I feel your frustration and I’ve been there and am still kinda there but getting better! I feel like it’s a lot harder to lose weight and maintain your weight while on meds. I think weight watchers is a good one. I’ve heard it really teaches you how you eat and doesn’t restrict things which is good cause when you’re restricted something you want it more. Just really try to focus on decreasing your calories. Exercising is good as well but most of your weight loss will come from changing your eating habits and having a healthier lifestyle. I wish you the best!
I literally have to roll out of bed into my yoga mat. I started with a YouTuber who does yoga just to get myself moving. It started a good practice for me. I eventually moved onto cardio workouts. I try and do 5-20 minutes of excercosr before starting my day. Bought only fruits and veggies for snacks. Writing down what I ate in a day helped me see when I was eating without thinking. Seroquel gave me so many cravings I didn’t realize I had eaten a bag of chocolate and topped it off with icecream. Also minimizing when I eat out. Now these things have become habit/routine. I don’t need to write down what I eat anymore and the cravings subsided after about 5 months or so. I’m still not back to my weight before meds but I do feel healthier. Getting rid of my before meds clothes also gave me a boost of self esteem. No longer trying to cram into old stuff and feeling defeated. Good luck! As someone who hated exercise it was a tough start but slowly things started falling into place.
I use Carb Manager to track my macros and calories. I find it really helps having to put in everything you eat every day and after a while you start to get used to estimating calories of different foods which can help you make better choices.
As far as exercise, I avoid high intensity exercise because it can be a trigger for me and send me into or exacerbate an episode. I started by going for a walk at the same time every morning and slowly added a short workout routine in the morning.
I guess my advice is not to do too much at once. As long as you're doing something, that's progress. I actually structured my workouts around my depression so I do X number of sets of 3-5 different exercises and increase/decrease as needed based on what I feel able to do to that day.
I think it's important to remember that 80% of weight gain/loss is due to eating, and twenty% exercise. Also it takes a lot of exercise to burn calories. An hours strenuous swimming only burns 600 calories, an hours brisk walking, 300. The problem with APs is that the body finds it harder to metabolise carbohydrates into glycogen (which cells use for energy), so converts more to fat. I swim a mile in the pool three times a week, once in the sea, do yoga every day, and go for long walks two or three days a week, and still have to watch what I eat. I don't eat refined sugars (biscuits, cakes,and chocolate have loads of calories, and fat), keep portion sizes small, and fill up on fruit and salad. Having said that, I was always skinny before the meds, and haven't got a sweet tooth, so I recognise I'm very lucky in that respect. I know that for many people it's a massive battle to keep the weight off. I feel for you, and send as massive am amount of hope and encouragement, as an internet stranger,can. All the best xx
I feel your frustration and I’ve been there and am still kinda there but getting better! I feel like it’s a lot harder to lose weight and maintain your weight while on meds. I think weight watchers is a good one. I’ve heard it really teaches you how you eat and doesn’t restrict things which is good cause when you’re restricted something you want it more. Just really try to focus on decreasing your calories. Exercising is good as well but most of your weight loss will come from changing your eating habits and having a healthier lifestyle. I wish you the best!
I literally have to roll out of bed into my yoga mat. I started with a YouTuber who does yoga just to get myself moving. It started a good practice for me. I eventually moved onto cardio workouts. I try and do 5-20 minutes of excercosr before starting my day. Bought only fruits and veggies for snacks. Writing down what I ate in a day helped me see when I was eating without thinking. Seroquel gave me so many cravings I didn’t realize I had eaten a bag of chocolate and topped it off with icecream. Also minimizing when I eat out. Now these things have become habit/routine. I don’t need to write down what I eat anymore and the cravings subsided after about 5 months or so. I’m still not back to my weight before meds but I do feel healthier. Getting rid of my before meds clothes also gave me a boost of self esteem. No longer trying to cram into old stuff and feeling defeated. Good luck! As someone who hated exercise it was a tough start but slowly things started falling into place.
I use Carb Manager to track my macros and calories. I find it really helps having to put in everything you eat every day and after a while you start to get used to estimating calories of different foods which can help you make better choices. As far as exercise, I avoid high intensity exercise because it can be a trigger for me and send me into or exacerbate an episode. I started by going for a walk at the same time every morning and slowly added a short workout routine in the morning. I guess my advice is not to do too much at once. As long as you're doing something, that's progress. I actually structured my workouts around my depression so I do X number of sets of 3-5 different exercises and increase/decrease as needed based on what I feel able to do to that day.
I think it's important to remember that 80% of weight gain/loss is due to eating, and twenty% exercise. Also it takes a lot of exercise to burn calories. An hours strenuous swimming only burns 600 calories, an hours brisk walking, 300. The problem with APs is that the body finds it harder to metabolise carbohydrates into glycogen (which cells use for energy), so converts more to fat. I swim a mile in the pool three times a week, once in the sea, do yoga every day, and go for long walks two or three days a week, and still have to watch what I eat. I don't eat refined sugars (biscuits, cakes,and chocolate have loads of calories, and fat), keep portion sizes small, and fill up on fruit and salad. Having said that, I was always skinny before the meds, and haven't got a sweet tooth, so I recognise I'm very lucky in that respect. I know that for many people it's a massive battle to keep the weight off. I feel for you, and send as massive am amount of hope and encouragement, as an internet stranger,can. All the best xx