Depression and Weight Loss

PKM0515

68myra wrote: »

waving hello to all of you! i'm in a mini-slump, but it shall pass. it always does. grace and peace to you all, myra

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

shelleygold wrote: »

Hi,
When people say they eat for comfort, what do you think they mean?

B n. Iuu8 oi

68myra

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »

B n. Iuu8 oi

with a sense of humor, I observe: this looks like something my cat would type while walking across my keyboard

shelleygold

Hey Everyone,
My apologies for being in the land of Abstentia. My reason(s) are that I have been trying to rebalance my life as I am working longer hours and I find that it easy for me to lose my balance easily, Staying current and responsive to this thread is important to me and I hope I can be forgiven. I have noticed a few new people writing some compelling descriptions of their struggles with depression, anxiety and weight loss and embedded in the narratives are the important strategies and skills these people have shared honestly and sincerely, This is the most important element of our thread as we stand together as a group to speak directly to issues of mental health, the impacts of anxiety and depression and how we are climbing mountains every day to make our lives manageable and even joyful (on a good day. The weight management side of the equation is also on our minds as we are what we eat and it is our lifetime task to be mindful of our relationship with food. Not easy for anyone I imagine so we are not alone in this challenge. I think we have to be careful not to overwhelm ourselves and try and do everything at the same time. What kept me from the internet of late is my focus on my main relationships, my work and going to the gym. I think I have a new pattern established so I am back here to include this activity into my main pursuits. Isn't life challenging? Sometimes it feels like an endless set of hassles but in truth it is just life happening.
It is nice to touch base again.
Shel

mbaker566

i got a new medicine and it works well but I'm working thru the side effects. they are subsiding but the first few days sucked. dizzy and nauseous. but much better now.

want2behappy31

Taking nightly walks alone with just me and my headphones has helped me a lot in the past. I really need to get back to it and get my depression back under control

clblewis

shrcpr wrote: »

Hi, there. I've been lurking around this thread for quite some time now and appreciate everyone's candid thoughts and feel for your struggles. (And, hi, Myra! We're friends from the JFT commitment thread - honestly not stalking you - I have some issues but that's not one of them! )

One thing that's I've been trying to change lately is the way I talk to myself. I've managed my depression fairly well over the years with diet and exercise, although there have been long periods of time where it got the better of me. My secret weapon has always been high-intensity, high-impact workouts where I am so physically exhausted that there is no room for mental noise. Doing that a few times a week really seems to keep me on more of an even keel. Well, recently I got plantar fasciitis and was told no more high-impact workouts. So now I'm terrified of falling back into my old pattern of drinking to dull the mental noise.

The doctor recommended swimming as an alternative exercise for me. She thinks it will be physically hard enough and yet easy enough on my foot to help. Except to swim you have to wear a swim suit. So yesterday I went to look for swim wear suitable for lap swimming. I had several moments of panic when trying them on and really felt like I wanted to give up right then and drown myself in a bottle of vodka. But, I've been practicing talking myself out of panic thinking and into rationale thinking and instead of reaching for the bottle of vodka I talked myself off the ledge and was able to move forward and find a suitable suit. I still don't love the thought of wearing it but at least I bought one and didn't drink myself into oblivion. My conversation with myself went something like this:

Panic me: OMG. I look horrible. My legs are so huge. I am so disgusting. I'm never going to be able to do this. I might as well give up. I'll never be able to wear a swim suit or shorts or be out in the summer or do anything fun ever again in my entire life. I'm just old and blah, blah, blah.

Rationale me: Breathe. Calm down. You've lost 15 pounds so far. You can either cave in and make this worse or you can suck it up and focus on what you can do in this moment to make it better later. The only thing you can do to change how you look and feel is make decisions that move you toward your goal and not away from it.

So, this time anyway, I was able to change my course instead of giving in to the panic and self-pity. Today I am really happy that it worked out. Plus, I'm really happy that I don't have a hangover right now. That was a super long post but that seems to be acceptable in this thread so I won't feel too bad about it.

Wow!! I'm so glad I came upon this thread and read your post. I really needed to read your rational me. It really helped me and inspired me. I am new to this community and the forum. I've only been reading this for a couple days. I thank everyone for their honesty. I hope that one day I can be as helpful to all of you as you have been to me these past couple of days.

mbaker566

Just being here and sharing is helpful @clblewis

kshama2001

rowanshepherd3 wrote: »

Hullo all
I've been battling depression and social anxiety for as long as I can remember and have in the past used prescription meds to help. I haven't had a lot of success with them, hating the initial horrendous side effects and then finding myself devoid of any emotion and not really caring about anything. One other side effect I found difficult to reconcile with was that I felt the meds slowed my metabolism and made weight loss very difficult. Has anyone else had this experience?

