Interesting Phenomenon

HeyJudii

I have always been envious of people that lost their appetite when ill or under stress. I always became a bottomless pit.

But, as recently as last month, when I became sick for several days, I lost my appetite. I was concerned I would do my usual, but it didn't happen.

Now, I am under a great deal of stress, and again, I became concerned about eating out of stress. But, again, no desire to eat. The only time I think of eating is when the concern about stress eating hits my consciousness. And that only happens because I am concerned about the forced lack of activity over the next several days. So, I worry about not being able to run, etc. (activity keeps the anxiety, etc. at bay) and that leads to concern about stress eating. Then I am back to worrying about emergency repairs and finances, and the cycle continues.

Last month I thought it was a one off, but now I am hoping this loss of the desire to stress/illness eat is a permanent physical and psychological phenomenon. Since stress will always be something life dishes out, it would be nice

mkculs

If it is working for you, that's great. I could lose all my weight really fast (and not in a healthy way) b/c of my anxiety disorder. Um, no thanks; living in a state of panic does not appeal to me! I have noticed, in the past, that a slight amount of anxiety will have me overeating, but really serious anxiety means I cannot eat. It isn't pretty, either. Just keep an eye on being healthy despite the stress, and don't sweat it if you can't eat much for a few days when activity is very low. Try to net that 1200 though! It makes a difference in the long run.

mywayroche

I'm getting stressed just reading that. Yes it is possible to rewire neural pathways but it takes time because most of our core beliefs are rooted in childhood. This sounds a bit like self medication for general anxiety, perhaps the change in lifestyle has given you the tools to handle the stress more productively. Exercise is often shown to have a natural anti-anxiety effect.

gcconroy29

I used to joke about people who got sad and couldn't eat, because I was the exact opposite. Sadness meant a lot of ice cream and pizza.
Then I got "sad" and barely ate 1000 calories a day, which is so below my norm. It took me a while to realize that my sadness was actually depression and it was only made worse by my low energy from not eating and lack of exercise. That may have nothing to do with what you're experiencing, but it just something to think about if your stress is more than normal.

HeyJudii

mywayroche wrote: »

I'm getting stressed just reading that. Yes it is possible to rewire neural pathways but it takes time because most of our core beliefs are rooted in childhood. This sounds a bit like self medication for general anxiety, perhaps the change in lifestyle has given you the tools to handle the stress more productively. Exercise is often shown to have a natural anti-anxiety effect.

Good points.

peggy_polenta

it is not nice or fun to lose weight due to being unable to eat due to depression or anxiety. or to exercise excessively in order to cope with anxiety or as a means to be able to sleep at nite. and please note that sadness and depression are two completely different things.

kshama2001

mkculs wrote: »

If it is working for you, that's great. I could lose all my weight really fast (and not in a healthy way) b/c of my anxiety disorder. Um, no thanks; living in a state of panic does not appeal to me! I have noticed, in the past, that a slight amount of anxiety will have me overeating, but really serious anxiety means I cannot eat. It isn't pretty, either. Just keep an eye on being healthy despite the stress, and don't sweat it if you can't eat much for a few days when activity is very low. Try to net that 1200 though! It makes a difference in the long run.

I'm similar - a moderate amount of stress and I am prone to overeating, but huge amounts of stress kills my appetite.

aokoye

I'm gonna echo everyone in saying that my lack of appetite when I'm doing really poorly depression wise is really not a perk. It is typically accompanied with having to will myself out of bed so I can use the bathroom and then going directly back to bed. Under eating and doing the bare minimum of physical activity is neither fun nor desirable.

yirara

Depression for me leads to overeating. That’s how I regained weight after maintaining successfully for a few years.

