The hell am i feeling depressed for?

Ive had a few operations this year and my doc says its ok to take up weight lifting again, so ive also adjusted my diet from junk food to eating healthy, decreasing my carbs and increasing protein, but every time i take up gym and change my diet year in and out i end up going through stages of depression...am i doing anything wrong? any advice?

 

Could be that you are overtraining. Lots of ppl try to go from 0 to 60 to fast. They go from junk to clean food and train super hard to make up for the time eating bad food and not working out. In lots of situations in life you get more out of somthing the harder you work. That is not the case when it comes to training. Your body needs way more rest than you may be giving it.

So start off slowly. Workout moderately at first and dont cut out all bad foods right away. Keep training and food logs to help you out and set some goals. After a week or two has gone by gradualy up the workout intensity and frequency and cut out all or most of the junk food. Keeping the records will help you see what you have done and give you a sense of pride in what you have accomplished.

Also its ok to cheat with your diet sometimes. It's a reward for all your hard work. Remember even when you become advanced with the workouts you are doing to still get plenty of rest. If you do it this way you should'nt feel as overwhelmed with workouts and diet, and that should cut out alot of your depression.

 

^Appreciate the advice, u may be right about the diet, but as for the weight training im only spending say 1- 1.5 hours on weights and 45 mins on cardio... u think thats too much?

and suppose i stick to my plan, i.e. - sticking to the same diet and training without cutting things out, do u suppose the depression will wear off and if so how long do u reckon it will take?

 

Depression is a well-known side effect of overtraining. Are you lifting and doing cardio every day?

Carbohydrates also have an effect on seratonin levels, cutting too many carbs out too quickly might also be a source of depression.

 

Both of the previous posts are right on the money. I'd just add that going from not working out, to 2 hours a day is a huge increase. I never workout that long unless it's in a class setting. Try to keep your workouts in the 45-60 min range. Basically, cut your workouts in half. If you're working out 2 hours a day, it becomes a big mental drain, and that could be part of the problem. Working out should be fun.

 

Ya id have to know exactly what your are doing to give you a specific answer. That's why i said to keep diet and workout logs. Like its not just how often and how much time you workout but how intensely you train as well. You can go to the gym for 2hrs 3 times a week. But if you dick around or dont train intensely it can pretty much be a waste of time. Not sayin you dick around or w/e it just an example.

Basically to give you some general advice about starting off slowly. Take what you eat now and clean up 90% of it. That way if you can have cheat snacks daily for the first weak or so. Then gradually reducing them to weekly/monthly cheat meals. Weight training and cardio are a bit more complicated.

Basically you know what 100% of your effort is for any given workout. When you are just starting off with a new program keep the effort % and frequency on the low side. Keep the weight light and do lots of reps, and keep the cardio simple yet challenging. Once you establish this base you can add more intesnity and frequency to your workouts. Like i said before make sure you get adequate rest. And keep logs "Seriously" . That is the main thing.

Just make sure to keep your logs and when things get stale change it up. That includes your diet as well. Tired of the same three healthy meals all week, then google some recipies or get advice right here on these forums. Same thing with workouts etc.

Also you may still have your bouts of depression. In my opinion you just have to want whatever your goals in fitness are enough to work past it. Ofcourse thats only if that is the source of the depression and not work/relationship etc. Even if they are the case i always feel better after working out. Doing a good session of training is my Prozac for sure. Sometimes you are just going to be depressed. Especially if you have a real good reason for it. All i can say is that its my experience that if given enough time all things pass.

 

Are you supplementing with fish oil?

 

Chemical imbalance, perhaps. Sometimes people just feel low... Abe Lincoln called it his "melancholy". The more extreme cases are bipolar disorder, but it's all the same thing- you feel depressed. Your mind makes you feel sadness.

Try to get plenty of sunlight. Vitamin D will improve your mood, I guarantee it

 

Yes.

Im taking multivits so yea.

Otherwise this thread has sufficed in giving me my answer, i really appreciate it, especially Reev.:redface:

 

Informative post for my dumb ass. Thanks for that, never knew either of those two things.

 

You may want to get a blood test you could have a low thyroid condition, as well as what the other posters have said

 

I dislocated and tore my shoulder last winter, and I got pretty damn depressed when my lifting routine was completely thrown off. I look forward to being able to "relax" and get away from busy life by working out, and not being able to do that for a while really threw me for a loop. Having to change a routine you were used to could cause the same sort of thing.

 

1-1.5 hours of weights PLUS 45 minutes of cardio at one go is a huge amount of work, ESPECIALLY basically going from 0. I would say overtraining is very likely.

I would hazard a guess that if you went from nothing to that regimen, you are not having the best sleep in the world either. You may be sleeping, but it is probably fitful and not good rest, which can exacerbate depression.

You might try doing 1-1.5 hours of lifting on one day and doing the cardio on the next. Do that for 4 days, then take a rest day where you do some hiking or walking. And give yourself one cheat day a week-preferably on one of the days you either lifting or running.

One thing I learned about over training (for me) is this. For cardio work, I generally run. 4-6 miles depending on speed and what else I have going on. I found that if I was running long distances the day before I did the lower body workout, when I went to run the day after the lower body workout, my legs would go into complete revolt after about a mile-if not sooner. I would be exhausted, and it would take me a few days to get over it. So now, I don't run as much before I work my lower body, and I always take a rest day after.

Take smaller bites. Once you are up and running and physically active again to the tune of an hour or so 5-6 days a week and not exhausted, then you can look at fine tuning things to get the best results.

 

Could it be you arent getting enough rest? I found that I felt waaay better all around once I decided to really try to get at least 7.5hrs. It was a hard thing to do for me believe it or not. I'm no expert though so idk just throwin that out there

 

Great point, I've found I have to be as disciplined about sleep as I try to be about eating & working out.