My Workout Makes Me Sad

ellejay1214 · February 2016

Hey guys! Last year, I started lifting heavy weights and pairing that with 30 minutes of moderate cardio activity for weight loss, muscle building, and depression management (I'm not taking antidepressants because they disagree with me). This was in combination with a relatively low carb diet with one cheat meal on Saturday nights.

It worked great! But I had little to no patience with anyone at work or at home. I would snap over very silly things, so I decided to cool it at the gym and try to find some balance.

Well, Christmas and I got along so great that I got the lovely gift of 8 hard lost pounds back. In the effort to get it back off, I started my old routine back up. But here's the big problem:

After the weights section of my workout, I cannot drag myself to a cardio machine. I just don't want to do it. I know when I'm being lazy and should push myself versus when I need to stop. But I find that after cardio, when I come down off my endorphin rush, I'm irritable and I snap at people. Then the next morning, I cant get out of bed and I cry uncontrollably... a couple times for the whole day.

I'm not sure if this is a thing to go to the doctor for, and I don't want to pay a crap ton of money for a fruitless visit since I can't take antidepressants.

Does anyone know anything about this? Does anyone have advice on eating, workouts, vitamins, herbs, or stress management? Please help!

rejectuf · February 2016

Why not try counseling? Your commitment to being healthy physically is awesome, but it seems that mental stress is dragging you down. Talking it out with a professional might do you a world of good and give you a good toolset.

AliceDark · February 2016

Why did you attribute it to the gym time? I might think about looking into the low-carb diet as the cause, or something unrelated (like seasonal affective disorder).

lisalsd1 · February 2016

Stop doing cardio and see if the situation continues. I would also look at your diet. I know this isn't quite the same, but I dropped too low on calories and felt physically terrible and drained all around. I would also talk to a dr.

ilex70 · February 2016

You don't say how low carb your diet is, but that would be my first thing to try. You don't have to hit the cookie jar, but maybe add some rice, sweet potatoes, etc.

Low risk, low cost, and if you try it awhile and don't like it you can always switch back.

I'm not anti low carb. I know it works well for some people. Do your own research, but as best I can tell from what I have found diets high in sugar and flour seem to increase depression risk as do diets very low in carbohydrates. Supposedly has to do with serotonin production.

rhtexasgal · February 2016

Is there any reason why you can't do cardio first and then weights? I do cardio 5x a week but for two of those days, I also have weight training and I always do cardio first even though most do not. Because I have ulcerative colitis, I retain a lot of body inflammation which means I need to be super warmed up before the weights. I find that I can still get through weights even after 30 minutes of cardio first. Just a thought ...

DavPul · February 2016

Antidepressants typically involve a fair amount of tweaking and patience to get the right combination for each person. Possible to give them more time? I'm not typically on here telling people to medicate but it sounds like you have known issues and that what you're currently doing for them is ineffective. I'm not certain the workout is what needs to be addressed

hopeandtheabsurd · February 2016

I would try the following:
--adding some (non-wheat) carbs after your cardio to see if that helps.
--reducing the intensity of the cardio to see if that makes any difference
--drop the cardio altogether and see if just weights leaves you feeling OK later

Though cardio can make it easier to be able to eat more and still lose weight, it isn't strictly necessary, a calorie deficit is all you need to lose those 8 pounds.

cafeaulait7 · February 2016

There are all kinds of antidepressents and even epilepsy medicine used as a very safe antidepressant, etc. If they never agreed with you, is there a chance you are bipolar instead of unipolar? There are even more off-label alternatives to traditional courses of drug therapy for that. You do have to find the right shrink to work with for trying different things.

I'm on an anti-depressant and would never go off it (it's wonderful!). But I actually have a whole class that I can't take and had a really bad experience with. I'd never, ever take those again. They vary quite a bit! If all of them disagree with you, it's probably a different condition (most often bipolar, where mood stabilizers are better or used in conjunction with an antidepressant).

ellejay1214 · February 2016

To answer a few of your questions, what I mean by relatively low carb is that I try for a balance of 40% protein, 30% fat, and 30% carbs... I get carbs from brown rice, fruits, veggies, and bread if I don't have anything better around and can't get to the store.