On the other hand if I manage to work out before dinner my hunger is completely gone. Works with faster bodyweight intervals, weight lifting and swimming 1-2km. I don’t really do that though as I tend to be ravenous when I come from work and my blood pressure is too low for giving it all. Also don’t feel like snacking or replenishing fluids after my evening workouts.

kommodevaran

Look into what adrenaline and cortisol does to appetite. I recognize a pattern in myself - when I'm buzy, excited, anxious, feel in charge, and "just have to get this done", I lose my appetite. When I'm sad, bored, things feel hopeless and overwhelming, I get an urge to stuff my face. Luckily, these phases don't last long. Strangely and annoyingly - but I'm accepting that it's a first world problem so I'm also grateful - hunger is one of the most adrenaline producing things in my life, so I can wait, seemingly forever, to eat, but of course, I never reach a point where I'm starving, so eating sets off appetite instead of soothing it.

yirara

Thanks, interesting @kommodevaran I normally can't stop eating as my bloodpressure then drops and I feel nauseous and just generally sick. Only eating three meals per day (or even less!) doesn't work for me. Thus working out is a good way for me to break this annoying cycle.

kommodevaran

yirara wrote: »

Thanks, interesting @kommodevaran I normally can't stop eating as my bloodpressure then drops and I feel nauseous and just generally sick. Only eating three meals per day (or even less!) doesn't work for me. Thus working out is a good way for me to break this annoying cycle.

I just have to come to terms with this. In many ways, it's easier to "stop eating", but I can't (or don't want to) eat fewer meals because they would be too big/hard to get in enough variety. Three meals seems to be an acceptable compromise for me.

Exercise is great to regulate appetite. And exercise can be exercising your mind as well, not just your body.

Stress can be positive and negative, energizing and numbing.

HeyJudii

It is interesting to me when I see that someone (myself included) has received these "Woo" things when they are posting about something that is happening or has happened to them. Are the people that tick "Woo" doing so because they don't believe the post? They're calling the person a liar? They don't agree with the post? What's not to agree with? It happened to someone that is not them. Are they cheering them on, as in, "Woo Hoo!"?

In the overall scheme of things, it's of no consequence, but it does cause me to question my understanding of what "Woo" is supposed to mean.

kommodevaran

I don't understand the "woo-ing" either. I have gotten woos for blatantly obvious boring facts as well as for personal controversial opinions. I think people just use it as a "dislike" button.

HeyJudii

kommodevaran wrote: »

I don't understand the "woo-ing" either. I have gotten woos for blatantly obvious boring facts as well as for personal controversial opinions. I think people just use it as a "dislike" button.

That made me laugh. I thought, "That would be like someone posting, 'I went to the store today.' and a number of people then clicking on the 'Woo'. They dislike that the person went to the store?"

Oh well, these are the little things that keep life interesting.

kommodevaran

HeyJudii wrote: »

kommodevaran wrote: »

I don't understand the "woo-ing" either. I have gotten woos for blatantly obvious boring facts as well as for personal controversial opinions. I think people just use it as a "dislike" button.

That made me laugh. I thought, "That would be like someone posting, 'I went to the store today.' and a number of people then clicking on the 'Woo'. They dislike that the person went to the store?"

Oh well, these are the little things that keep life interesting.

I'm not sure what anybody could dislike about your post, but people can dislike the anything. I wouldn't be surprised if "I went to the store today" produced the reaction "Grrr, I really hate that!" in someone.

HeyJudii

kommodevaran wrote: »

HeyJudii wrote: »

kommodevaran wrote: »

I don't understand the "woo-ing" either. I have gotten woos for blatantly obvious boring facts as well as for personal controversial opinions. I think people just use it as a "dislike" button.

That made me laugh. I thought, "That would be like someone posting, 'I went to the store today.' and a number of people then clicking on the 'Woo'. They dislike that the person went to the store?"

Oh well, these are the little things that keep life interesting.

I'm not sure what anybody could dislike about your post, but people can dislike the anything. I wouldn't be surprised if "I went to the store today" produced the reaction "Grrr, I really hate that!" in someone.

That made me actually LOL! I'm still chuckling as I key this.

mkculs

I am sure lots of folks don't know what "woo" means here; I didn't. I learned before I used it.

I suspect the 2nd most common reason for a "woo" is that it is next to the "like" button and people don't even realize they "woo'd" someone.