance themselves from chaotic thought patterns and is a good coping mechanism. It takes patience and practice - meditation is a very good tool on the journey - but it works. Blaming yourself, or attempting to lay blame outside yourself, for your emotional state is counter-productive.

These techniques can help with CBT when one is gradually exposed to the feared, anxiety-provoking stimulus thereby unlearning those learned, conditioned responses. When we are a witness of, rather than a participant in, our dysfunctional emotions we are able to better understand, and then control, the underlying patterns beneath unwanted behaviour. It may be that your therapist will encourage you to continue with IF and other activities that provoke your anxiety but I would be guided by him/her.

I found the following very useful in addressing my depression and have recommended 'Focusing' to several people with anxiety disorder/phobias - i hope you find it useful:

http://www.focusing.org/newcomers.htm

I think we sometimes have to accept, albeit reluctantly, that an activity is not for us at the present time, whilst making ourselves a promise to revisit it when we are stronger. I hope that time comes very soon for you, Sophie.