These days I'm very reclusive and find myself becoming increasingly awkward. I'm very inwards looking and am aware that my life is slipping by and I've made nothing of myself but am too fearful to take any risks. I'm struggling as a mother and rely far too much on my partner to meet my social and emotional needs.
I'm doing ok with my eating but drinking too much at the weekends as escapism and not being able to motivate myself to exercise which I'm sure would help greatly.

I'd love to get some counseling so I can work through a lot of hang ups from my life and find a way to change my thinking but it's not financially possible for me. I have done some CBT on the nhs in the past but didn't find this at all helpful.

I'm not really sure why I'm posting this, it just helps to let it out sometimes.
Xxx

Hullo Rowan and welcome.

I found a stripped down version of CBT helpful when I was a heavy drinker:

1. Sabotaging thought emerges
2. Recognize sabotaging thought for what it is
3. Yell "NO" (internally if around others)
4. Don't act on it
5. Move on

This book expands on that:

The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person

Can thinking and eating like a thin person be learned, similar to learning to drive or use a computer? Beck (Cognitive Therapy for Challenging Problems) contends so, based on decades of work with patients who have lost pounds and maintained weight through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Beck's six-week program adapts CBT, a therapeutic system developed by Beck's father, Aaron, in the 1960s, to specific challenges faced by yo-yo dieters, including negative thinking, bargaining, emotional eating, bingeing, and eating out. Beck counsels readers day-by-day, introducing new elements (creating advantage response cards, choosing a diet, enlisting a diet coach, making a weight-loss graph) progressively and offering tools to help readers stay focused (writing exercises, to-do lists, ways to counter negative thoughts). There are no eating plans, calorie counts, recipes or exercises; according to Beck, any healthy diet will work if readers learn to think differently about eating and food. Beck's book is like an extended therapy session with a diet coach. (Apr.)

**************

I have sabotaging thoughts which try to prevent me from exercising as well. And on that note, am going to push away and go practice yoga.

shelleygold

Hey tribe,
How is everyone? A lull in our sharing! We are busy folks. Hope your minds as clear and present and focused!
Fondly
Shel

yourhiddengem

shelleygold wrote: »

Hey tribe,
How is everyone? A lull in our sharing! We are busy folks. Hope your minds as clear and present and focused!
Fondly
Shel

Depression is kicking my butt today.

ObsidianMist

I have a cold that's kicking my *kitten* pretty good, and pretty bummed out about what I thought was a for sure source of some money coming in not working out after all, but other than that I'm okay.

mbaker566

I've got a new medicine, cymabalta and it's working great with my other medicines for my depression and anxiety and my myalgia
i fought off some depression when i crashed my 2 day old new to me car because of some hidden ice. I was just so disappointed and sad, but my great insurance makes me feel very special and helped lift me up

yourhiddengem

I have a question for everyone (I hope this is an okay place to post it since it's about depression? Sorry if this isn't the right place to post this. Feel free to ignore this. )

I've been feeling better late last night/today. It's almost scarier when I start to feel the depression lift a little because I'm scared it's going to come crashing back down again, if that makes sense.

Does anyone ever feel this way? Like you're depression for so much of the time that being slightly undepressed is more scary? If so how do you make sure you don't actually crash yourself back into depression just because you're not used to feeling slightly better?

mbaker566

one of things i heard once that i would feel what i thought was the beginning of hope and happiness and would chase the feeling and was always disappointed. then one day i realized that it was hope and happiness.
when i think about that i can appreciate the happiness and feeling better for what it is. appreciate the moment

and then there was this poem by ezra pound

erat hora

"Thank you, whatever comes.' And then she turned
And, as the ray of sun on hanging flowers
Fades when the wind hath lifted them aside,
Went swiftly from me. Nay, whatever comes
One hour was sunlit and the most high gods
May not make boast of any better thing
Than to have watched that hour as it passed. "

ObsidianMist

yourhiddengem wrote: »

I have a question for everyone (I hope this is an okay place to post it since it's about depression? Sorry if this isn't the right place to post this. Feel free to ignore this. )

I've been feeling better late last night/today. It's almost scarier when I start to feel the depression lift a little because I'm scared it's going to come crashing back down again, if that makes sense.

