Psychological Hurdles

There are groups for anxiety and depression, its finding one with enough traction to stay active thats the trick. Try searching the groups section for things like mental health. Good luck. You are not alone.

I have depression too. Medication and therapy have really helped, and exercise really helps my mental state a lot. I just rejoined mfp, feel free to add me

GravisMetus wrote: »

I’m so happy some of you are speaking up. Hiding these issues we face is counter productive to the problem. And I’ve learned there is nothing to be ashamed of!

It's an unfortunate catch-22. If you're depressed, you need help, but the very nature of depression makes you ashamed and unable to talk about it so you don't get the help you need then you feel worse. I have had clinical depression and anxiety since childhood, I'm 43 now, and there were times during my treatment that I was still unable to make that next appointment or talk about new issues that came up. Fortunately, that's mostly passed and I am fairly evened out between a low dose of meds and regular lifting (with a little cardio mixed in). There are some off days where I feel like I'm working against the current, but they're not nearly as frequent as they used to be. I will always have body image issues though. I don't believe that's going anywhere, but with age I've come to accept a lot more.

It's a shame that so many of us suffer from this consuming illness, but certainly, it does help many of us to hear about others dealing with the same.

It's great you're reaching out to others. This app was wonderful for getting myself together, weight and fitness wise.

I definitely have battled with bouts of depression, anxiety, body image issues, and impostor syndrome fairly extensively. I've never been officially diagnosed with anything or seen a professional about mental health since elementary school, when my parents had me speak with the school psychologist about how hard I was being on myself about grades (at age 8). I was also mild-to-moderately overweight for the majority of my childhood, and that definitely had an effect on my self esteem as an adolescent and into adulthood.

Coincidentally, I'm also 29 and I'm easily in the best shape and look better now than at any point in my life. Still, I struggle with focusing on what I perceive to be huge flaws in my body and physique; both about areas I have control over attempting to change, and those I do not. I also continuously find myself internally harping on "why didn't you start lifting sooner? You idiot, you'd be so much better off it you'd started at [insert younger age] than waiting until 26" and the like.

The short list of things I commonly think about being not "enough":
- lean
- muscular
- tall
- handsome
- confident
- competent in social interactions of any kind
- competent in my job/should've picked a more lucrative career
- organized
- financially savvy
- thoughtful
- creative
- generally attractive

I've been happily married for 5 years, have a good group of close friends, and have no real interest in making more IRL, so I'm not sure why a number of those factors that drive others' perceptions and opinions bother me so much. Still, they fester. I'm flattered as often as I'm perplexed when I catch my wife leering at my arms, or when she tells me in proud disbelief how hot I've gotten. I've never been adept at taking compliments.

I've found the time I spend exercising, mostly lifting, to be one of the most effective escapes. The area in my basement with my bench/weights feels like a sanctuary most days. Though, it's still not a complete bastion from my negative thoughts; it's adjacent to other areas of the basement I desperately need to de-clutter, my lift numbers should be higher, etc. I work out alone so it's easy to become immersed in thought. I've tried music, podcasts, streaming shows, and silence and none of them make me immune to my thoughts wandering to anxiety and/or negativity-inducing places. Sports talk podcasts probably help me the most, keeping my attention focused on the superficial topics being discussed.

I can't claim to have any good advice beyond you're not alone in struggling within your own mind. I've found that knowing yourself better and identifying tendencies is at least half the battle to managing your thoughts.

Feel free to add me and good luck in your weight loss pursuits.

I also deal with major depression as well as anxiety. Exercise is so helpful in keeping my mental health manageable, but I have a hard time making that happen without the support of others. At the same time, the depression and anxiety cause a fair amount of avoidance and isolation, making it hard for me to get that support unless the other person gets it and encourage me/holds me accountable. Right now, I have a pretty great boxing gym that has helped on all fronts, and it's always helpful to see these posts Things are a little rougher than they've been in a while, and body image issues had been a relative non-issue in the past but seem to have crept in over the last couple of years.
@GravisMetus : I'm glad you are doing better, and thank you for starting this thread