How do you bounce back to fitness after a bad mental health day/week/month/year?

[christineleex3]

Context: I'm ADHD, ASD, have C-PTSD, and dealing with grief (unexpected mom loss a year ago).

I’ve always experienced brief lows, a few days here or there, sometimes the week before my period, but for the most part it was fairly manageable. Brief enough to know fitness loss was minimal and I could jump back into activity without issue.

Then the pandemic hit (loss of routine, regular activity, and external support system), my mom died unexpectedly (hello grief), and suddenly the lows are lower, stretch from days to weeks, and I’m up 30 lbs (13.61 kg) since March 2020.

Given that I’m coming out of another dark spot now, I’m trying to do future me a favor by anticipating this next time, because oh boy, it absolutely SUCKS to be coming out of an episode, only to realize you completely dismissed your fitness goals and nutrition for the last 2-6 days/weeks/months.

To be be clear, this is not a “how do I fix my depression?” post. Rather, “know thy self,” and I know myself well enough, to know intermittent depressive episodes are a part of my life, so TLDR; I’m looking for help on how to return to fitness goals after a depressive low.

—

Wasn’t sure where to post this, but r/xxfitnesss seemed like a good place to start, apologies if this isn’t the right sub!

—

edit: spehling and wurds

 

[noclue2020]

@christineleex3 As someone who lost their mom too quite suddenly…it’s rough getting back into it

Just do it, go through the motions - maybe find something activity wise you once enjoyed like hiking or biking - or join a fitness class and be surrounded by other people willing to better their lives. I wish I had better motivation to tell you but just creating a habit at first is the hardest, it will be your biggest push and hurdle. Once you establish that habit, then comes the benefits of what you get from it and enjoyment - let’s those endorphins FLOW!

Some days you just don’t want to, but even when I get those day and I just do it - I feel so amazing afterwords

 

[ulfhednar]

@christineleex3 Fitness in any form has helped a lot with managing my mental health struggles. It gives me a routine, something to plan and look forward to, and something I can be proud of. I’ve taken days/weeks/years off in the past for sure because fitness isn’t like eating or sleeping- we don’t need to do it to survive. It’s a hobby that we can see benefits from but we can’t always dedicate the time or mental bandwidth to. Don’t be hard on yourself. Find something you enjoy doing. Ease into it. Talk to yourself like you would a friend starting over. We can be overly critical of ourselves. Think of it like a part of your self care routine. Do you always brush your teeth or wash your hair every day when you’re depressed? I know I don’t but I don’t look in the mirror when I’m feeling better and think about all the times I didn’t brush my hair.

 

[kybim]

@christineleex3 There are some techniques from the addiction literature on overcoming cravings. I think these can be applied to sticking to an exercise program. I'm no expert on addiction, but like everyone else, I've had some friends with these troubles, so I took the time to read about them.

First, it is important to be very specific about your goals. Start with just one small goal. For example, I'm going to do 20 min of cardio every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Something really small that you know you can accomplish. It should be so specific that there can be no fudging or fuzziness about whether or not you have performed it.

OK. Now, it is useful to consider your brain as having more than one function, or even more than one person in it. As you well know, in any large family, work team, volunteer situation, etc, there is always someone who does not want to pull their weight. They may have many excuses, try to sabotage or take credit for the efforts of others, or just be plain lazy. You know the type. However, your brain also has an executive function that makes the decisions, which is a function separate from all the rationalizing that we do. Think of your executive function as the adult in the room.

It's key not to beat yourself up. You (the decision maker) simply have to have a gentle but firm talk with the slacker, without blaming or recrimination. Like this: "Look, I know you want to lie on the couch and eat cheeseburgers (or cry, or whatever it is). But you are not the chair of this committee. You'll need to chill out and buck up a little here. We are doing this my way."

As you continue to patiently have these conversations with yourself, the slacker will eventually get the idea (like any small child that has asked you fifty times for cookies before dinner) that there is no point in asking, because the answer will not change. Eventually, they stop asking so much. When you feel more confident in fulfilling your first goal, you can add a second goal.

Rinse and repeat.

 

[thankfulttt]

@christineleex3 Sending you love. I understand. You’re not alone. I lost my mom, too, and I’m coming up on 10 years without her. I wish I could say that I no longer have nightmares about trying to save my mom and failing over and over again like Groundhog’s Day. Some seasons are harder than others.

Depression is a bear. One thing I’ve learned over the years managing my depression is that it’s much easier to keep healthy habits up than it is to claw your way out of a deep depressive hole. It’s hard, but manageable. Please be gentle with yourself.

 

[maddmace]

@christineleex3 Start with the basics, slowly fix your eating habits. I started with just adding little goals in, like eating at least 3 different types of plants with each meal. This could be grains, fruit, veg, nuts etc. Also started making sure I have a protein source in each meal. I used to be way more active, but struggled with overeating a ton, so I took a step back from exercise to fix my diet before restarting. I was consistent with workouts for a couple months and fell off due to heavy periods that left me drained, so I’m working on that part of my heath atm. I also started treating my adhd recently, so physical/mental health took priority before workouts. When I do get back to the gym I’ll be focusing on strength and flexibility gains for a while, and switch my focus to cardiovascular health and body composition later on. I also make short term performance based goals, ex: getting my first pull-up, or lifting x weight on a lift, which helps me stay motivated and creates habits without a ton of conscious effort

 

[bragar]

@christineleex3 This sounds like me from the past month. My work schedule because of Covid has been a mess (I work like 2 days a week compared to 5-7 pre-Covid), and I sprained my ankle about a month and a half ago and my doctor made me stay off of it for a month. No work plus no gym equals not so great mental health for me. Plus it’s been fair season so all I’ve been doing it sitting around eating crap food!

Like I can tell I’m in a slight depressive episode and need to get out of it, but at the same time the depression is causing me to not care and not have the energy to help myself out of it.

I may take some of the suggestions listed and try to go and do things that used to be fun for me.