Depression, weight loss, weight gain

I find it interesting and rather frustrating that when our little animal bodies go through times of stress, we release a hormone called cortisol, which (among many other things) makes us want to eat carbs[1]. Another thing cortisol does is increase our body’s tendency to store fat in our abdominal area. To put it in layman’s terms, when you get stressed out, you want to eat a whole bag of cookies and it all goes straight to your belly and/or thighs and butt. You probably already know that.

If we stay stressed for long enough without properly chilling out, cortisol has even worse effects on our systems. Eventually, chronic stress will take a negative toll on the digestive tract. Where once we craved the whole bag of cookies, eventually, it will become difficult to eat anything, and digestion and absorption become compromised. You probably already know this, too. At least once in your life, you may have sat down to dinner with a date who decided to start a fight as soon as the entrees arrived. The waiter sets the once-beautiful lobster/steak/pasta in front of you, now rendered totally inedible by argument. If not, consider yourself blessed. 

Once we reach this phase of stress, we may begin to drop some stress-related weight. I’ve been doing this for a few months now. My weight loss is still under 10 pounds, but I am a generally fit person not trying to lose a lot of weight, so it’s a little frustrating to me. Also annoying is the fact that cortisol doesn’t release its hold on abdominal fat just because it won’t let you eat. The net result is that I am dropping weight from around my already scrawny lower-legs and upper chest, while my belly and butt hold onto it tightly.

If I were to continually repeat this stress cycle over the course of my life, I imagine that I would eventually end up looking like a potato propped up on toothpicks. 

I searched the Internet for a plan to combat the potato-toothpick outcome, and I could find nothing specific. Most of the Internet’s advice was geared toward managing the symptoms of depression (see a professional therapist) and keeping down weight gain (get exercise). All good advice, but it didn’t really address the stress-related weight-loss issue. 

So as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor, I will offer my personal plan of attack to manage this moment that I’m going through, just in case it helps anyone else: 

·     Unwind at the gym. Make sure your exercise includes a mind-body/stress management element like Yoga or Tai-Chi. 

• ·     Focus on moderate-intensity exercise. High intensity exercise is fun, but it adds stress to the body, and releases more cortisol into the blood.
• ·     Take group classes. It’s good to be in a group with other people, especially when you are feeling down, and even when you don’t really feel like it.
• ·     Lift weights. Weight lifting will help build or maintain muscle mass to keep the body from cannibalizing its own muscle mass if you aren’t eating properly. In my personal anecdotal experience, moving weight is also an excellent appetite stimulant. Again, don’t go crazy. Focus on moderate weight and increase gently over time to avoid injury, and adding additional stress and cortisol.
• ·     Make your meals a sanctuary. Allow yourself a half-hour of quiet, stress free time for each meal. If that means you need to eat alone and lock yourself in a storage closet with a candle and Spotify’s Deep Sleep Playlist, do it. You deserve time to digest without conflict.
• ·     Plan easily digestible meals. I am a huge fan of smoothies, because I feel like the cold, semi-liquid ingredients can slide in between the most stressed-out intestines. However, commercially prepared ones can be loaded with sugars and low in nutritional quality. Half a banana, a milk of choice, and a scoop of protein powder tossed together with a few ice cubes in a blender will keep you moving for a few more hours. Add avocado for some healthy fats, greens if your tummy can tolerate them, maybe a beet if you are feeling wild and crazy. Following is a link to some clean-eating smoothie ideas. All very simple and low-sugar: https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/drink/smoothie/clean-eating-smoothie-recipes/
• ·     Plan easily made meals. If you are already dealing with depression and stress, you know you aren’t actually going to cook the five-course meal, no matter how great it looked on the Food Network. Keep the meal plans simple, and there’s a greater chance you’ll make the food. You can toss a family pack of chicken thighs in the slow cooker with salt and pepper on Sunday, and do absolutely nothing else to it for 5 hours, and you’ll have proteins for the week. Buy few types of vegetables (broccoli, potatoes, sweet potatoes) that you can microwave or roast to go along with it, and that’s dinner in a few minutes all week long. I pull a lot of meal plans from Eatingwell.com http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/21148/seasonal/spring/dinner/quick-easy/. I like how they organize them so that breakfast, lunch and dinner use many of the same ingredients, which is efficient and economical, and none of their meals take terribly long to make. 

My final piece of advice for managing depression and weight loss and gain? Don't feel like you have to keep it a big secret. You don't need to tell everyone all the details of what you are going through, but you can tell your friends that you are having a rough time, and let them know what you need. Like, "Hey, friends, I am really stressed out, and it would help me if you would come to yoga with me to give me some motivation to get there."

Meanwhile, if anyone would like to come to yoga with me, I teach like 5 times a week, so just ask, and I'll tell you where I am. And we can just breathe together.

Namaste, friends!

