? For those of you who have found success....

clarinetmajor · December 2015

For those who have had a large loss, I am wondering what losing the weight did for your mood? Did you struggle with depression before your weight loss? Did you feel like you were crazy because of how your insecurities affected your perception of life? When you lost the weight, did you feel that your mood stabilized? Was PMS less severe? Did you feel more grounded in yourself? How has your weight loss change your mental health?

I have been struggling with depression and my weight loss has plateaued. I still eat mostly clean but I eat too much food anyway to stay under my calorie goal. I feel pretty crazy sometimes and I wonder....the human body is a miraculous organism designed to work most efficiently at the proper weight. What kind of benefits did you see in your mental health after you lost the weight?

charmmeth · December 2015

I remember reading an article by a doctor who suffered from depression who said that exercise was for her often the way out of the dark times. She made herself go swimming. I also find that exercise can lift my mood and give me space when I am stressed, and all that helps me to stay on track.

clarinetmajor · December 2015

Thanks Charmmeth! I do exercise regularly and I would agree that the endorphin high is fantastic - and addictive. Swimming is my exercise of choice but if not swimming, I walk. I do my level best to exercise 6 days a week regardless of my eating. The fact is I'm such an addict, I can't live without it. It is the best way I have found to deal with my stress and to reduce my anxiety. That said, the mood swings continue.

clarinetmajor · December 2015

Thanks HappyCampr1! I agree with you about the benefits of exercise. The anxiety is unmanageable without it and then that leads to anxiety. This has also been my experience. Thanks for your thoughts!

Cortneyrenee04 · December 2015

Hi!

I've always struggled with depression and anxiety. I think it's something that will always be a part of my life, but it's a much smaller part of my life now that I'm at a healthy weight.

For me, having a new sort of coping mechanism in the form of exercise really helped. Instead of burying my feelings with food, I went for a walk. (Then a bike ride, and later turned to running.) Exercise helps my mood so much. And if you're out exercising, you're not somewhere eating your emotions, and you're just so much better off! Plus, when you're exercising, you won't (usually) want to "ruin" that progress with poor food choices. Then you'll feel proud of your accomplishments and it'll spill into other areas of your life.

One good choice facilitates another and another, until you can't help but feel great about yourself and about life!

About PMS: no, that hasn't changed!

jeepinshawn · December 2015

Working out has helped me burn up a lot of anxiety, but still dealing with depression issues. Workouts do seem to give me a temporary reprieve from bouts of depression though...

clarinetmajor · December 2015

Cortneyrenee04 wrote: »

Hi!

I've always struggled with depression and anxiety. I think it's something that will always be a part of my life, but it's a much smaller part of my life now that I'm at a healthy weight.

For me, having a new sort of coping mechanism in the form of exercise really helped. Instead of burying my feelings with food, I went for a walk. (Then a bike ride, and later turned to running.) Exercise helps my mood so much. And if you're out exercising, you're not somewhere eating your emotions, and you're just so much better off! Plus, when you're exercising, you won't (usually) want to "ruin" that progress with poor food choices. Then you'll feel proud of your accomplishments and it'll spill into other areas of your life.

One good choice facilitates another and another, until you can't help but feel great about yourself and about life!

About PMS: no, that hasn't changed!

Thanks for your help!

clarinetmajor · December 2015

jeepinshawn wrote: »

Working out has helped me burn up a lot of anxiety, but still dealing with depression issues. Workouts do seem to give me a temporary reprieve from bouts of depression though...

Thanks for your response! I appreciate all of you chiming in.

arditarose · December 2015

I've always been a kind of blue person. I'm thin now and still struggle, BUT my confidence is much better and I think that has helped with my relationships with friends. A friend recently told me I used to drag her down a lot, but I'm not really that way anymore.

My PMS physically got better, less painful. But I actually feel like I'm more of a nut job and get more depressed with PMS at a lower body fat %. Could be age/hormone/coincidence too.

mellowadam · December 2015

Severe depression for about 10 years. It pretty much vanishes when I eat well and exercise. Words can't describe how much better my mood is. Dark times can still creep in though. I've struggled with binge eating at times. Currently back on track since March.