Does anyone ever feel this way? Like you're depression for so much of the time that being slightly undepressed is more scary? If so how do you make sure you don't actually crash yourself back into depression just because you're not used to feeling slightly better?

that feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop! I know it well. all you can really do is commit to lots of self care, and be gentle with yourself. realize that these things come in cycles of severity, it WILL get better and then get worse and then get better again and so on. just don't beat yourself up for it when it gets worse.

take care of yourself.

yourhiddengem

Thanks for the responses @ObsidianMist and @moyer566. I decided to clean the entire house and exercise while I had energy so now I feel productive. So that's a nice bonus feeling! (I haven't done much productivity in about a month)

ObsidianMist

nice! love those productive days. I've been pretty sick since friday so I've been accomplishing nothing. I'm kind of okay with just letting myself rest till I feel better though. mostly I'm bummed about not being able to make it to the gym. I have zero energy

yourhiddengem

@ObsidianMist I hope you feel better soon!

I'm not yet caught up on all 14 pages of this thread as I came to it late however I'm around page five and I do plan on reading it all sometime as some of the suggestions on here are amazing. It's great to have people honestly sharing their struggles. I thought I would just add what I've been finding that's been helping me (some of them may have been said by other people before).

Things I've found that's helped:
- exercising moderately but not overexercising/undereating as I have an addictive personality and in the long run that just leads to more problems. I've also found that in the long run undereating will increase my anxiety and lack of sleep and add onto my depression.
- talking to my friends and not ignoring people's texts. I've been working on talking to my friends whether I'm feeling good OR bad, as I used to have the habit of either only talking to people when I was doing so bad that I needed someone OR only talking to people when I was feeling good so that I wouldn't "bother" anyone. This led to me feeling invisible and isolating myself as I only showed people one side of me (whether it was the "happy" or the "depressed" side.) I'm also working on when I'm with a group of people, actually talking and not just staying silent and stuck in my head as this made me feel invisible and like I didn't matter. Talking to people and participating in friendships has been something that's really been helping! People care about me, but I had to learn to let them care about me and accept the care.
- I've found making plans for the future is helpful (like planning things with people or even just little things like wanting to go to starbucks or watch a certain TV show). Sometimes it feels like all I do is therapy as I'm not currently working but am going to regular therapy, a trauma yoga group and EMDR. It's important to have other things to look forward to. I can't wait until I'm "better" to live my life.
- eating healthy, as in not extremely undereating or eating a bunch of things that made me feel bad the next day
- telling myself when I'm anxious that I am actually safe and the feelings of anxiety will pass even though sometimes it feels like they never will
- getting enough sleep: this is a huge one

upoffthemat

yourhiddengem wrote: »

@ObsidianMist I hope you feel better soon!

I'm not yet caught up on all 14 pages of this thread as I came to it late however I'm around page five and I do plan on reading it all sometime as some of the suggestions on here are amazing. It's great to have people honestly sharing their struggles. I thought I would just add what I've been finding that's been helping me (some of them may have been said by other people before).

Things I've found that's helped:
- exercising moderately but not overexercising/undereating as I have an addictive personality and in the long run that just leads to more problems. I've also found that in the long run undereating will increase my anxiety and lack of sleep and add onto my depression.
- talking to my friends and not ignoring people's texts. I've been working on talking to my friends whether I'm feeling good OR bad, as I used to have the habit of either only talking to people when I was doing so bad that I needed someone OR only talking to people when I was feeling good so that I wouldn't "bother" anyone. This led to me feeling invisible and isolating myself as I only showed people one side of me (whether it was the "happy" or the "depressed" side.) I'm also working on when I'm with a group of people, actually talking and not just staying silent and stuck in my head as this made me feel invisible and like I didn't matter. Talking to people and participating in friendships has been something that's really been helping! People care about me, but I had to learn to let them care about me and accept the care.
- I've found making plans for the future is helpful (like planning things with people or even just little things like wanting to go to starbucks or watch a certain TV show). Sometimes it feels like all I do is therapy as I'm not currently working but am going to regular therapy, a trauma yoga group and EMDR. It's important to have other things to look forward to. I can't wait until I'm "better" to live my life.
- eating healthy, as in not extremely undereating or eating a bunch of things that made me feel bad the next day
- telling myself when I'm anxious that I am actually safe and the feelings of anxiety will pass even though sometimes it feels like they never will
- getting enough sleep: this is a huge one

Those are all so true.