---

[1]Dina Aronson, MS, RD, Today’s Dietitian 
Vol. 11 No. 11 P. 38, Cortisol — Its Role in Stress, Inflammation, and Indications for Diet Therapy

http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/111609p38.shtml

Things to do when you’re feeling down

You have probably seen some sort of TV or cartoon depiction of a little angel sitting on a person’s shoulder, and a tiny devil with pitchfork on the opposite shoulder. They are both whispering advice as the person tries to make a decision. Usually it’s about whether to get the fries or a salad. I don’t think that angels and devils interact with us quite like that, but we all do have some internal conversations going on throughout the day. I have noticed in myself that sometimes the loudest and most insistent voice is absolutely the wrong one.

Bad ideas from the loud voice:

•     Take another shot of tequila!
•      Eat all the chocolate!
•      Ask him out for drinks!
•      Avoid people today!

Okay, there are times and places where all these things are fine, but in the particular situations I’m thinking of in my life, each of these loud-voice-influenced decisions began a series of unfortunate events.

Sometimes, when we’re feeling depressed, the absolutely last thing we want to do is crawl out of bed. If we make it to the bathroom, we think we’ve made some great progress. The idea of being around other people at times like that is nearly impossible to imagine. All we want to do is curl up in bed, maybe sit in the dark and ruminate about the unfortunate circumstance that is life. If there is chocolate (or whatever binge food you prefer) in the house, so much the better. The loud voice tells you to eat it. Eat it all. Stay in bed.  Drink the booze. Take the pills. Don’t answer the phone. Don’t call your friends.

Somewhere inside, there is a quiet voice telling us this course of action will only make things worse, but the idea of going outside and taking a walk or calling friends to come over is just too much. So I have put together a list of achievable goals for days when we’re feeling really down. If you can accomplish some of the things, you might be able to feel a little better tomorrow, instead of making the situation worse.

Things to Do:

•      Take a bath. Put your body in the tub. Run some hot water. Bath salts and bubble bath are awesome, but if you don’t have that, at least your body will be clean, and this is something relaxing and restorative to do for about 20 minutes.
•     Lay on the floor with your feet up on a wall for 5-10 minutes. This is very low effort. It’s more comfortable on a carpeted floor, but if you don’t have carpet, you can put a blanket under yourself.
•      Listen to some classical music. You’re probably online: you can go on YouTube and find whole channels of free music that will play for extended periods of time. You can look up “music for depression” or “uplifting music.” Try to avoid any music that makes you depressed or anxious.
•       Eat something that grew out of the earth. Whatever you like: banana, apple, nuts, oranges. These items take zero work to prepare, and will help your body repair itself. Find a simple thing in your kitchen. If you don’t have a fruit or a vegetable in the kitchen, this is a great time to call up a friend and say, “I am feeling down. Could you bring me a banana?” The banana will be nicer to you than the quart of ice cream.

o   On a side note, if you really don’t have any plant-based foods in your kitchen, the next time you feel well enough to get to the store, buy a stash of healthy things that last a while, like frozen fruits. You can make them into a smoothie or just take them out, let them thaw, and eat them.

•       Call a nice friend. You don’t have to tell them you’re feeling down. Just tell them you called to check on them and ask them how their day is going. Maybe their talk will distract you for a while. At times like this, be sure to think about who you are calling—someone who is interested in your well-being and who doesn’t make you feel worse. You might want to call your ex or that frenemy who always puts you down—instead, call someone kind and upbeat who generally makes you feel better.

The goal here is to avoid making things worse by drinking, overeating, or talking to people who affect you negatively. As you start to feel a little more together, maybe in a day or two, take stronger actions, like taking a walk outside. Go in person to a restorative/gentle yoga class. Take any exercise class, or go to a gym with people in it. By moving, we get ourselves out of our heads and into our bodies. If we can find a place with people, it also helps alleviate that sense of isolation that compounds depression.

Once you’re really feeling energetic, plan out a week’s worth of healthy meals and go shopping.

Find a group or organization that needs your help, like a homeless shelter or animal shelter. Volunteer your time to take some of your focus away from your internal dialogue.

When you’re feeling good, try spending a few minutes a day in meditation. I didn’t recommend this at the beginning because, at least in my own head, my meditation gets very melancholy when I’m feeling down, so that’s not really the place I want to start. But when you are feeling well, you can try setting aside a few minutes of quiet time a day to take a mental inventory of your life. Focus, one-by-one, on things for which you are thankful. Mentally reach out to people you care about, sending positive thoughts their way for a moment or two. Try to cultivate a sense of gratitude. If you start the practice when you are feeling well, it can become a healthy and grounding practice even when you’re feeling down. The next time you feel depressed, you might even be able to think of a few things you are grateful for. Some days, that list might be very short. For example, “I am thankful I am not on fire.” However short the list, it is a place to start.

Remember, no matter how bad you feel, tomorrow is another day.