Depression…

Some say that exercise is the best way to combat depression – mainly because exercise releases endorphins, and we all know endorphins make you happy. But what happens when that’s not enough?
Over the last two or so weeks I’ve been fighting a, sort of waxing and waning, depression. I’ll have a few days where I have motivation and I’m excited to get up and get moving followed by a few days of wanting to lay in bed all day and eat ice cream and peanut butter. I haven’t been very good in the way of not binging, the unhappiness always comes with binging on bad foods. For instance – and I promised from day 1 I’d be honest so, here it is – I had two slices of pizza followed by carvel ice cream all after binging on pecan cookies and turkey bacon (not together although that doesn’t really matter) and cheese sandwiches earlier that day. I don’t exactly know what sets on this mood, but this is what happened last year when I gained the 20 or so pounds that I have been holding on to for the last 8-9 months.
Depression is something real, it can affect anyone – even the most physically active. One thing I promised myself this year was to get myself out of the funk quicker – stop wasting my time feeling bad for myself and forgive myself for negative actions and get back on the horse. Today I had only one slip-up but quickly got back to schedule. I have my week planned out pretty much to the meal, I don’t have much of a choice seeing that I don’t have a lot of extra, and I’ve come up with a training schedule that gets 4 days of cardio and 5-6 days of lifting – some of which are full body (Body pump). I have devised a plan that as long as I stick to it, I should be able to get through this next phase – which I’m going to call the transition to the overall healthier lifestyle. Fact is, if I ever want to compete I need to start off in a healthier mental place – these funks need to come much less often and need to last much less time. I think I’m finally coming out of my two week long funk – since I finally seem to have some plans that I can and want to stick to.
The best advice I have for anyone who is also experiencing this – find someone you can talk to (for me it’s my husband) and make sure they are on board, make a plan and then stick to your plan. If you stray, have a plan to get back to your original plan. And last but not least, don’t make excuses as to why you can’t do something. If you’re tired, don’t feel good, or are depressed – force yourself to get up and do it because it’s good for you, you’ll feel better in the end anyway…..