I started my new healthy lifestyle on March 17, and it's been going ok. There are days where I'm off track, and days when I don't exercise at all, and days when I lose and days when I gain. I'm fairly ok with all of this- especially as I'm still quite new to it all.

But I find that I have been more emotional lately. More mood swings. I don't know if maybe it's just more awareness of what I am eating now compared to all the unhealthy food I used to eat, or if there has been any hormonal or chemical change in my body in just a few weeks of trying to eat better or move more...

It's not that I'm depressed. Most days I am my regular Pollyana self, it's just that I notice that I get upset more often for no perceivable reason, and sometimes I feel very easily irritable.

Has this happened to any one else?

Hello Katy. First congratulations on your decision to begin a healthy lifestyle change. There are going to be lots of ups, downs, battles, rewards, sweat and tears. There are days I am so dedicated it is scary and other days I have to find the motivation just to get out of the bed.

Are you experiencing these moods on a daily basis or do you believe it is a TOM thing? I find the week before and during my cycle I am a blubbering basket case. I have found that pamprin usually works wonders. I am also sure that while you are losing weight your body goes through hormonal changes also but I am not sure how noticeable they would be. If you are really concerned I would say mention it to your doctor and see what he thinks but I believe it is normal and that it will get better as your body adjusts.

I started just recently and I know exactly how you feel! I get incredibly moody toward the end of the day but not everyday. I think it has to do with the lack of certain foods. Like I love diet dr pepper but I have limited myself to just 1 per day in the morning, and I am pretty sure that is why I get so cranky by the afternoon is there any foods that you usually ate before trying to healthy that may have triggered your moody behavior? I think our bodies act up and say no your not gonna lose the weight but that is why we say yes I am!

I was a moody byatch for a month or so after quitting all the sugar and processed carbs and foods. It gets better. Some of it I think I was just mad and throwing a fit because I couldn't eat all the junk I wanted and had to resist. Now, it's been about 2 years of healthy eating and when I have a high sugar, simple carbs or processed junk, I feel physically horrible! My heart races, I get clammy, and the next day I feel like I have a hangover. A couple weeks ago we went out for Italian food and I had Alfredo pasta dish, a roll and hubby and I split a small slice of cheesecake. I was seriously ill a half hour later and felt sluggish, depressed, mad, sad, sick...carb/sugar overdose!

This def happens to me! I find that even though I am not the type to delibreately think "I am upset. I need to eat" I subconsciusly do it as a way to relieve my stress-so in a way it "stabilized" me. I didn't realize how much I used food as a crutch when I finally ate it only as physical nourishment.
Now I haven't replaced it with any habit-instead I just let myself feel emotional, and it goes so bad that I end up trying to solve whatever problems that bug me! Or I just have to remind myself, its me-its my stress and I don't have ot feel so upset about this. So in a way, its harder, but its also good in the long run.

Thank you so much for all your responses and support! I really appreciate all the feedback. It's given me a lot to think about.

I think pixelllate might have summed it up for me:

For the past decade, I've eaten for every reason and every mood under the sun- happy, sad, celebrating, commiserating, boredom, fear. And now I'm trying not to do that (with varying degrees of success). Maybe when I don't self-medicate with food, I explore the feeling more thoroughly because I'm not trying to block or buffer it?

I think I'll jot down the unhappy moods every so often and see if I can spot any distinct patterns.

Thanks!

It sounds like you are doing it right. You want to feel your emotions, not eat your emotions. One thing that helped me was just having a place to vent. I think it was around week 3 and 4 where everything just seemed to irritate me more than it used to...some silly stuff, some normal stress type stuff and some just getting cranky because I wanted to eat whatever I wanted to eat. Hang tough...this too shall pass. Or, maybe it wont and you'll learn new or better ways to cope.

I just want to give you mad props for realizing that you are emotional! Sometimes it is easier for us to shove those feelings down and pretend that we're not this way at all.

I am definitely cranky that I can't eat an entire 8X12 pan of brownies. Seriously. This makes me cranky. Sometimes my boyfriend will ask me what the problem is and I will simply answer, "Pie." I have a whole song that I sing to my daughter (to the tune of Three Blind Mice) about pie.

ANYWAY, my point is: You have every right to be emotional. Allow yourself that.

After a few weeks of my new lifestyle I remember becoming increasingly moody and I also began to develop major anxiety issues. I did see my doctor about it and he came to the conclusion that I always had these issues but now I was actually feeling them.

I was no longer self-medicateing with sugar and booze and cigarettes...(i gave up everything at once) I wasn't numb anymore. It was tough to deal with life without all my crutches. I've worked through it now, but for about a year I was a mess emotionally.

It's good to know that other people have been something similar within the first month of a lifestyle change like this. It means that I CAN work through this and it WILL get better.

Thanks again to you all!