This is the first update in a 15-week series about my own experience with Lucinda Bassett’s at-home program Attacking Anxiety and Depression.
Yesterday I gave you the background on why I’m sharing this with you and also how it all relates to the topic of weight loss. Living a life free of chronic stress, anxiety, and depression is another cog in the wheel of a complete, healthy lifestyle and this topic definitely applies to weight loss and fitness. If you’ve got too much anxiety and stress in your life you could easily feel like you don’t have time to take care of yourself, and if you’re into some stinkin’ thinkin’ and feeling some depression, you could be using food to soothe your feelings.
What’s Up With the Out of Focus Picture?
Before we get into my update today, you might be wondering what’s up with the picture. It’s not a stock photo, that’s my high-anxiety cat Little Paw and if she were a person she could sorely use Attacking Anxiety & Depression (LOL, no joke). She is in “fight or flight” mode 85% of the time and she will probably never change. As you can see, she’s on the run even in this photo. Maybe she’ll blog about it someday, that is if she could ever sit still at the keyboard. 😉
Chronic Stress = Fight or Flight Response
Chronic stress puts your body under tremendous strain and it’s not at all good for your health or your weight. Yesterday I shared the information with you about the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is released in your system when you’re under chronic stress and it can lead to abdominal weight gain, heart attack, or stroke.
Chronic stress puts your body in constant “fight or flight” mode when there is no imminent physical danger. We don’t want to get rid of that response because it’s necessary for survival, but it’s unhealthy for the body to be under that constant strain.
Maybe you’ve seen the commercial for the drug that is supposed to help block cortisol? Well here’s my take on that, and if you’re are regular reader of Fearless Fat Loss you’ve heard me say this many times before – I’m all for solving the problem, not putting a bandaid on it, which is what you do when you take medications for the symptom of the problem but never work on the cause of the problem. Attacking Anxiety and Depression is the #1 non-pharmaceutical program in the world that helps you heal your chronic stress, anxiety, and depression and like I shared with you yesterday, this is something that I really need to resolve for myself.
10 Symptoms of Anxiety & Depression
The first week of the Attacking Anxiety and Depression program is mainly about observing yourself and wrapping your head around the fact that the program can help you. They give you examples of common symptoms of anxiety and depression and help you understand that most people (85%) who suffer from anxiety also suffer from depression – anxious thoughts lead to avoidance behavior, which affects self-esteem and leads to depressing thoughts.
Here are some of the common symptoms of Anxiety & Depression:
Anxiety
- Muscle tension in back and shoulders
- Feeling of uneasiness
- Shakiness
- Rapid heart rate
- Bewilderment, spacey feeling due to overwhelming feelings of anxiety
Depression
- Fatigue – sleep all night but still feel tired
- Difficulty focusing
- Changes in weight – weight gain or weight loss (without trying to)
- Changes in appetite – overeating or under eating
- Sadness – start crying for seemingly no reason
I’ve experienced all of the above symptoms at some time or another and while I don’t feel that I’m depressed right now, I attribute much of that to how I’m eating and exercising, which by the way are key components of this program. It just so happens that I’ve already been doing what they suggest in those areas, except when it comes to caffeine (caffeine needs to be gradually reduced because it contributes to anxiety).
What I Learned
What I learned in week one of Attacking Anxiety and Depression was that I could no longer put off doing this program. You might remember from my introductory post yesterday that I’ve had this program for over 6 months. I kept telling myself I didn’t have time to do it (common excuse for changing lifestyle habits 😉 ), and that maybe I didn’t really need it. After all, everyone has stress in their life, that’s just the way it is.
Well it’s true that everyone has stress, and you wouldn’t want to get rid of all stress because then your life would be super boring. Stress is a problem when it turns into anxiety and you stop taking the actions that you want to take because of fear.
It’s that fear and anxiety that can stand in your way of achieving your dreams, in fact “fear of failure” has been been in the top spot in my current poll here at Fearless Fat Loss, the poll where I’m asking you what your top 2 motivation sappers are (that poll is in my sidebar today but if you don’t see it anymore it’s been closed and you’ll find the results here).
I Even Fit The Personality Traits, Eek!
I also learned that I fit the personality traits of those who commonly struggle with anxiety and depression, traits like being a perfectionist, analytical, and tending towards worry (which turns into anxiety). Yes, it’s true, so I finally realized that I need to take the time to do this program since it can help me go up another level in my life – and I need to do this now. I cannot continue to live with the amount of stress that I’ve been living with lately. It’s just not healthy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s been affecting my weight loss since my body is in such a stressed out mode.