I do cardio after weights because I read that it's better for fat loss/muscle gain to do a mild five minute warm up, do your weight sets, and then 20 minutes of high intensity or 30 minutes of moderate intensity cardio.

I follow a workout with one serving of protein, usually whey/casein blended powder mixed with water, and one serving of fruit, usually a banana or frozen mango chunks for the potassium. Or if I'm out of fruit, a slice of sugar-free whole wheat toast.

My doctor wants to keep me off of antidepressants while we are balancing my birth control. At one point, we had tried Paxil for six months, but during that trial, I started having two-week-long periods and my iron count plummeted. She thought maybe if we found the right birth control, I wouldn't need the antidepressant at all. We have found a birth control pill that keeps my emotions level if I don't work out at all or just do easy, low impact workouts. But I can't seem to lose weight that way unless I drop lower than 1200 calories... And starving is not exactly how I want to do it. (Yes, I do need to lose weight... I'm 178 at 5'4".)

And that's why I think this is attributed to my workout. If I don't workout and get sore and sweaty, I feel lazy, but I don't have the mood swings. But if I do the hard workout I want to do, the next day I don't want to do anything at all except lay in bed and cry.

I will check in with my doctor and ask about testing for bipolar disorder and bring this conversation up to her. You all had some good input. Thanks!

Shells918 · February 2016

There's no tests for bipolar. You either have it or don't. Maybe a different birth control like seasonale (4 periods a year or even better Mirena which has very little hormones and lasts 5 years). BIrth control pills made me super depressed. I can't take them. Maybe that is more of an issue than you realize. There are a lot of meds I can't take but like @cafeaulait7 said, there are a lot of alternatives. I wish you luck.

lisalsd1 · February 2016

ellejay1214 wrote: »

To answer a few of your questions, what I mean by relatively low carb is that I try for a balance of 40% protein, 30% fat, and 30% carbs... I get carbs from brown rice, fruits, veggies, and bread if I don't have anything better around and can't get to the store.

I do cardio after weights because I read that it's better for fat loss/muscle gain to do a mild five minute warm up, do your weight sets, and then 20 minutes of high intensity or 30 minutes of moderate intensity cardio.

I follow a workout with one serving of protein, usually whey/casein blended powder mixed with water, and one serving of fruit, usually a banana or frozen mango chunks for the potassium. Or if I'm out of fruit, a slice of sugar-free whole wheat toast.

My doctor wants to keep me off of antidepressants while we are balancing my birth control. At one point, we had tried Paxil for six months, but during that trial, I started having two-week-long periods and my iron count plummeted. She thought maybe if we found the right birth control, I wouldn't need the antidepressant at all. We have found a birth control pill that keeps my emotions level if I don't work out at all or just do easy, low impact workouts. But I can't seem to lose weight that way unless I drop lower than 1200 calories... And starving is not exactly how I want to do it. (Yes, I do need to lose weight... I'm 178 at 5'4".)

And that's why I think this is attributed to my workout. If I don't workout and get sore and sweaty, I feel lazy, but I don't have the mood swings. But if I do the hard workout I want to do, the next day I don't want to do anything at all except lay in bed and cry.

I will check in with my doctor and ask about testing for bipolar disorder and bring this conversation up to her. You all had some good input. Thanks!

If you aren't having other hormonal/fertility issues than possibly try switching to a non-hormonal IUD. I had one that worked (didn't have a kid during that time) with no known side effects.

valente347 · February 2016

I feel like working out can greatly affect my mood, but also has a noticeable effect on my female hormones. For example, when I start doing more cardio, my period is more regular. The composition of my macros also affects my mood with fewer carbs making me really grouchy, tired, and emotional. However, it sounds like you're changing a lot of stuff at once (diet, birth control, exercise routine). I think you should talk with your doctor and figure out what parts of your life you should be focusing on keeping consistent so that any medication issues can be straightened out.

But just like adjustments in medication for depression, those changes in hormones you get from your daily activities won't stabilize overnight. You might find that after getting your BC, diet, and exercise to work as intended (not as antidepressants, however), you still need additional help managing your depression.

DopeItUp · February 2016

Cardio makes me cry too. I understand.