When I was morbidly obese I was not taking care of myself. I didn't value myself. I had to learn that I was worth it and that meant making nutrition, exercise and 8-9 hours of sleep a big priority. It meant sticking with it even when I felt terrible.

When you learn to practice self love and self compassion you will magically attract more of that into your life from others. Then the world seems so much brighter. This will inevitably strengthen your resolve to live a more purposeful and intentional life.

Hang in there. It certainly get better.

vespiquenn · December 2015

As someone that suffers from depression and anxiety, working out has helped me tremendously. I say working out because the weightloss wouldn't have happened for me otherwise. But on days I am feeling bad, I push myself to get to the gym to get some cardio and weight lifting in. I actually feel more down if I don't. For example, I have had a horrible two days that involved the possibility of putting my one year old cat down (it didn't happen at the moment). But despite all that was going on, I got myself to the gym for 45 minutes when I knew he was sleeping. My head is a lot clearer now where as before the vet had to repeat instructions 5 times to me because I was just so down and foggy. That's not to say that my issues are gone, but I can approach them a little more rationally than before.

Cathscottage · December 2015

I love your questions. I have to say a huge yes that exercise does help with anxiety and most definitely depression. Particularly if you do sport with a group. Exercise lifts your mood. But certainly if you are worried then speak to your GP. Do 30 minutes of walking a day and keep doing it for a while and you will come to look forward to it. Try to get some neighbours to do it with you.

clarinetmajor · December 2015

arditarose wrote: »

I've always been a kind of blue person. I'm thin now and still struggle, BUT my confidence is much better and I think that has helped with my relationships with friends. A friend recently told me I used to drag her down a lot, but I'm not really that way anymore.

My PMS physically got better, less painful. But I actually feel like I'm more of a nut job and get more depressed with PMS at a lower body fat %. Could be age/hormone/coincidence too.

I'm certainly looking forward to having more confidence. In sure that can help with the insecurities that hamper my relationship. Thanks!

clarinetmajor · December 2015

Cathscottage wrote: »

I love your questions. I have to say a huge yes that exercise does help with anxiety and most definitely depression. Particularly if you do sport with a group. Exercise lifts your mood. But certainly if you are worried then speak to your GP. Do 30 minutes of walking a day and keep doing it for a while and you will come to look forward to it. Try to get some neighbours to do it with you.

Thanks! :-) I have been wondering about these questions for awhile although, the responses aren't what I expected. That's okay because I now have an answer which is to up my exercise. I swim with an adult swim team twice a week and it is awesome. My partner and I also walk out dogs when I don't swim. I am seriously considering starting the day 1/2 hour earlier in order to get a morning workout in.

rankinsect · December 2015

Can't say it has been doing too much for me one way or the other emotionally. For me, getting my mind in order came first, now it's the body's turn.

clarinetmajor · December 2015

vespiquenn wrote: »

As someone that suffers from depression and anxiety, working out has helped me tremendously. I say working out because the weightloss wouldn't have happened for me otherwise. But on days I am feeling bad, I push myself to get to the gym to get some cardio and weight lifting in. I actually feel more down if I don't. For example, I have had a horrible two days that involved the possibility of putting my one year old cat down (it didn't happen at the moment). But despite all that was going on, I got myself to the gym for 45 minutes when I knew he was sleeping. My head is a lot clearer now where as before the vet had to repeat instructions 5 times to me because I was just so down and foggy. That's not to say that my issues are gone, but I can approach them a little more rationally than before.

I'm sorry about your cat. :-( That is always a very tough thing to go through. I hope he recovers! It seems increasing my exercise would be the way to go to feel saner. I do exercise daily but maybe an extra 1/2 hour in the morning would help. Thanks for sharing your experience!

clarinetmajor · December 2015

mellowadam wrote: »

Severe depression for about 10 years. It pretty much vanishes when I eat well and exercise. Words can't describe how much better my mood is. Dark times can still creep in though. I've struggled with binge eating at times. Currently back on track since March.

