emotional aspect of all this

kiela64

Girlheidi wrote: »

kiela64 wrote: »

Absolutely. I had a really amazingly emotionally good summer, and losing 45lbs was challenging but doable. My SO has been a fantastic emotional support and I was doing so so so well on all fronts.

Now I've been experiencing more emotional upset being sidelined with a concussion (and recently officially a mild depressive episode...yay...) I've absolutely caved and used food as a crutch again. Thankfully I haven't regained too much yet, just 4lbs (and I've lost 1.5 again, it's been bouncing around all month here as I feel better and worse).

Exercise improves everything - my compliance with my eating, my mood, my sleep. But getting there, caring, having the energy. It's hard. I'm not always up to it.

I think also part of the process is forgiving yourself for using food as a crutch. If you know why, how it helps you, maybe you can figure out what to replace it with. Or if it's okay in some instances, but in a smaller portion, etc.

One of the symptoms of concussion is depression, along with appetite and sleep. My son was badly affected during his exams - he's slim but he lost his appetite and wasn't sleeping and told me that he wasn't his usual happy self.....we saw the concussion specialist as soon as possible and I was told that this is very normal for concussions.......be kind to yourself - concussions are not fun.

It's ridiculous how awful they can be. The first doctor I saw said I would be back to my normal self in 4 days. That was in September, and while I'm better than I was, I am Not Better yet. I have since seen some specialists that said it's normal & there's a wide variation. It sucks! I hope your son is doing better I ended up having to take the semester off because I just could not do school and brain thinking. I'm working on getting back to my normal work schedule, and going back to school in January. I am TERRIFIED. I just feel dumb, exhausted, and sad.

kiela64

beaglady wrote: »

kiela64 wrote: »

Absolutely. I had a really amazingly emotionally good summer, and losing 45lbs was challenging but doable. My SO has been a fantastic emotional support and I was doing so so so well on all fronts.

Now I've been experiencing more emotional upset being sidelined with a concussion (and recently officially a mild depressive episode...yay...) I've absolutely caved and used food as a crutch again. Thankfully I haven't regained too much yet, just 4lbs (and I've lost 1.5 again, it's been bouncing around all month here as I feel better and worse).

Exercise improves everything - my compliance with my eating, my mood, my sleep. But getting there, caring, having the energy. It's hard. I'm not always up to it.

I think also part of the process is forgiving yourself for using food as a crutch. If you know why, how it helps you, maybe you can figure out what to replace it with. Or if it's okay in some instances, but in a smaller portion, etc.

Agreed. I lost 50+ pounds slowly over the course of a year and a half. Due to the stress and time constraints of helping care for my elderly father, I got stuck at the same weight around the end of March 2018, with 20 more pounds to go. It was too much to keep my head in the right place to lose, and still do what was needed for my dad, while working full time and helping husband who has his own serious health challenges.

I decided mid-summer that my goal was to maintain, and that as long as I didn't gain, it was OK. Fall brought our wedding anniversary, hubs and my birthdays, then Thanksgiving. Plus we entered my dad into a hospice program at the end of October. At that point, I decided that I would still (somewhat haphazardly) log what I ate, but if I stress ate, then I just did. Dad passed on Thanksgiving, at which point I decided that I would keep on that path, with the deadline that after the eating occasions surrounding the funeral, I would be back to precise logging and keeping a deficit. Last Friday, he was buried, and afterward, we went out to a lengthy Chinese buffet lunch with cousins I seldom see. I ended up gaining a pound or two during those last few weeks.

On Saturday, it was relatively easy to make the planned shift that it was time to keep a deficit again, and I've been successful since then. My point in posting this isn't to garner attention via 'poor me'. It's to mention that it has been helpful to me to recognize that it can be Ok to give yourself permission to maintain, rather than try (and fail) to lose during difficult emotional times. It was also helpful to recognize that I do use food as an emotional crutch, and to give myself permission to do that, with the understanding that the permission had an expiration date.

Thank you for sharing this. It sounds like you found a good way to navigate your emotions during this stressful time!

brenn24179

i love what you said, permission has to have an expiration date.