Mountainbum777 · February 2016

I think your just doing to much. If your lifting heavy then 30 min of cardio afterwards is just to much and not needed if your diet is in check. There's only two reasons to do cardio, to increase the health of your heart and lungs etc. or burn calories.

If your diet is in check, then no need for burning cals through cardio. If you enjoy cardio, then cut back on the weights. I always looked at it this way, I could either skip that bag of chips or sweets or burn it running for a half hour. I would much rather skip the chips....

I still at times felt guilty walking out of the gym after lifting for 1.5 hours and skipping the treadmill. I found a happy medium of walking at a moderate pace with a moderate incline keeping my heart rate in a good healthy "fat burning" zone for 15 minutes after my lifting sessions. Now weather or not I am actually burning extra fat this way I have no idea....but it makes me feel better and accomplished and that's what this is all about.

Imo, ditch the cardio or tone it down and cut the time in half. You also might be doing to much cardio to have proper recovery time before your next lifting session, especially if your eating at a caloric defecit.

Best of luck to you!

drachfit · February 2016

Hey there, I have struggled with mild depression and using exercise to manage it. Now this is a long shot and everybody is different, but I'll share my experience.

I also enjoy both lifting AND cardio. First, I want to be fit in many different capacities. And secondly, while lifting does help my mood significantly more than doing nothing, I know that I feel WAY better when I have a regular cardio routine too.

I also went through a period of intensive cardio training and after the race I just couldn't even bear to do another (rowing) session... for several months.

And lastly, I was sworn onto the low-carb diet (it does help me drop lbs quick). But I was experiencing the post-workout irritableness and brain-fog you describe.

Here is a few things that I found helped me:

1. drop the low carb diet. you are working out a lot. at many different intensities (long cardio, intense weights, etc) carbs are the body's fuel. they are not evil, and they don't make you get fat any more than any other calorie. it took me a long time to convince myself of this, but it is true. Especially when I am doing a lot of cardio, I NEED CARBS. you can still have a balanced and satiating diet with carbs in it. rice, potatos, oats. and, mmm, beer.
2. I separate cardio from weight lifting. Directly after a good lifting session, your legs are fatigued. Also, you have run your body low on fuel (glycogen, which comes from... carbs!) so you are setting yourself up for an uncomfortable, sub-optimal cardio session. I get no pain no gain, but, throw yourself a bone here. I do cardio in the morning, and lift at night.
3. Do not go for an extreme calorie defecit. You are training hard AND attempting to lose weight. this is a double stress on the body. If you want to lose weight, aim for a modest (500 calorie) defecit and no more.
4. get more sleep. I have the "can't get up and face the day" problem too. more sleep doesnt cure it but it does help.
5. learn that proper inclusion of light-effort workouts can help you get fitter, FASTER. you don't need to kill yourself every single lifting and every single cardio session, always striving for a PR. in fact this is a recipe for overtraining and burnout. light and slow sessions and even de-load WEEKS are a staple part of my training now.

kes840 · February 2016

I think everyone has given you good advice here re carbs (eat more) and cardio (do less), then see how you feel. I'm a depressive from way back who carefully tapered off antidepressants and has been off them for over a year. So far so good. I will add that SLEEP is a huge factor in how I feel. Sleeping OK, are you? If not, the sleep docs recommend cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia over meds these days. Also, talk therapy works as well if not better than antidepressants except in cases where the depression is profound. Good luck to you!

Karmc2k · February 2016

Ellejay1214, I strength train and do cardio about 5 days a week. I spend about 75 minutes in the gym each morn. I have Major Depressive Disorder but take an antidepressant (that is a life-saver) and use the gym to help boost my mood more. I always feel good after my gym sessions. If you decide to rethink your stance on anti-depressants you should see a psychiatrist instead of your general practitioner, a gp just does not have the wealth of knowledge and experience necessary to help you feel better as soon as possible. If you address this issue (if you feel you need to) it makes life, working out and losing weight so much easier. I wish you the best, keep us posted n your progress,

kes840 · February 2016

Just want to be sure my previous comment doesn't come off as being anti-medication in any way. If you need it, it can be life changing. I second Karmc2k's advice on seeing a psychiatrist vs. a GP if you (or anyone else) needs to go that way.

My Workout Makes Me Sad

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