Schizophrenia and Weight Loss

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MountainSummit

MountainSummit

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Hi, I am a guy from the UK. I am diagnosed with Schizophrenia, however I am very well, and working and living a very fulfilled life. Over the last 6 years I have been on antipsychotic and antidepressant medication. This medication has a sedating and appetite increasing effect. During this time my weight has fluctuated from being ideal to less so, so I know that the medication is not the only reason for weight gain, it is also to do with personal choices. Saying that, when times are not so good there can be so many other things to focus on.

This is the healthiest I have been in mind since I first became unwell, and everything else in my life is going very well, so now is to challenge one of the last issues... my weight!

I am not greatly overweight, however I would like to lose 2 1/2 stone, which would bring me back to the weight I was at aged 18. I currently weigh 13 stone and am 5' 9". According to my electronic scales I am 25% body fat, however they are not completely accurate.

I will discuss the illness and how that has effected my weight, and exercise, self esteem and so on, during the last 6 years. I will also talk about what has motivated me to change and improve my life over the years, even when many medical professionals believed that the illness is a life sentence to failure, poor relationships, poor health, unemployment and hospital admissions.

Thanks for reading, I welcome feedback!
 
Target...

I recently got hold of Tony Robbin's 'The Body You Deserve' program and have found it very useful and has completely changed my emotions about food. I will use the method of food combining and exercise to lose weight.

I have lost 6 pounds in the first week, which I think is mostly water weight. However this method of eating has given me much more energy, which has also inspired me to start exercising. I am working out at the aerobic rate, whereas I have over done it in the past which has made the process painful in the past. It feels very strange to work out at this intensity and feels almost like I am doing nothing, but I know it is having a positive effect, meaning I will keep it up. This means working out at 75% of my maximum heart rate.

I am giving myself till Christmas 2017 to reduce to this weight, averaging at under a pound a week. However I believe it may happen quicker. Speed is not my main focus. Longevity and enjoyability are really important. In fact I have found that I am enjoying (the healthier) food more than I even did before. I am eating till I am full, and the food combinations are really tasty, yet I am still losing weight because there are less calories and my body is digesting easier. I will be doing this will my girlfriend who I live with. Hopefully we can enjoy the process together.
 
Food Combining...

So a little about food combining if you are new to it:

This method of eating focuses on the way your body digests food. If you eat some foods your stomach uses acid to break them down, and other foods it uses alkaline. When you eat these two different types of food in one meal your body produces acid AND alkaline. This means the neutralise each other, so your body produces more and so on. This leaves you very tired, and the food sits there for a long time. This means you don't get the right nutrients from your food. Fruits for example digest not in the stomach, but in the small intestine, this means that if you eat them after a meal with carbs or protein, the fruit doesn't get to where they need to be, they sit in the stomach, and actually ferment, and lose all their nutrients. So the whole key to food combining is to know which foods can be digested easily together to give yourself more energy, it just happens that it tends to be healthier and less calories along the way.

This way of eating food has been around for quite some time. I think it is really good. I have previously tried the alkaline diet, but this didn't really work for me, as I was still feeling very tired (when this was meant to be giving me lots of energy), probably because of the combinations of food I was having together! Apart from that I have lost weight when exercising more, so I think this is one of the key areas for me.
 
Movement, Not Exercise...

I don't know about you, but over the years the word 'exercise' has developed negative connotations for me. I now think of doing more movement, a small distinction, but it seems to work for me.

I have a number of interests when it comes to movement. The main one for me is martial arts, I regularly train in Karate and Gracie Jiu Jitsu. I find that these a are fun and keep my mind interested whilst moving and getting my CV going. I have been doing Karate for a long time, and will be increasing my training further in the new year. I also do yoga, in order to aid both of these. This helps me with my kicks in Karate, and the locks such as the triangle in GJJ. I find it also relaxing, which benefits my mental health.

Aside from this I also enjoy dancing. I used to dance West Coast Swing, which is a great partner dance. I no longer do this, but I may get back into some form of dancing (maybe Hip Hop), so that I can encourage weight loss and vitality.
 
