Beyond physical health

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lmf1012
lmf1012 Posts: 402 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Something that hit me last night as I was reflecting on this weight loss journey. I started on March 30th with the goal to lose about 40lbs. Shortly after that, I made a conscious decision that I wanted to be healthier overall, not just physically.

As I was thinking about how to frame this post, it occurred to me that mental, emotional, and physical health are all interrelated and are not so easily separated into isolated categories.

For example, we all have read how important sleep is to weight loss but it is also a critical component to our mental and emotional health. When I am overtired, I am extra sensitive to stress and also very like to become annoyed and lash out.

To that end, in addition to eating healthier foods, logging meals, staying under my calories, and adding more movement, I have also taken steps that benefit my mental and emotional health, which includes finding ways to improve my sleep and to better manage the stress in my life.

Anyone else including other aspects of health into their weight loss journey? Any great ideas or tips for managing stress?!

Replies

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,532 Member
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    Yes, health isn't just about diet and exercise. Other things include: stress control, environment, genetic predisposition, and risk behavior (like competitive sports, or smoking, etc.).

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
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    Good insights. Thanks for posting. The sleep observation especially. Also adequate nutrition can make a big difference in depression. Crazy that human guts have more serotonin receptors than our brains. Indeed, it’s all interrelated.

    Re: stress, the single thing that makes the biggest difference to me (that I can control) is a little bit of outdoor cardio every day. It’s more for my head than my body. Another thing that often helps is to take one action (no matter how small or minor) that addresses the stress source, e.g. one phone call, digging through files for one piece of needed information, paying a bill. Sometimes the dread is worse than the action, and just doing something releases/deflates the dread.

    For DH, I see an amazing very noticeable difference that meditation makes re: how he reacts to stuff, how short his fuse is. Even 15 minutes every other day is hugely noticeable. He hates cardio but does some anyway and I don’t know if it helps his head or not. I guess everyone is different so you just have to experiment (and give the experiment enough time to yield results). Best to you!
  • Fflpnari
    Fflpnari Posts: 975 Member
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    Once i fixed my mental health it made my physical health so much better. I kept trying to lose weight but It took a while to see what the actual problem was
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,889 Member
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    ahoy_m8 wrote: »
    Another thing that often helps is to take one action (no matter how small or minor) that addresses the stress source, e.g. one phone call, digging through files for one piece of needed information, paying a bill. Sometimes the dread is worse than the action, and just doing something releases/deflates the dread.

    Very true!

  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,158 Member
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    ahoy_m8 wrote: »

    For DH, I see an amazing very noticeable difference that meditation makes re: how he reacts to stuff, how short his fuse is. Even 15 minutes every other day is hugely noticeable.

    I also notice this with my prayer life. I pray for other reasons too, but the calm and peace it brings, as a regular practice, helps weather a lot of hardships.

    One of the other things that has helped me with mental health is scrupulously paying attention to regular hygiene. It's often one of the things that goes first when a person is depressed. But a shower, a change of clothes, combing my hair - these all help me feel good and prepared.

    All these aspects of health are definitely interconnected. :)

  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
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    Oh yes! In many ways!

    For example, the ritual of logging has become an act of mental self care that helps me be present in the moment, be honest with myself, and center my feeling of wellbeing and living in my power.

    Another example: my main exercise is swimming laps. Rather than counting laps by number, each lap is a letter in an "affirmation alphabet." The combination of regulated breathing and repeating over and over a phrase like "I am Aware and in Awe of the Abundance Around me" or "Beloved, your Beauty is Balanced on you Breath" is a meditative practice that brings great peace and calm and self-compassion.

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