I Wanted to Do More
During the first week (I started this Saturday, June 28) I wanted to do more but there are guidelines for this program and one is that you don’t jump ahead or skip around. They have a method and reason for laying it all out like it is and it’s meant to be followed.
By the way, the Attacking Anxiety and Depression program is headed up by Lucinda Bassett who made it her life mission to help other people because she used to have severe anxiety and panic attacks. There are medical doctors who are part of the program, Dr. Allen Fisher being one who talks on the tapes (the first 2 at least, I haven’t jumped ahead! 🙂 ) with Lucinda. They also have people who have already gone through the program talk about their experiences and progress.
What’s In the At-Home Program
Exactly what this is is an entire kit of tapes, CDs (the tapes and CDs have the same content), a workbook, videos, and other materials. There is a relaxation tape that you use every day, they suggest 2 times a day, but at the very least once a day. The relaxation tape is critical to your success. They also suggest you:
- Keep a daily journal – ask yourself “why did I feel this way?” when you journal your feelings
- Do only one homework session per week, do not jump ahead (you can relisten to previous tapes)
- Follow the recommended weekly schedule
- Listen to your weekly session tape at least 3 times during the week and after 2 times do the homework in workbook
Well-Known Companies Have Used It
Major corporations like Ford, AT&T, Chrysler have all been taught how to use the tools in the Attacking Anxiety and Depression program and these tools are meant to help anyone who suffers from stress. You can strictly use the kit at home or if you’re in therapy use it in conjunction. I’m super pleased with the quality of the program and I only wish that I’d started this process 6 months ago, but I can’t do anything about that now!
My Mission for This Experiment in Healing my Anxiety
Like I said yesterday, I’m thinking that if by sharing my experience if I can help motivate even one person to get help for their stress, anxiety, and/or depression by using myself as a guinea pig again, then that’s awesome. I know that with my last experiment with the Shrink Yourself program that many have gotten help for their emotional eating, and if I had not shared my experience with that then maybe one person out there would not have heard of that excellent program.
Besides that, I don’t mind doing experiments on myself because then I’m accountable to follow through and I’m improving my own life experience at the same time. So even though I’m sharing my imperfections with you it’s all worth it, and it’s really nothing new, me sharing my imperfections with you. It’s just that I was hesitant to share about this area (like I said, I wasn’t even going to, I’m already in week 2 of Attacking Anxiety and Depression) because I look at anxiety as being almost more of a disorder than food and weight disorders, but really they are all connected, and you already knew from everything else I’ve shared that I’m not perfect. 😉
Stay tuned for the whole series as I’ll be sharing my experience with the Attacking Anxiety and Depression program with you each week over the entire 15 weeks. I’ll give you my updates each Wednesday, and I’ll update my introductory post about Anxiety and Depression with the links to each week’s update.
Hi JoLynn – I had no idea that stress could lead to abdominal weight gain. There’s always something new to learn on this blog.
That sounds like an interesting program and it’s great news if it helps people to overcome depression.
Hi Catherine,
Yes, it actually does – not just “regular stress” (everyone has stress if you’re alive), but that chronic, daily stress that puts your body under strain since adreline is being released so often when no tiger is actually chasing you! (no joke, meaning you’re not actually in physical danger).
That chronic stress leads to high levels of the hormone cortisol in your bloodstream and that is what can create abdominal weight gain, heart attack, stroke, and decreased immunity to disease.
Stress really is a “killer”, you’ve probably heard that before, and it’s the stress that leads to anxious thoughts and worry, which leads to avoiding whatever causes you those anxious feelings, and then that leads to depressing thoughts.
So yeah, not good for your weight and not at all what you would call a healthy lifestyle. 😉
Dr. Oz covers the topic of stress > cortisol > abdominal weight gain and inflammation in YOU On A Diet, also.
Loads of valuable information here. Obviously ones mind and emotions can have a significant role in an individuals health and well-being. A site that I highly recommend for anybody interested in their mental health is:
http://www.chinspirations.com/mhsourcepage/
Jane provide a vast amount of knowledge and advice. Great post JoLynn!
Mark Salinass last blog post..Resistance Bands
Thanks Mark, yeah, that’s what Fearless Fat Loss is about – creating a healthy lifestyle in body, mind, and spirit, not just to lose weight but to experience life at the optimum level. 🙂 If you’re stressed out all the time that’s no fun and many people use food for stress.
One thing I have to reiterate though, which I wrote about in my introductory post to this series, is that the Attacking Anxiety & Depression program is for those who are under chronic stress, anxiety, and have mild to moderate depression.
These are the most commom emotional disorders in the world and unfortunately (and a large reason that I hesitated in sharing my experience with this program) some tend to group these emotional disorders with mental disorders like bipolar and clinical depression/suicide.
