Depression and Weight Loss

@shelleygold hi there,
I totally understand where you are coming from and up until maybe 4 weeks ago I was back to doing nothing feeling lethargic not wanting to go outside my house let alone get dressed. You always get someone who posts excersise will help and I would be like I cant excersise its not my thing ive just stopped smoking 8 months ago im extrememly over weight and I cannot excersise! I tried all the fad diets and tablets for depression to no avail!

Then I decided that I had to change something as its been the same old story for over 10 years now and im so un happy in myself. I KNEW THE GYM WAS A NO NO FOR ME! and you probably feel the same. So I bought an excersisie bike and started doing a 15 mins of zumba in the morning by watching youtube videos and then I would watch my fav tv programme for 30 mins while riding my bike!

I cannot tell you what a difference I felt after that 1st zumba and bike session, I felt so good and so happy ( honestly I did and I wasnt expecting to feel like that at all if anything I was expecting to never want to do it again) then the next day came and couldnt wait to get the kids off to do it again to get. It was hard it wasnt easy at all as i have been very sedentary for 10-15 years but I stuck that out for a few weeks then decided maybe i should switch it up. Still I cannot go to the gym so i researched home dvds and found the 30 day shred. Yesterday I done day 1 level 1 and I woke up today aching all over however I was extrememly proud of myself for even trying it! I could hardly move but i had some porridge and a banana and i got to it ans finally completed day 2 JUST! and feel great!!.

So if there is one thing I could tell you it woul dbe to do something that will get you sweating you will feel so much better ( i now know why ppl get addicted to going to the gym etc) If i had known I would feel so good doing this I would have done this years ago as it wasnt as bad as i thougth it was going to be esp as i am out of shape overweight and a new ex smoker, if i can do it anyone can.

I was the person who got out of breath climbing the stairs to the loo, i would hold my wee in to the point of pain as I couldnt manage the stairs as they really puffed me out 4 weeks on and I am not out of breath at all doin g the stairs you will for sure suprise yourself.

If you wanna add me your more thank welcome, if you start excersising i know the healthy eating will follow as you will feel so good you will not want to comfort eat and your moods will be so much better

lots of warm well wishes and good luck

michelle x

shelleygold wrote: »

Why I am eating marshmallows this week. I seem to move from one type of bad food to another. I wonder if you have ever thought that we tend to sabotage our success and/or we just cannot maintain consistency. Is this depressed thinking or just lack of discipline. The results of weight gain can be depressing; not necessarily in a mental health sense but more in the idea that overweight people make really bad choices. Deliberately?
What do you think?

Well you need to be careful you dont fall into a victim , excuses and not taking responsibility mentality.
Just becayse you ahve depression doesnt mean there arent things you can do if you wnat it enough instead of using it as a stick to beat yourself with.

Work out small steps that will work.
Use your available energy to complete basic tasks each day.
Make progress.

You will find exercise is a great booster for your wellbeing and combating depression. Walking is a good start.

You should also try some cbt therapy.

Forgot to add to my too long of list to make sure you're eating the fats that help your brain. If not from eating fatty fish like tuna or salmon, then eat a variety of nuts

I know I sound like a hippie, and of course all the good nutrition won't help if you aren't doing the things you need to get help when you're in crisis situations. But I have truly found depression to be more manageable when I'm giving my brain lots of the building blocks it needs to make and recycle the neurotransmitters and hormones efficiently.

Eating at a deficit is tough on a healthy brain. Someone with depression can really get overwhelmed if they add deficits to their already stressed brain.

My mom has suffered from major clinical depression for so long that I can't remember exactly when it started. She's also obese and has nearly every obesity-related health problem you can list, including most recently, brain degenerative disease. She has always refused to exercise, and eats a poor diet most of the time. It breaks my heart every time I think about it.

This makes me determined to eat well, exercise, and keep a positive attitude as much as is possible. I have had the occasional bouts of mild depression myself, and what has helped me the most is making sure I am not falling into any cognitive distortion thinking patterns (see this article for a list of a few of these http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-cognitive-distortions/). These kinds of thinking patterns are what has driven most of my mom's depression, so breaking them down before they take hold really helps, along with eating well and exercising.

Another thing I find that really helps whether in a deficit or not is making sure I have a steady supply of lysine in my diet, through protein sources. There is a body of research that shows it helps with cognitive function, and it is used with PTSD sufferers to help their symptoms.

Oh, and I love marshmallows.

Exercise and Depression

... A review of studies stretching back to 1981 concluded that regular exercise can improve mood in people with mild to moderate depression. It also may play a supporting role in treating severe depression.

...A study published in 2005 found that walking fast for about 35 minutes a day five times a week or 60 minutes a day three times a week had a significant influence on mild to moderate depression symptoms. Walking fast for only 15 minutes a day five times a week or doing stretching exercises three times a week did not help as much. (These exercise lengths were calculated for someone who weighs about 150 pounds. If you weigh more, longer exercise times apply, while the opposite is true if you weigh less than 150 pounds.)

