Anxiety and depression= Lack of motivation :(

Hey Miss vamp, if your anxieties are making you struggle to feel at ease in social settings why dont you give guided meditation a go? Do a search on youtube there are loads of great ones on there that you can listen to for free.
They may just give your spirits the lift they need.

I am in the same boat! I have always been the type that drinks Mountain Dew or gets cookies or something if I'm down. It's also making me MORE sad that I can't eat what I want! Having a cheat day to look forward to has helped me to eat better regardless of my emotions. As for working out, I cannot motivate myself to leave my house, especially in the winter months. I have Zumba and Just Dance for Wii and have found that I can motivate myself to do that, even if for just 10 minutes. On the days I'm feeling it, I'll do 20+. On the days I'm not, I'll do one song and stop, but at least I did it.

Id love to honestly, but my personal problems wont allow me. Im not making excuses honestly lol. New year I tried going back to my local sports centre, and couldnt stay

you can workout at home

I'm recovering from PTSD, so totally get you re how debilitating depression and anxiety can be. Personally, I found that doing strenuous exercise has really helped, and as hard as it can be to get motivated, it's worth it to push myself to do it. It removes the stress hormones from your system (i.e. you get rid of a lot of the symptoms of anxiety) and it releases endorphines that make you feel better. It only relieves the symptoms, not the cause, but in my experience it makes such a difference.

If you can't get as far as working out in the gym, there's a lot of stuff you can do at home. I have my own weights and a treadmill and a punch bag, you can get a lot of stuff on the 2nd hand market (ebay, etc) so you don't have to fork out a lot.

If you're not already doing some kind of therapy, I'd totally recommend that as well, but make sure the therapist is experienced at dealing with the exact problem that you have. All of what I said about exercise only relieves the symptoms it doesn't cure the cause. but the combination of therapy and lifestyle changes (the main one being exercise) has really helped.

I could have written this, but it's already here. Although I also take a daily med for my PTSD, I find exercise (running for me) does more to keep the hyper-arousal & anxiety symptoms under control than the meds do. I highly recommend some type of therapy/counseling to address the cause(s) and medication if there's a chemical imbalance causing some of the issues. But exercise has turned my life around completely. And I run, I don't go to the gym, ever.

I've dealt with anxiety (GAD, OCD) and depression since I was 10. I'm 27 now. I've taken numerous medications, been hospitalized, you name it, I've dealt with it. ...that being said, one of the most effective solutions for me has been exercise, especially solitary exercise (running, walking, anything I can do alone). That and CBT. Exercise won't work out your issues for you, but it will have a positive effect on your mental state, allowing you to work on whatever is causing you to be depressed and/or anxious on your own or in CBT. Also, some things that have had a PROFOUND effect on me were eliminating caffeine, eating clean (I cut out fast food completely which has helped a lot), and getting enough rest. None of these things on their own (with the exception of perhaps CBT) will do the trick completely, but in combination, they can take you a long way.

I know with both anxiety and depression, starting something new can be really hard, and so can sticking with it in it's initial phases. I suggest a lot of pre-planning of food, exercise, rest, etc, so you don't any points in the first few days where you don't know what to do, because it's way easier to give up when you don't have a clear understanding of what to do next. Also, have something to counteract repetitive negative thoughts, if that's an issue for you. I find both writing in a journal, and having a 'mantra' so to speak, to be helpful. Some people like giving themselves a time during the day with which they can ruminate, but I didn't personally find that very effective. I look at it like this, it's easier for me to avoid a bag of potato chips completely then it is to just eat a few and then walk away. What also worked well for me was writing down things that triggered my anxiety, and avoiding those things like the plague. Honestly, just the process of sitting down and identifying what made me anxious was helpful in itself, because you can't fix a problem you can't identify.

Good luck! ...you can get through this, I promise.

Exactly what i'm dealing with right now!

