Dragon Con and Loss of appetites (Request from a reader)
Good
morning all! It has been over a week since I posted and there's a
reason for that, last weekend was Dragon Con! So last week I was very
busy preparing for Dragon Con and getting ready for the weekend. I
recorded and took a lot of photos for GirlStreamers if you want to
see what I've done please check out our Instagram page
(https://www.instagram.com/girlstreamers/?hl=en). I edited every day
what I recorded and put it up on Instagram TV. It's interesting
because the format is for the phone so it's 1080x1920. I need to work
out a way to be able to record more than just IGTV during weekends
like this; I would have enjoyed having that footage for youtube later
as a big video at the end of the weekend but it just didn't look
right so I scrapped that. I definitely need a team to help me do
coverage if I want to do both. I used the camera and mic the first
day but ended up having to stretch it and change the format so I
chose to use the phone the rest of the weekend. It was easier just
carrying around a phone instead of a camera/steadicam/audio setup but
that's because I was also cosplaying. I think when I do this coverage
I'm gonna have to put aside my cosplaying (sad face). I quite enjoyed
the convention and ended up getting some fun pictures, I brought out
Rose one last time before her wig is tossed and got some great
pictures with her. I do love that character and I want to continue
cosplaying her but I really want to update her before I do her again
so Rose is about to go into big update mode once we move and get
settled. I also brought out Poison Ivy and it was so awesome putting
on the corset and having it fit way better and more comfortable than
last year.
I actually gained some weight over the weekend because we just ran around so much there was no way we could fully eat properly plus I started my period so I was retaining water during my weigh in this week, joy. I went from 261.2 last week to 268 this week. It's 7 lbs and honestly that could be 5 lbs of water rentention and 2 lbs of poop so I'm really not too concerned. Yes its a bit of a bummer after all the walking we did over the weekend but I'm also aware that my body really retains a lot when I am on my period so I'm really not too bothered with that. I can't let myself get down when I have these fluctuations because looking at the overall loss I've lost over 20 lbs so far and I'm very close to the 30 lbs mark so I am just going to keep trucking along.
Now I wrote a blog recently about emotional eating aka stress eating. I went into why we emotionally eat, it's a coping mechanism, and how we need to alter how we respond to that stress or extreme emotion we feel. I had a few readers reach out and ask me about Stress not eating. So the exact opposite of what emotional eating is. Many people handle stress differently so if some of us go to food wouldn't it be easy to surmise that some of us step away from food? Digging into this a little bit it seems that the loss of appetite is just as common as the increase in appetite. These two responses to stress are based off of our fight-or-flight response that is triggered in the brain during stressful times. The brain sends these cues during those stressful times because it sees this stress as a threat to our environment. According to Cleavelandclinc.org “When you’re feeling stressed, your body sends out cortisol, known as the stress hormone. Cortisol can make you crave sugary, salty and fatty foods, because your brain thinks it needs fuel to fight whatever threat is causing the stress.” So basically your body is trying to fight off the stress.
Part of the problem with the lack of appetite is that there isn't much information out there as to why exactly you lose your appetite other than that's how your body responds to stress. There are so many factors at play here, for example seratonin is the neurotransmitter that regulates mood, it's also something that plays a part in our feeling of hunger. When you have depression or anxiety you are already aware of the fact that your seratonin is off, this could also be a cause of lack of appetite during high stress moments; along with many other factors. There are numerous possibilities as to what actually leads to lack of appetite; however, one common thing is its not good. We have to eat.
I know I talked about my struggle with overeating but I have also had the loss of appetite. I've felt nauseous at the thought of food and refused to eat because I didn't feel hungry. This is not a good response to that feeling. As much as we don't want to eat we have to eat something. This is unfortunately a case of forcing yourself to eat something. In fact today I didn't feel like eating and I still feel off after I've eaten but I know that my body is better because I ate. It's an unfortunate circumstance and it's hard to counter. Something you can do is set up reminders to eat something, it doesn't have to be a lot it can be something as simple as some grapes or carrots. This will at least get nutrition into your body. Make sure it's something healthy when you eat. But most importantly you have to work on your anxiety and stress, that is the root cause of your loss of appetite. Meditate for 10 mins a day, go for a walk, play some Pokemon Go. Refer back to my previous blog about emotional eating there are some great tips to counter these symptoms because in the end whether you're emotionally eating or not eating at all, it's all because of the stress and anxiety that you are experiencing.