How does exercise relieve depression? For many years, experts have known that exercise enhances the action of endorphins, chemicals that circulate throughout the body. Endorphins improve natural immunity and reduce the perception of pain. They may also serve to improve mood. Another theory is that exercise stimulates the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which may directly improve mood.

Besides lifting your mood, regular exercise offers other health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure, protecting against heart disease and cancer, and boosting self-esteem. How often or intensely you need to exercise to alleviate depression is not clear, but for general health, experts advise getting half an hour to an hour of moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, on all or most days of the week.

Read more: http://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/exercise-and-depression-report-excerpt

shelleygold wrote: »

Thank you for all of your thoughts, encouragements, insights and stories. I like the suggestion of not playing the victim combined with taking responsibility for good health regardless of mental health challenges. I also loved the story of (moc247) who just started sweating. Ok. So, no more marshmallows will cross these lips for the indefinite future. I get to decide what I put into my body and what I don't. And I agree with you WBB55, that making Depression worse by living within a deficit model is counterintuitive.
So, the Cognitive Behavioural Therapists suggest we reframe our problems into challenges and focus on the positive thought processes and not on the feelings of hopelessness and despair. I suppose if it was that easy, we would all be lining up for more CBT and less chocolate. Nevertheless, I am a big fan of the Brain That Changes Itself and I know I have a few neutrons that are not completely assigned to making me fat forever. I may give them a working out at the gym, after I eat my organic Paleo-certified salad and sip on pure mineral water flavoured with a dash of lemon. Just salivating as I think of this. Jealous anyone?

You clearly are a bright and sensitive person.

As someone who can relate to everything you've posted on this thread (if not for me, then for people who've been close to me who we've lost too soon), I wanted to say this:

People (including yourself) may/will tell you that you're maladaptive or have a disorder or have special brain cooties or whatever. These same traits that cause this pain are linked and co-adaptations to things that evolution has left in our genes to help you be more successful than genes evolution has decided to eliminate. There's things about you that make you BETTER developed than others to succeed under certain circumstances. Maybe you haven't found your niche or your tribe out there that recognizes it. But they're there. And they'll love what makes you special. The same exact traits that make it hard for you to succeed in some areas of life will be the exact same traits that help you succeed at the things that truly make you happy and complete as a person.

Azuriaz wrote: »

Well I definitely needed to read this today. I am completely alone and maladapted to my environment. Migrating ASAP!

Find your tribe

I'm so glad I saw this thread again. I've been getting really bad, and I was really beating myself up like "why is this happening? why am I crashing? what's wrong with me? everything is falling and nothing bad happened!"

Reading this thread I realized I've stopped exercising. The pool at my gym closed for repairs, and I stopped walking because the streets are flooded with k-12 kids now school's back (so many schools near my house). I have all my classes on 3 days, and I spend 4 days each week closed up in my house not doing anything and getting more and more stressed. I can't just will myself better, I have to move. Thanks for that reminder

I have been diagnosed with Atypical Depression. The main thing about Atypical is that even a small positive event can at times pull me out of my "funk." most of the time I live in a continual state of melancholy and indifference. This is hard to deal with because you don't feel real bad but you have zero energy and you just don't care about anything.
I have been on so many meds to combat this with little success. I no longer take anything. Most meds made me worse. i use every bit of willpower i can muster to do things that most people see as routine ( wash clothes, cook, clean, run errands, even take a shower).
This is the major contributing reason for my obesity. I would eat to try and feel better. I tried desperately to increase my serotonin with food.
This summer is the end, well i hope it is the end. I am really trying to change my eating habits and have lost 42 pounds since July 6th (490lb start). More recently i have been experiencing a few more "good" times than i had just for months ago. These small changes have given me more motivation to press on.
I just want to add that everyone with depression is different. Each with our own triggers and self medicating failures. Those who don't have these battles sometimes don't understand what people with depression have to live with. They too easily equate depression with their own short periods of feeling down when they occasionally happen. They just are unaware of the chronic nature of depression and how it can control one's life. I do my best to explain how i have to fight depression every day the people who question me.
The worst part is i know i am in a depressive state and what i am doing to try to feel better is destructive, but i do it anyway. Even questioning myself as i would down a bag of Doritos or two.
As i said above, the cycle stops this year for me. It is the most difficult thing i have every tried to do on a daily basis. Add to the depression fight, the weight loss and you get to take a right hook to the face along with the kick to the gut you are trying to deal with on a daily basis.
OP, you can come to grips with things in due time. Sometimes you can do it alone. But many more times it requires help. I fully understand your discouragement. Just don't quit. Don't let yourself keep telling you to quit. Try again and again.