need some help with emotional support...

T

tina72382

Cathlete
Hi all, I am having trouble lately with fitness and my depression. Every time I seem to be doing well, and getting towards my goals, I destroy my own hard work. I'll binge on some kind of reallly bad food, or not work out for days. or both. I suffer from depression and I am currently taking zoloft. I am seeing a counselor, but only 2 times a month because of the cost.

Do you all have any words of wisdom for me? thanks so much :) -tina
 
I used to get really stressed if I missed a workout or binged on pizza, but what got me through it was telling myself, "So what! You have eaten well for two weeks without falling off the wagon, and you've worked out every day for the past month. This one little thing is nothing compared to all that." By focusing on all the good stuff I'd done, it put the bad stuff in perspective..and I stopped obsessing about it.

Nowadays, I actually put a "free day" in my week where I allow myself to eat whatever I want to. It's a lot easier to make through just 6 days to get to a free day than it is to pressure myself to "never eat anything fattening again." I mean, I love my pizza, my onion rings, and my Dairy Queen Strawberry Cheesequake....so, rather than punish myself for the rest of my life, I allow myself to indulge in these things one day a week if I want to. And, if on my free day I don't feel like indulging, I won't...which is okay, because one day in the following week I might get a craving and I won't have to feel guilty over ordering a pizza. What's more, I have found that I've lost more weight by doing this than by shunning fats altogether "forever and ever."

In addition to a free day, I MAKE myself not exercise one or two days, depending on how I feel that week. I absolutely will not beat myself up for not working out, because I know that for 5-6 days that week, I will be working out, and that my body needs to rest and recover, anyway. I always find that if I take a week off, I come back more rejuvenated and stronger into my workouts because my body has fully rested and recovered. I always build a week break into between my rotations. I'll go for 12 weeks, then break for a week, come back for 12 weeks, then break for a week. At the end of the 12 weeks, I feel a little burned out, but I find that by the end of that week off I'm chomping at the bit to start working out again. It really recharges my battery.

Sorry this is so long, but I hope it has helped you.
 
thank you for your reply! I should not be so hard on myself... I stuggle with learning to take things one day at a time. thanks again!
 
Catwoman - you should be a psychologist!

Catwoman's advice is dead on - the harder you are on yourself, the more depressed you feel, the more likely to both eat to self-soothe and to not workout because its hard to get motivated to do that when you feel like you're a failure. I'm a psychlogist currently working with so many people who are in your same position - they really want to be fit and healthy but they keep sabotaging their own goals. It all relates to being hard on yourself! If you think about it, easing up and being kinder to yourself is only going to help. AT the worse, your behavior will be exactly like it is now, but at least you won't have the excess stress of telling yourself you're rotten! But over time, your behavior will catch up. You'll feel more like exercising to feel good and in less need of food to regulate your moods. Don't give up on yourself! It takes time for depression to abate. You can go a LONG way by altering the negative messages you're sending yourself. GOOD LUCK!!!
 
I went off my Wellbuterin (because it didn't seem to be helping and I was paying $35/month for it). My doctor had prescribed it because I was constantly exhausted, stressed, and had horrible PMS which was getting worse all the time and really starting to affect my life. The Wellbuterin had helped with the fatigue for a few months, but really wasn't doing anything anymore. I was so sick-and-tired of working to death and eating super-clean to be fit and healthy and still gaining weight and feeling lousy.

Anyway, I'd been doing a lot of research on Cortisol and stress. I caught wind of a product called "Cortislim." After checking it out, I decided to give it a try--mainly because it had a money-back guarantee and if I ordered a 6 month supply, it was $35/month (exactly what I'd been paying for my Wellbuterin). And it wasn't marketed as a "magic pill." In fact, the SENSE program that comes with it explains that a clean diet and exercise are crucial to success. The Cortislim is just a compound that helps lower the Cortisol levels in your body.

I'd been trying to de-stress my life, but I was too out of control. The Cortislim really helped me. It helped because my particular depression came from stress that had been building up for years and not a chemical imbalance or anything else--and I know that there are many, many causes of depression. I took an intensive dosage at first and then went down to regular dosage. I also took up Yoga. It was like I had my life back again! I haven't re-ordered because I feel I'm doing okay now with the Yoga and trying to keep my stress levels down. But it was really the tool I needed to de-stress enough that I could be in control of my life again (and no, I don't have stock in the company).

Maybe this helps, but maybe it doesn't fit your situation--so take it for what it's worth.

Good Luck!

Carol F
 
THank you, Carol, I'm going to look into cortislim. I hate the idea of taking any kind of pills... it took 6 months for my doctor to convince me of taking zoloft for a short period of time... I've been on it for almost 2 years now. thanks again! -tina
 
I hear you, Tina. I'm also not comfortable being on medication for extended periods of time--although I fully realize that is can be helpful and necessary. But if I can fix something instead of putting a bandaid on it, I'm all for that.

Good luck and keep us posted! We're all pulling for you.

Carol F
 
"Catwoman - you should be a psychologist!"


I'm not a psychologist, but I play one on TV. Ha ha ha! At any rate, thank you for the compliment, futurefitness! At one time, I DID want to be a psychologist, but for one reason or another, I never pursued it.
 
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