Also unfortunately this is the reason that many don’t get help for their stress and anxiety/mild to moderate deprssion, because they think they’ll be looked at as being “crazy”, which is so not true.
Just want to make it clear here that I am not writing about mental disorders that require medication in order for the person to function in life.
This is about dropping the chronic stress, anxiety, and the negative, depressing thinking that accompanies all of that stress, worry, “what if” thinking, and anxiety. Something that I think that not only my readers who are ready to lose weight and live life to the fullest can benefit from, but also anyone who is under a ton of stress and feeling overwhelmed like I am right now.
I also shared in my introductory post several internet entrepreneurs who have blgged about their experiences with these topics and many famous folks who have spoken about it – none of them being people who have a mental disorder, just out of control stress that lead to anxiety and/or depression.
Here’s to anyone who is ready to live life at the optimum level, a life filled with an abundance of health not only in body but also in mind and spirit, to getting out there and doing what you need to do to accomplish that result. 😉
Thanks for the great information. Anxiety and stress go undiagnosed and unnoticed to often in todays world. It is almost an acceptable part of daily life.
Thanks again.
Hi R,
Np, and if you read my other comment above your’s you’ll see I had my qualms about doing this!
But hey, you’re so right that people tend to think that living under a tremendous amount of stress every day is normal, and it’s not. Stress really is a killer, creating a host of problems in the body, and when it leads to anxiety and then depressing thoughts, well it’s definitely not a normal way to live. 😉
This is what my business is about – managing stress. I think stats show that approximately 1 in 3 people are on anxiety medications these days, and that does not necessarily equal mental disorder. With so much multi-tasking and competition to be and have the best, anxiety and depression are so common. Like it’s trendy to be anxious because it means you’re doing a lot!
I see absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, especially since it’s so common. And so many people don’t realize the symptoms and absolutely don’t recognize the cause and that’s the most important part. That’s the education I try to provide and the education is based on my experiences.
Good luck with the program.
Hi Stacey, thank you!
I know, isn’t that funny that it’s almost glamourized to be all stressed out? And like you said, it’s supposed to mean that “you’re really going for it!”
Thanks so much for your support, and re: the topic of medication, that’s another big reason Lucinda Bassett and Dr. Fisher created this program – he was prescribing valium to his patients but they never changed anything re: how they dealt with their stress and anxiety – he said it became like a revolving door of them coming back for meds when there was no change in their quality of life.
Thanks Stacey!
Thanks for this post. Stress is a part of life unless you live in a cabin in Montana. Unmanaged stress can be deadly. It causes inflammation in the body and accelerates aging and other health issues.
I’ll be following your program.
Robyn
BTW, you might want to check out the website of Dr. Maddi. He was one of my professors at UCI. He took the Hardiness course on managing stress. It has some helpful information. I never took full advantage of this course. Ironically, I was too stressed with school and life at the time.
http://www.hardinessinstitute.com/HardiTraining.htm
The correlation between anxiety/depression and physical problems really is amazing. I think the main reason why my weight has fluctuated through out the years is due to both stress and emotional eating. My mom has experienced several traumatic events in the last few years (another divorce, death of a parent) and her cortisol levels have been elevated at an unhealthy level. It’s caused several health problems such as very high blood pressure, but she’s vegetarian, doesn’t eat sugar, exercises daily and is at a very healthy weight. It’s amazing that stress is the only cause of her problems but is manifesting itself physically. Anyway, this program sounds really interesting. I really like the daily journal idea — writing is so cathartic!
Emilys last blog post..Eating well while traveling abroad
Hi Robyn,
LOL, exactly – unless you live pretty much in a cave and have all of your daily needs provided for (and that would be kinda boring, eh?) you’ve got stress in your life. It’s just when it’s chronic and unmanaged that it causes all of those health problems, and you’re right – it even ages you, not to mention the inflammation it causes.
Interesting site too, and what you said about being too stressed to take advantage of it – that’s also why a lot of people don’t do the Attacking Anxiety and Depression course – they say “I’ll do that when I’m not so stressed out” (that’s what I told myself, too!) 🙂
Hi Emily,
Your mom is a perfect example of how you can seemingly be “doing everything right” but if you’re still all stressed out that stress wreaks havoc with your body and your overall health. That’s one of the main reasons I’m doing this for myself, because I cannot truly say that I’m living a healthy lifestyle if I’m totally stressed and anxious. 😉
I can totally relate to the emotional eating topic too – I did another experiment on myself with the Shrink Yourself program, which is geared specifically towards that (an excellent program btw) and this experiment I’m doing now with Attacking Anxiety and Depression would also apply to emotional eating – it’s just not specifically focused on that.