Depression and trying to lose weight

[blondiex]

Hello everyone. I tried starting the 12 week plan a few weeks ago but I just caved in. I suffer from depression, which makes my motivation levels pretty much non-existent. I notice that I always eat absolute rubbish on the days where I feel really down. Whenever I'm sad I just eat I really do want to lose weight but it just seems so difficult with depression lingering over me. Plus I have M.E which makes exercising difficult sometimes. Someone please help me, I just want to lose weight and be motivated 😓

[alex7ra]

It is really difficult. I would say just take one day or even one meal at a time. Eat healthily when you can and don't beat yourself up when you can't or it's a vicious cycle where you feel bad and want to eat more to make yourself feel better.

Try not to have anything unhealthy in the house - if it's not there you can't eat it!

If you are feeling low try and get outside into the fresh air for a gentle walk. Every time you want to eat something you know you shouldn't tell yourself you can have it after you have been for a walk or drunk a pint of water.

I have suffered from ME in the past. The thing that turned my life around was VegEPA. I can't recommend it enough. It is recommended by the ME Society. It is also really good for depression. Have a look here igennus.com/

[jpardy123]

I am exactly the same! Don't worry. I constantly feel HUGE which makes me feel worse, but when I try to eat healthily and exercise more, I give up so so easily! So I understand what you mean!

The exercise has helped me a little bit more, even though I have not lost any weight yet. I find that having friends that are also trying to lose weight helps, because your lifestyles seem to mould around each other.

Good luck!

[kbaker1995]

Hey there,

I also suffer from anxiety and depression. I have suffered with it extremely bad in the past few months. I started this plan two weeks ago and I have lost 4 pounds so far. I don't do any exercise either.

I'm the same as you where I eat more when I'm particularly upset. Rather than the usual munch I would have around the house I have gone out and got a load of fruit and snack on that with yoghurt when I want to over indulge.

Not many people would agree with this but have one day off a week where you can eat a little bit of rubbish, mine is a Friday after weighing.

If you want to talk about your depression then feel free to message me x

[Hidden in reply to kbaker1995]

I think more people would agree with you than you think Enjoying something 'naughty' once in a while isn't going to do you much harm - as long as the scales keep going down, however slowly. Denying yourself nice things will just mean you feel worse and are less likely to stick to your overall plan. You just need to find a balance between having the odd temptation, and generally eating more healthily.

[Crazybluebear]

Hi, I know just how you feel! And when I say that Its because I'm in the same place you are. I have been suffering from ME since I was 13 years old so I know the hard days are just to much to take and food can be the only thing that gets me through.

I also suffered from depression but have been able to get through the worst with the help of changing my diet! I know it sounds a little silly but it's what worked for me.

I changed the way why I looked at food and started to make very simple changes I have since lost 6 stone!!! This for me is with out doing any exercise as I can't, I still have 3 stone to go but slow and steady wins the race.

I still have bad days e.g two nights ago I sat down and just eat everything in my kitchen, I felt so horrible the next morning and I knew I had let myself down. I know in my heart that I set myself back but i cleaned up the mess took a step back and just started again like new....some times it's all I can do to stop myself from feeling bad. Motivation is the hardest thing to find when you feel so low but remember there are people here who really can help and just listen to you need to say.

If you ever need to talk message me, some times motivation is just a few words away xx

Keep up the good work and don't let it get you down.

[hannahhh]

Hey sweety; I suffer from really bad depression to and it's always been the main cause for my binging and lack of will power and motivation but it's gotten to a point now where being obese is just adding to my already shitty depression.

I started my first week of dieting with a bowl of fruit for breakfast, bowl of peas for lunch and bowl of peas with (vege) chicken for dinner (aswell as using MyFitnessApp to monitor and log my daily calories).. I lost 7lbs that week

However, I altered my diet as soon as I realised I can actually eat more lol; So now I have lots n lots n lots of salad for my lunch mixed with either tuna or quorn products and lots n lots n lots of salad for my dinner with the same thing ( i alternate,) it's either that or corn on the cob.

I've lost 19lbs in 16 days by sticking to it.

Within a week of starting my diet, I felt less fatigued and more alert, and had the will to move more which in turn made the depression simmer away. It's amazing; I've heard that eating well and exercising helps with depression but never really believed it until I tried it and now I avoid all processed and sugary foods completely because of how good I feel!

You can do this <3

[Jo4950]

Bless you, I'm sorry you are feeling so sad. Having ME and depression is not good. Have you got any help from your health professionals, do you take medication , if you do I think you need to ask them to check your levels.

Just remember that you are an amazing person who deserves the very best, you need to know that we all have dark days that mean we struggle with our weight. BE kind to yourself and remember you are worth everything.

I have fibromyalgia and I know how hard it is to get out of bed sometimes it sucks I know. Be brave and speak to your GP and remember you are worth everything.

Have a good week.

[Nsky24]

Accept that food never really comforts, you think it does! My fav tip is tea, mad I know peppermint and liquorice, a bit of sweetness with no cals, cravings are mad at times!

[Hidden]

Going for a walk out of doors is good for losing weight and improving your state of mind. I've been walking as much as possible since last September and have gone from over 14 stone to around 12 1/2 stone in that time. Now I really enjoy going for a walk.

