Treat mental health before weight loss

R

Ronbell

New member
Hello,

I'm someone with ADHD who has also struggled with my weight loss in the past. Due to the nature of my disorder, it was very easy to lose motivation when it comes to long term goals. I found the energy deficit created by untreated ADHD didn't allow me to maintain a mindset long enough to accomplish anything.

There are many mental disorders that people suffer from. Depression is another largely undiagnosed disorder. People think you need to feel sad to be depressed, when that isn't true.

Mental disorders are often co-morbid with being overweight. I think people should really analyze and determine if there could also be a mental issue that needs to be treated in order to accomplish your goals.

It's a very tricky subject, because many people don't recognize that willpower alone isn't enough when you have a mental disorder. The effort I put in prior to being treated for my issues could have built the great wall of china. It wasn't until my issues were treated that I was capable of reaching my goals.

Remember: You are your greatest enemy when it comes to mental disorders and weight loss.
 
I tend to agree with you here. I lived with depression for quite a while before I identified it and took steps to control it. However once I realised that I was depressed there was a bit of a road block with my doctor about how depression related to my weight.

I think most doctors still believe that patients just need a healthy dose of will power to overcome weight problems. Lots of us here know that simply isn't true. Its pretty discouraging to go into the dr office looking for help with depression issues and having the dr say that you wouldn't be depressed if you lost weight. Well, that's great but if I need to be happy to lose weight and the weight is causing me to be unhappy.....you see the vicious circle here don't you? :D

I was fortunate enough to find another dr who worked with me in finding a solution to my depression. I now feel capable of tackling this issue with my weight. Lets see if I will be successful.
 
Ronbell said:
Hello,

I'm someone with ADHD who has also struggled with my weight loss in the past. Due to the nature of my disorder, it was very easy to lose motivation when it comes to long term goals. I found the energy deficit created by untreated ADHD didn't allow me to maintain a mindset long enough to accomplish anything.
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Did you try taking medication for that? Or even just having regular caffeine to treat it if you are not a medicine person?
Having a medical disorder is not a reason to not do it, but to just work harder at it (because in reality, everyone is different and has some problem that they need to work around).

Good luck to those who have harder problems to handle :)
 
Ronbell said:
There are many mental disorders that people suffer from. Depression is another largely undiagnosed disorder. People think you need to feel sad to be depressed, when that isn't true.
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I think one of the worst things about ridding yourself of depression (or symptoms of) before you try to lose weight is that the two can often go hand-in-hand, which can make it very hard to make positive progress.

Many people are depressed because of their weight and the lack of self esteem it gives them. And, at the same time, many people gain weight because they are depressed and just don't care about themselves. No matter the cause (whether the depression causes the weight gain or vice versa), it can be a bitch of a cycle to break out of.
 
Yea, I agree Chef. I think thats some of my problem. My weight makes me deppressed and b/c I'm deppressed, i eat, but then I get angry or deppressed that I over ate...you get the picture.
 
Korrie said:
Yea, I agree Chef. I think thats some of my problem. My weight makes me deppressed and b/c I'm deppressed, i eat, but then I get angry or deppressed that I over ate...you get the picture.
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HAHAHA, exactly. It's a seemingly never-ending-cycle of fatness and depression that just goes on and on and on and...
 
Super Agree!!! Yeah... Your body will not be prepared if your mind is not so... Thanks for sharing!

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wishes said:
Did you try taking medication for that? Or even just having regular caffeine to treat it if you are not a medicine person?
Having a medical disorder is not a reason to not do it, but to just work harder at it (because in reality, everyone is different and has some problem that they need to work around).

Good luck to those who have harder problems to handle :)
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I take medication for it now, and it's made a world of difference in so many aspects of my life. Even more so than my weight issue (which no longer is one).

My point is that these mental disorders Make you incapable of maintaining the proper mindset to accomplish almost any goal. Since I've been able to OWN my ADHD, I've been able to own everything else that's been standing in my way. I couldn't do it without support from forums like this, medication, and being aware how ADHD affects my decisions.