When I was morbidly obese I was not taking care of myself. I didn't value myself. I had to learn that I was worth it and that meant making nutrition, exercise and 8-9 hours of sleep a big priority. It meant sticking with it even when I felt terrible.

When you learn to practice self love and self compassion you will magically attract more of that into your life from others. Then the world seems so much brighter. This will inevitably strengthen your resolve to live a more purposeful and intentional life.

Hang in there. It certainly get better.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I do believe everything you say is true. I also know I suck at self love and self compassion. My insecurities really get in the way of my relationship too. I also know I could be doing much better nutritionally. I'm eating mostly clean but could decrease carbs and increase protein. I exercise daily but based on all the comments, I could try increasing my exercise. In sure it could only help me to do so.

Thanks for your encouragement. It has been a tough year. Here's hoping 2016 goes better.

clarinetmajor · December 2015

rankinsect wrote: »

Can't say it has been doing too much for me one way or the other emotionally. For me, getting my mind in order came first, now it's the body's turn.

How did you get your mind in order first?

rankinsect · December 2015

clarinetmajor wrote: »

rankinsect wrote: »

Can't say it has been doing too much for me one way or the other emotionally. For me, getting my mind in order came first, now it's the body's turn.

How did you get your mind in order first?

Mainly by getting a job that was a much better fit for my skills, being successful there, making new friends, and getting a cat - who, when he's not being the source of my aggravation, is quite good at improving my mood.

Lourdesong · December 2015

My mental health seems to be correlated to the decisions I make. I need to make good choices and do things that make me feel good about myself before I can feel good about myself.
If I'm making poor choices and not doing anything worthwhile, I feel down and bad about myself.

I tried for years to work backwards by attempting to feel good before having anything tangibly to feel good about. This didn't work for me, if anything it only worked to make me feel like I was deluding myself - another thing to feel bad about.

Not lugging around an extra 125 lbs anymore certainly feels freeing, but the burden of extra weight being lifted from my body has been experienced since the beginning, and has been just one of many positive payoffs for choosing well.

Things are so much harder when you're heavier (carry around a 20 lb dumbell in a backpack for an hour and then remove it to immediately experience the difference just 20lbs can make), and being free of the amount of dread I'd feel to do even the least physically demanding tasks is a load off my mind. Everything being so much harder than it should be all because I refused to put down my fork was depressing for sure, I felt stupid all the time.

Pms has never been consistent for me, I have a fairly regular cycle but pms is more apparent some cycles and seemingly nonexistent in others. Nothing has markedly changed in this respect as far as I can tell.

nutmegoreo · December 2015

When I found that my depression wasn't changing with my exercise and eating better, I realized it was time to get some counseling. Some days are better than others, but it's a far cry from where it was and I'm making progress toward my goals. Sometimes the threads that bind the root causes need to be pulled at.

ETA: With regards to PMS, for the last two months I have been focusing on my iron intake and meeting my protein and fat macros. While I won't say for certain that this has improved things, I have been taking less pain killers and having fewer cravings.

totaloblivia · December 2015

I found that eating very low carb has helped my mood level out, the lows are less low and for me to feel more in control of life: no sugar binges, no unstoppable cravings, no hangry moments. I still have emotions obviously, including sadness etc, but just find life is a bit more on an even keel. Good luck with your journey - I agree with comments above that there is a lot of the "mental game" about losing weight.

I've lost 50lbs, but still have about 20 to go.

kyrannosaurus · December 2015

My mental health and depression is just as bad as it was before. I just don't use food as a coping strategy anymore. I've lost 35kg and I've only just been discharged from an inpatient unit with a new lot of anti-depressant meds. Being my goal weight hasn't made me happy. In many ways I am more insecure, I can't really explain.

? For those of you who have found success....

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