[andrewleeone]

Depression is an awful, awful experience. It finished off my career and nearly finished off me - but not anymore. I was big when depressed as I was eating and drinking to feel better - emotional reasoning & easting. a few things have been really significant in not being a depressed person anymore, and I believe, free from the danger of relapse. I ended up way,way too big and I was getting to accept it.

The first thing is that If we suffer from any condition we should become an expert in it. After all, we are an expert doing it to ourselves! So, its important to learn. Read as much as you can about how your mid works, learn how to spot it doing whatever it does to get you depressed. The best books to read are: The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters and Sane New World by Ruby Wax. You'll learn TONS about how you mind works from two real experts in the field.

Next I learned about Mindfulness and started practicing it. I learned to notice the thoughts and feelings I was having and just notice them!

The Mark Williams Materials are the best available. Get the practical hand book for MBCT.

Once I'd started mindfulness, I noticed that I was having thoughts and feelings about food and drink and I learned to sit with them watch them come and go and learn to focus on the here and now, ad choose what I really wanted.

I stopped drinking, decided to loose some weight and started the 12 week plan focusing on developing a healthy diet and living with a calorie intake of 1500 a day.

In a couple of weeks I was taking some exercise again and this really too off.

I started reaching out to a few friends and did more in the company of others.

I broke the rules of depression - I started moving and I started interacting with people.

I started the mindfulness because of depression, I started the weight loss through mindfulness, I started the exercise because of the weight loss, and I noticed I wasn't depressed anymore.

If we are depressed w need to move more, interact with others - even on this forum. Read Loads! Focus on the here and now. Learn to meditate. Say what we are going to do and do it, no matter how small. We feel better. Set ourselves daily behaviours and targets and let the little victories add up.

Treat yourself as if you were a dear friend in a hard place and be compassionate towards yourself. Because you wrote your post, you too action. You got a response. We do something - We get something! Success and freedom are ours for the taking!

[Dave1961 25kg]

Hi Blondie I suffered from depression for 4 decades before I finally found something that would help.

I had tried various antidepressants all of which had left me feeling numb or foggy - I hated how I felt.

In January I started taking large doses of magnesium for a heart issue I have - which is now under control thanks to the magnesium!

But about 6 weeks after I started taking 1000mg a day I suddenly thought "Wow - I don't like crap today!"

Once I did some investigation I found out that a large slice of people who suffer from depression also have a magnesium deficiency.

Put simply magnesium is a relaxant. If the body is deficients symptoms can range from muscle cramps to heart palpitations/atrial fibrillation (my problem) and also depression.

Magnesium helps the production of serotonin and dopamine - it kind of greases the wheels to allow these feel good hormones to be released. If you are deficient and prone to depression its a bad mix.

I have a PDF of a book by Dr Carolyn Dean which talks in depth about this issue and how magnesium has helped many many people. If you want to email me with your email address I can send it to you.

The reason why magnesium is NOT broadly advertised is because big pharma can not patent it so they would rather market their own solutions - which are often impersonating what magnesium does anyway!

Since I started on magnesium my depression has almost totally lifted and since that time I have given up smoking 4 months ago, stopped biting my nails 2 months ago and have lost 17 or 18 pounds in 3 weeks. When you are NOT depressed amazing things can happen.

So yep - let me know.

[Carolee13]

Funny you should say that, Dave. I recently read that if you're craving chocolate it may be the magnesium your body is craving. Other foods high in magnesium are nuts and seeds, natural yogurt, dark leafy vegetables to name but a few. I've been making sure I include some in my diet. See healthaliciousness.com/arti...

And yes, I've been a depression sufferer too. It seems to be a common theme for people with weight issues. You feel so alone when you're depressed but if only you knew how many people are secret sufferers... My best tip to fight depression? Act as if you're not depressed, and eventually (maybe it will take a while), the feelings will start to follow. That's hard because depression robs you of hope and you feel nothing you do has any meaning but it's simply the depression lying to you. And don't berate yourself when you can't manage it. Be kind to yourself.

Wishing you all the best, blondiex.

[blondiex]

Wow Thankyou to everyone for your replies! Such kind words and advice for me. It feels so good to know I have all of you on here supporting and encouraging me I have read all of your replies and whenever I feel like I can't do this I'm going to read through this all again. I think I'm a bit in denial about my weight gain, I keep thinking oh it's not that bad... Until I remember I've put on 1 and a half stone in the last 2 months. There's no more denying this and trying to get out of it, I want to feel better which by the sounds of it a healthy diet will really help! I'm going to do this!

Thankyou again for all of your help everyone, I'm so overwhelmed by it!

[alex7ra in reply to blondiex]

I think saving this thread would be a really good idea, it's full of loads of practical advice and love from your fellow suffers.

Good luck - we are all rooting for you

[JanellaOliviaSmith]

Well, its really hard for you to be motivated in loosing weight because as you said you had suffered from depression. I believe if you have a goal and you want to achieve it, you must put extra effort to it. As for your experience, you need to fight depression first and find an inspiration so that you will be more focused to it. Like you answer the question why are you doing it on the first place?