Let's just say there's more to ADHD than what most people recognize. Just like I can't fathom what it's like for people to be Bi-polar, severely depressed, PTSD, etc etc. These issues should never be trivialized. People with these problems are already fighting HARD over control of themselves. Calories in, and out are very low on the priority list..(even if they don't realize it)

My point is exactly the opposite of what you're emphasizing. Hard work with an untreated mental disorder just leads to a greater failure. The worst of it is, often the successes that are accomplished with an untreated mental disorder go unrecognized.

It's much easier to not try something and not fail, then it is to do something and fail miserably. It's going to be harder to start again, n'es pas? But if you've got your head in it, 100%, with nothing else holding you back, you're going to reach your goals.

Think about it: what actually stops others for reaching goals? Is it other people? Nope. It's only you. Your mind is your biggest enemy. Think about how serious people want to lose weight. There are a lot of people here who think about absolutely nothing but losing weight. Yet they still can't do it. WHY? If they're so committed, shouldn't they be able to reach their goals (excluding outside factors like a medical condition, thyroid problem, etc)? There is only two possible explainations:

1. They actually didn't care as much about achieving that goal as they thought. If this were true though, they would be easy to rebound, and not feel any shame or regret for not actually accomplishing their goal. But in reality, if....

2. They have a mental disorder, and they were committed, and still didn't reach their goals, they would become depressed. They would be frustrated with themselves, and would create another detrimental hit to their self esteem.

It's why it's so important for people to realize: Treat the brain before the body. When you're in control of your mind, you're in control of everything else. I recommend people who have failed at weight loss, and continually find themselves in a rut, and living in their failures to seek a therapist. I mean get a general diagnosis and evaluation. Be real with yourself, and don't even bring weight loss into it. I didn't even realize that ADHD was the true giant I needed to slay. 1 in 5 people have a mental disorder of some point. 1 in 3 people in the untied states are overweight. There is BOUND to be some huge overlap here.

FYI: Caffiene doesn't treat ADHD. Nicotine does though.
 
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Agreed. Great post. It really makes me think. I've always suspected that I have ADD or ADHD (& others have mentioned that I might) but I've always thought it just affected my studying and I dealt with it but I'm having the same issue of "staying on track" and this may explain why even when I try super hard I fall off the train. Did you just make an appointment with your general practitioner or who suggested that you had ADHD?
 
A close person of mine has depression and has gained more weight than me as a result, I am in full agreement with the OP here.
 
good info

Also must say, to treat your brain as you would your liver with everything it needs to be healthy. Nutritious food can minimize some of our mental health issues too. The problem with medicine is it's acidity. It robs alkalinity from the body, which causes other problems.
 
PamelaViktoria said:
Also must say, to treat your brain as you would your liver with everything it needs to be healthy. Nutritious food can minimize some of our mental health issues too. The problem with medicine is it's acidity. It robs alkalinity from the body, which causes other problems.
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You are seriously starting to sound like a parrot. In every thread, no matter if it is on topic or not, you go on about acidity and how it 'robs' alkaline from the body. You promote a raw diet, and you think that all the evil in the world is caused by acidity. We get it. No need to repeat it over and over again.
 
I think that exercising will help with your energy levels, and depression. While it's not a replacement for someone who has serious long term depression, the feeling of accomplishment and the extra daily energy from exercise certainly will help your mood!
 
^ You're absolutely right, Monster. While I still rely on my antidepressants and possibly always will (I think I fall under the category of "serious long term depression"- I was first put on antidepressants when I was 12, and back then giving antidepressants to anyone under 18 was considered a drastic move), the more exercise I do the better I can handle my depression. I've even had my dose of antidepressants reduced because of my change in mood since starting exercise.
 