Hey Hun, welcome to the forum! I'm from the UK too - not many of us on here! Sounds like you have a decent plan x
 
Welcome MountainSummit! I like your focus on health rather than speed and enjoyable movement instead of strict exercise.
Best of luck on your journey!
LaMa
 
Welcome! I too have gained a lot of weight from psychiatric medications for various mental health issues. I'm not schizophrenic but I have annoying people in my head (doctor said possibly psychosis) so I can relate. Sounds like you are off to a good start on your weight loss journey so far.
 
My brother is a diagnosed schizophrenic. He's not functioning in society the way you are, although he does do well at home. (Congratulations for that, BTW. I hope you are very proud of yourself. Life is a hard thing to do with or without an illness and apart from your weight issue it sounds like you're doing fantastic.) My brother is, however, almost 500 pounds... I know part of it is his illness which is something not everyone suffered from, but there are things he - like everyone - suffers from that I believe has contributed to such an immense weight gain: lack of willpower and laziness. I say this with kindness as I've seen the entire transformation. His weight is also holding him back from pretty much everything. Work. A social life. A love life. The amount of stares he gets when he goes out in public has caused him to hide out at home, :(. It's tragic.

As an outsider, my biggest advice is to make a food journal and carry it with you. EVERYWHERE. This is beneficial for almost everyone, but when you have a bunch of medications TELLING your brain you're starving it's a completely different type of willpower you need to channel. If you have to reflect on this journal multiple times a day to remind yourself that you have indeed had enough food, do it. Also, get used to being hungry. You will never feel full. The medication won't allow it so you really need to embrace that feeling of being hungry and tell it to fuck off, lol. Again. this applies to everyone because as a society with over eat and it is not good to be "stuffed," but it's different for you because you will rarely get that feeling of being stuffed so you'll keep eating because you won't have your brain to tell you otherwise. Good luck to you!
 
La Dauphine said:
My brother is a diagnosed schizophrenic. He's not functioning in society the way you are, although he does do well at home. (Congratulations for that, BTW. I hope you are very proud of yourself. Life is a hard thing to do with or without an illness and apart from your weight issue it sounds like you're doing fantastic.) My brother is, however, almost 500 pounds... I know part of it is his illness which is something not everyone suffered from, but there are things he - like everyone - suffers from that I believe has contributed to such an immense weight gain: lack of willpower and laziness. I say this with kindness as I've seen the entire transformation. His weight is also holding him back from pretty much everything. Work. A social life. A love life. The amount of stares he gets when he goes out in public has caused him to hide out at home, :(. It's tragic.

As an outsider, my biggest advice is to make a food journal and carry it with you. EVERYWHERE. This is beneficial for almost everyone, but when you have a bunch of medications TELLING your brain you're starving it's a completely different type of willpower you need to channel. If you have to reflect on this journal multiple times a day to remind yourself that you have indeed had enough food, do it. Also, get used to being hungry. You will never feel full. The medication won't allow it so you really need to embrace that feeling of being hungry and tell it to fuck off, lol. Again. this applies to everyone because as a society with over eat and it is not good to be "stuffed," but it's different for you because you will rarely get that feeling of being stuffed so you'll keep eating because you won't have your brain to tell you otherwise. Good luck to you!
Click to expand...

Hi La Dauphine,

Thank you for your post. It is interesting to hear about your brother. I am sorry he suffers with Schizophrenia, it can be a very difficult illness to deal with. His weight will definitely contribute to the illness, as anything that causes shame or stress will do. I have found that having a supportive unit of family and friends has been the catalyst for change. Being open with those he trusts about the illness will help remove the shame if there is support. Then he needs to believe and understand that the illness is not random or genetic, but very much related to his life experiences and possibly trauma of some kind or another. The process then begins of looking at these experiences and getting to the heart and real meaning for him, dealing with these and then moving on in a positive way. Doing this with family is how I started, and now it has progressed to psychotherapy. This is expensive but very valuable.