References:
Calm Clinic: https://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/symptoms/appetite-problems
Anxiety Centre: https://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms/lack-of-appetite.shtml
Cleveland Clinic: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-stress-can-make-you-eat-more-or-not-at-all/
Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/12/5-things-you-need-to-know_n_3070313.html (this is just an interesting article although I didn't reference it in my blog)
I actually gained some weight over the weekend because we just ran around so much there was no way we could fully eat properly plus I started my period so I was retaining water during my weigh in this week, joy. I went from 261.2 last week to 268 this week. It's 7 lbs and honestly that could be 5 lbs of water rentention and 2 lbs of poop so I'm really not too concerned. Yes its a bit of a bummer after all the walking we did over the weekend but I'm also aware that my body really retains a lot when I am on my period so I'm really not too bothered with that. I can't let myself get down when I have these fluctuations because looking at the overall loss I've lost over 20 lbs so far and I'm very close to the 30 lbs mark so I am just going to keep trucking along.
Now I wrote a blog recently about emotional eating aka stress eating. I went into why we emotionally eat, it's a coping mechanism, and how we need to alter how we respond to that stress or extreme emotion we feel. I had a few readers reach out and ask me about Stress not eating. So the exact opposite of what emotional eating is. Many people handle stress differently so if some of us go to food wouldn't it be easy to surmise that some of us step away from food? Digging into this a little bit it seems that the loss of appetite is just as common as the increase in appetite. These two responses to stress are based off of our fight-or-flight response that is triggered in the brain during stressful times. The brain sends these cues during those stressful times because it sees this stress as a threat to our environment. According to Cleavelandclinc.org “When you’re feeling stressed, your body sends out cortisol, known as the stress hormone. Cortisol can make you crave sugary, salty and fatty foods, because your brain thinks it needs fuel to fight whatever threat is causing the stress.” So basically your body is trying to fight off the stress.
Part of the problem with the lack of appetite is that there isn't much information out there as to why exactly you lose your appetite other than that's how your body responds to stress. There are so many factors at play here, for example seratonin is the neurotransmitter that regulates mood, it's also something that plays a part in our feeling of hunger. When you have depression or anxiety you are already aware of the fact that your seratonin is off, this could also be a cause of lack of appetite during high stress moments; along with many other factors. There are numerous possibilities as to what actually leads to lack of appetite; however, one common thing is its not good. We have to eat.
I know I talked about my struggle with overeating but I have also had the loss of appetite. I've felt nauseous at the thought of food and refused to eat because I didn't feel hungry. This is not a good response to that feeling. As much as we don't want to eat we have to eat something. This is unfortunately a case of forcing yourself to eat something. In fact today I didn't feel like eating and I still feel off after I've eaten but I know that my body is better because I ate. It's an unfortunate circumstance and it's hard to counter. Something you can do is set up reminders to eat something, it doesn't have to be a lot it can be something as simple as some grapes or carrots. This will at least get nutrition into your body. Make sure it's something healthy when you eat. But most importantly you have to work on your anxiety and stress, that is the root cause of your loss of appetite. Meditate for 10 mins a day, go for a walk, play some Pokemon Go. Refer back to my previous blog about emotional eating there are some great tips to counter these symptoms because in the end whether you're emotionally eating or not eating at all, it's all because of the stress and anxiety that you are experiencing.
References:
Calm Clinic: https://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/symptoms/appetite-problems
Anxiety Centre: https://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms/lack-of-appetite.shtml
Cleveland Clinic: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-stress-can-make-you-eat-more-or-not-at-all/
Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/12/5-things-you-need-to-know_n_3070313.html (this is just an interesting article although I didn't reference it in my blog)
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