I also have general and social anxiety problems. It too prevents me from going into public and the gym has always been a death trap. There are still some things I can't do at the gym but honestly, forcing myself to go works. I always feel silly for stressing it when I am done, I always feel great and as I have lost weight or had NSV's the anxiety has improved immensly. I literally just make myself go and I love going so much now that I usually spend between 45mins-90mins working out and losing track of time.

Physical health is a huge part of mental health.

I had to go back on meds and it's made a big diff. Working out is going to make an even bigger one! I started off doing the 30 day shread at home and though its really hard, saw awesome results in the matter of two weeks! Then I started adding in the gym. I will walk on the treadmill for an hour and an incline at about 4mph. Also will do some weights. I have to say the working out and changing my eating habbits have been the biggest positive to my depression and anxiety. I am not a very good cook, so I do things like Lean Cuise etc to help me stay on track with foods. I am trying to educate myself also about the things I put in my body. Take it one day at a time! You might have to push yourself to do it the first day, but I promise once you do you start NEEDING it. My thoughts changed from food all day long, to when am I getting to the gym and what am I going to do today! BOL!!!

Let's see. Major depressive disorder, dysthemia (long term low grade depression), panic disorder w/ agoraphobia, OCD, social anxiety disorder, some things I'm probably not remembering.

Number one helper for me was getting together with God. But that is a topic I'll leave for private messages if you're interested.

I found that activity, any activity, helped my depression. Motivation doesn't precede activity, activity precedes motivation. I'm not saying it's easy, it's not. But you have to literally force yourself to do something. Anything. If it's something that involves some interaction with people it is better, but I know how hard that is for someone with anxiety and depression.

I still take 4mg of Clonazepam (Klonopin) a day, and I have Xanax available for emergencies. Otherwise, anti-depressants either did nothing, or really bad things, for me. You should still see a doctor and try it though. They do work for many people.

Take it slow. You don't have to beat it today, or tomorrow. You may never beat it entirely. I haven't. I still deal with it regularly. For anxiety, gradual exposure, very slowly, to the things that make you anxious will help. But you have to go slow or you'll just scare yourself and make things worse. For depression, for me anyway, activity.

I absolutely feel your pain, something interesting my RMT taught me is keep water with you always. Everytime the anxiety and depression sneaks into your brain, drown it with the water.

I'm on year 3 anxiety and depression free and I still drown those feelings daily.

Silly but works!

My advice is to talk to a doctor/psychiatrist and see if he or she thinks you need medication. It's hard to motivate yourself if there is a chemical imbalance or something physically wrong. Or try some essential oils to see if that helps. Once you are on medication and feel better then you will have the ability to do what is necessary to lose weight.

Bump to read later

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What if, though, you can't find the motivation to make yourself workout? How do you push yourself when you have nothing to push with?

See a doctor but don't expect a miracle from them. I have seen 3 different doctors as well as a therapist and they all just seem exhausted, it's like they don't believe me.
I barely exercise, I simply can't find the motivation or energy for it. When I do, I like to go outside for a walk/jog...something about the fresh air lifts me up a bit.

Good luck with your battle!!! I've been "managing" for roughly 3 years. It sucks.

Hello!

Seems there are many of us suffering from anxiety and depression. I have to say it will get better when you start getting into a routine of exercise and eating better. You don't have to do everything perfect especially when starting out. I used to get stressed out at first that I couldn't do everything right (push ups, sit ups, running, eating etc) and that made me feel worse about myself. My advice to you is to take it slow, one meal at a time, one day at a time, and one week at a time. Don't expect it to be easy all the time and set realistic goals. Keep in mind progress shows slowly (we see ourselves everyday so we might not notice) and overtime a little progress every month goes a long way!

YOU CAN DO IT! Just don't give up and keep the negative thoughts at bay. You might have days where it's hard to do anything and days that are really great. I don't have a gym membership or much equipment but there are many DVD's and videos online to help you out at home. I hope this helps. Good luck with everything. Also, if you are considering medication I would definitely do research first. I was prescribed Zoloft and Xanax but I didn't like them one bit.