Korrie said:
Yea, I agree Chef. I think thats some of my problem. My weight makes me deppressed and b/c I'm deppressed, i eat, but then I get angry or deppressed that I over ate...you get the picture.
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That reminds me of what Fat Bastard said in Austin Powers.

"I'm unhappy because I eat, and I eat because I'm unhappy. It's a vicious cycle."

Something along those lines. That pretty much sums it up >:|
 
So, this thread is quite the clusterfuck huh? :)

Besides our weird division between "mental" and "physical" (really, they're not seperated from eachother) health there isn't really anything general advice for all mental health problems.

For depressions, social anxiety and relateds increasing exercise is generally one of the most efficient ways of doing something about the symptoms. Cognitive therapy and SSRI's can also help, and some PN medicine for people suffering from anxiety attacks. But exercise is a very good way to help with especially depressions.

For some other mental health problems where what you treat them with is depressants, and not stimulants, increasing exercise might be either useless, or good, but not problematic in dealing with the problem.

So in general you could say that exercise is ALWAYS good or neutral as pertains to mental health problems.

Overweight puts stress on a lot of different places in the body, and is never helpful with anything. Loosing weight is always good for someone overweight, this goes for overweight people with mental health problems too. Now obviously you shouldn't sacrifice your mental health to loose weight, but telling people to "not loose weight before the mental health is dealth with" is just wrong.

Also with regard to depression, being sad because you're overweight isn't a depression, it is being sad or lack of self worth etc. A depression is, if we're talking about mental health, a different thing from being very sad and frustrated. For sadness and frustration exercise and weight loss is also just... super. People tend to mix it up and it does neither people with actual depressions nor sad people any favors. Telling someone with an actual depression to "get a cup of tea and suck it up" is horrible advice, doing it to someone stuck in feeling sorry for them self might be just the ticket to help them out.

Now regarding some of the life long mental health problems like bipolar, all the spectrum diseases (what I think americans used to call borderline, scitzotypia and such) and manic depressions... there is no such thing as "waiting till you've dealt with the mental health" since it is a chronic condition :)

As a side note... no amount of yoga, meditation, quartz crystals or magnets will help someone deal with most real mental health conditions.
 
I'm not sure I agree with treating the mental health disorder before losing weight. Maybe treating it while you are losing weight okay, but one of the reasons I get depressed is because I am overweight. Now that I have found a product which has helped me lose 120 lbs., I find myself happier, more self confident, more self assured, getting over my anxiety (slowly lol). I do have a ways to go yet, but I keep setting small goals and as Ib hit them, I get motivation and want to keep going. Losing weight is helping my mental health issues, I believe more than my ongoing counselling is. I wish everyone the best in whatever they are dealing with and with reaching your weight loss goals. :)
 
Physical health is indeed linked with mental health. I have such bad chronic fatique, that I used to take 2 4 hour naps during the day, along with an 8 hour nap during when I go to sleep. I have high blood pressure, even at a low body fat (Less than 10%). I don't see how it can all be from mental health, but I guess it is.

People need to try and understand they can do anything they set their mind to. I was on depakote, a medicatoin that causes you to gain weight rapidly. I was losing weight at a steady pace while on it. My psychiatrist didn't understand, and was amazed I was able to do. Other people I've noticed sometimes say they cannot do it because of the medication. But, I feel it is important to not let that hold you back. Try, if you faiil, try again. You will succeed eventually.

Negative criticism never helps anyone. Positive reinforcement is much more powerful than negative reinforcement. Minimize the critism, and focus on the positives.

Everyone has always been so helpful here, and that's what I fear the most. The person who who cannot see beyond conventional predjuces, and who is not very understanding, as well as cannot see from the other persons perspective.

Predjuce means Pre judge. Too many people do this. Too many people make assumpations that are false, it is only human nature. But, people do it all the time, consciously or unsconiously. i think it is important to become aware of this and do not judge anyone. Einstein said:

""Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly."

"“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment”"
 
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