Thank you for your kind words, I am proud but I am also grateful for the love and support along the way. I did a lot of the work, but would not have done without a lot of help in the first place.
 
How I have used food in the past...

Food was not a problem for me for a long time. Until the point when I first became unwell 6 1/2 years ago I always weighed around 10 stone (140 pounds). I was fit and healthy, and at one point I ran a half marathon and finished in the first 10% of runners.

However over the last 6 years I have begun to use food in unhealthy ways, particularly as a way of dealing with my emotions and stress. I think the first thing that happened when I became unwell is that I became a zombie. I was in a daze, and not moving much. I would sit or lie for hours on end each day whilst dealing with the hallucinations and ruminating thoughts. Whilst the quality of my life deteriorated I began to use food to fulfil my needs. My needs for comfort, connection, variety etc. This is where I found a lot of my interest in life, not to mention the strange experience it was when I was hallucinating at the same time.

The emotional dependancy developed the most over the last few years, where I lost some of the closest support from people I loved. I felt like I had to make it all happen myself now, and food made me feel safe. I almost felt like it protected me from the world, as if the thicker 'my skin' or layer around my body, the less people and experiences could affect me.

I got used to binging on bags of cookies, or milkshakes, or big tubs of yoghurt. I also was drinking 8 cans of beer a night at one point when I was struggling to come off other addictions, and with depression.

Fortunately when I was drinking a lot I met my current girlfriend and this made me snap out of my destructive patterns. I didn't want her to see how badly I had been struggling, so I made a shift in my dependancy. She also offered me a replacement for the support that had gone missing over the 2 years before. She gave me meaning in my life, and the kindness and love that my battered ego needed. She healed some of my deepest wounds, and positivity has just grown everyday since.

She has also struggled with her weight for quite some time, and whilst she helped me tackle many things in my life positively, food was not one either of us were really tackling. We ate healthy foods during the week, but too much of them. Then at the weekend we would treat ourselves to meals out and takeaways. This has continued until the last 2 weeks when both of us decided we wanted to make a change.

For me the point where I realised I needed to lose weight was when I saw a video of myself doing some Gracie Jiu Jitsu, and I saw for the first time how much weight I was carrying. I had fooled myself for a long time and it came as quite a shock. I knew I had to make a change and this is when I looked up Tony Robbins' 'The Body You Deserve' program. I have had success with his programs before and knew this would work for me. Now the challenge is to make it a positive lifestyle change I am happy with, and that I actually prefer to my previous lifestyle so that I continue this for the rest of my life.

Here's to longevity and living an empowered life!
 
Progress so far...

I have just finished the 12 day program with Tony Robbins, and this is my progress so far over this time period. Bare in mind that I didn't start the food combining till the 3rd or 4th day...

I have lost at least 9 pounds, and my body fat has dropped from just over 25% to around 24.5%. I have also lost 1.5 inches from my hips, and and inch from my chest. I have lost 0.75 inches from my thigh. Visually I look very different. I can't believe how much of a change has occurred in this time, and all with trying not to make quick changes. I have eaten till I felt full each meal, but I have 99% of the time avoided snacking between meals. I am happy to slow the progress in the future, but at least I know it works.

The reason I have lost weight is because rather than having two high calorie elements to each meal (carbs and protein), I am just having one of these. Part of the diet is about leaving 5 hours between meals so that your body has a rest from digesting and you have more energy. I have removed a lot of dairy from my diet as well. Whereas before I was having milk in all my coffees and often a glass of milk each day and some yoghurt quite often, I have none of this anymore. I also don't drink during or straight after eating, as this complicates the digestion process. I just make sure I have my water or coffee 10 minutes before eating. If I get hungry between meals I have some water, and this tends to do the trick. I also do a breathing exercise, similar to some of those done in yoga to oxygenate my blood. This is because in the past I sometimes use food as a way of relaxing and dealing with stress. So I find this breathing slows me down in the same way food would.

The strange thing is that I have actually enjoyed eating food more since being on this program. I love filling myself up on veg with the meat, or salad, or having some halloumi instead of chips etc. It has been a really pleasant experience and I feel like I am adding to my life, not taking away anything, which I guess is the best possible situation!

Have any of you tried food combining before?
 
I have. It makes me unbelievably cravy, which goes to show we're all different. Great to hear it's working so well for you though!
 
I've tried it, but it was more the vegan ex-wife's thing. Some people think their food has "chi", etc.

I'm just lucky if I hit my daily macro ratios within 10%. It's all I really worry about.
 
Supporting my girlfriend for the New Year...

It has been a little while since my last post, and it has been the difficult Christmas and New Year period, which we all know is difficult when you are trying to be careful about what you are putting in your body. For me, there has been an important change of events, which has changed my priorities, mainly to do with my girlfriend.

She has struggled with her weight all her life, and her mum first put her on a diet aged 9. She has a very difficult relationships with diets as a result, especially as she has seen the cycle of obsession with a diet, rapid weight loss, and then gaining the weight and more. She has seen this with herself and others all her life. So for me the excitement for the food combining seemed like a positive and fascinating experience, for her it was a painful emotional tigger. I encouraged her to join me, but she has been very resistant (whilst trying to be supportive). However in the end her fears won over, and it has been an important process for me to understand her better, especially some of her biggest guilt and shame. I actually feel closer to her, and appreciate how hard it has been for her to open up about.

During the last 6 1/2 years where I have been slowly learning to deal with my mental health issues and medication I have learned that talking about my emotions and distress has been a helpful and important process. I have learned that I can't fix everything on my own, and to be humble enough to realise I don't have all the answers and that to be vulnerable can make me stronger in the long run. In our relationship, I have gradually learned to trust my girlfriend with more and more about my mental distress and my history, and she has been able to support me more and more. I have grown a lot as a result, and feel happier and more successful than ever before.

However I have long felt that she does not use me in the same way. A big part of this is that she feels so much shame for her weight, that she feels like she can't talk about it. She is scared that by talking about it she will draw attention to it, and that I will suddenly look at her and think she is over weight, she has a problem with a her body and run away. This couldn't be further from the truth, I relish the opportunity to give back to her, what she has given me, and to support her firstly to develop a healthier relationship with her body and food (less shame and guilt, and more love), and then once this is softened to support her in developing a healthier lifestyle in order to lose weight.

My choosing food combining has brought things to a head, in a negative and positive way. It has unfortunately made her think about her weight and food more, leading to her weighing herself and realising she has put on a 14 pounds since we met, and feeling more shame. But it has also forced her to talk about it, which I am hoping in the long run will be a positive thing. I am hoping she feels like we are a team and her feelings about herself are our problem, not just hers.

As a result I am not sticking to the food combining diet for the foreseeable future. The idea of a diet is too painful and brings up too much emotion for her. I still think that it is possibly a positive thing, and in a different situation I would stick to it, so I don't necessarily want to put other people off the idea. The problems with dieting for most people however is that 95% of people who do one, in two years will have put the weight back on and more. These are scary figures. My girlfriend's approach is to not have hard and fast rules which rely on will power, but to make slow and gentle lifestyle changes, so more aerobic exercise, change white rice for brown, no sugar in tea etc. To reduce weight slowly, so that you don't really notice you are doing so. Hopefully this will be more sustainable.

For her, her weight is a bigger issue in terms of her feelings, so I am making her a priority. I will do it in her way so that I can support her, and not make her feel guilty for not doing it my way, or losing weight as fast.

This has not been that successful so far, as it has made me uncertain of how I will eat healthier, and what approach to take. I have also found that eaten some foods that are not healthy, almost to make her feel less guilty. This is obviously not ideal. As a result I think I have stopped losing weight this week, however over the next few weeks I am hoping we can make some good changes and start the slow but steady journey to living a healthier life.

Have any of you experienced complications when reducing weight and how that has made those in your family or relationship feel?
 
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