So, I've noticed that I give up on my weight loss goals when I get depressed. I'm going through a lot of big life changes these days and there's not a whole lot that feels right with my life. I'm finding it hard to see the good stuff or have hope for things getting better. Not really dealing with my depression well. Instead, I've been eating a lot of junk food and watching tv, reading, watching movies, and doing a lot of passive, couch potato things. I need to get out of this funk, obviously, but this has crushed my weight loss efforts in a circular way. I had lost 35 pounds. I've gained all of it back since January, 15 of it in the past two months.

Trying to come to terms with my tendency to binge when I'm down. I don't eat massive quantities of food, but will eat supremely unhealthy things so the caloric intake is still high.

Do any of you find that binging on bad foods coincides with stress or sadness? What are some ways you motivate yourself to get out of those habits?

Should I post this in a different section? I'm just feeling really down about everything and hoping that posting might help me get back on track.

I have the same kind of problem... I've lost (and gained back) 35 pounds or more on seven different occasions.

So far, the three things that help me most seem to be:
1) Finding a way to be accountable. Points didn't work for me, but blogging and using apps that post results to Facebook (etc.) seem to help me bounce back faster.
2) Finding a sport. I've been trying to do a little road biking, and I just can't keep up if I've been bingeing for more than a day or two before riding. So that helps cut it short as well.
3) Getting a diet or workout buddy can help a lot.

I hope you find what works for you!

-J

A sport would be good. It would help with both accountability and motivation. Maybe I'll see if I can find something near me. Maybe join an aerobics class or something. I feel a lot like Im doing this alone and while that is just the way it goes, it's easy to get discouraged or lose motivation when one is in a vacuum.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Like you said, you're not really dealing with your depression well. It sounds like you might be using the binges to cope with your negative feelings? I know that's true for me! I use binging as a way to tune out all sorts of negative emotions, mostly anxiety and boredom.

I think just realizing that depressed feelings might be what's driving the binge urges is a great first step. Try to keep that in mind, just be aware of how those two are coinciding. That in itself ought to be helpful and give you back a little bit of power! Then, can you think of other ways that you could deal with those bad feelings, rather than burying them in food?

I hope I'm not totally off-base here. Just speaking from personal experience! Best luck to you! (:

You're not off-base at all. I recognize that this is what I'm doing, but I am stuck in a cycle and don't know how to get out of it. It's like something in me just gives up for a while and I think "oh, I don't care" and just zone out of my awareness for a little while.

The combination of really terrible food-choices (really, a pint of ice cream is not a good dinner. I know that) and being more sedentary because I'm depressed tends to make the weight stay put. So, I keep losing and gaining the same 40 pounds over and over and just can't seem to stay motivated through the lows.

When I get into the right rhythm, exercise and healthy eating just happen. And, to be honest, I actually prefer food that is healthier, but can't motivate myself to cook these days.

Today is alright. I started my day with a 20 minute walk and had coffee outside in the garden with fresh air and sunshine afterwards. I'm planning to try a new aerobics video tonight, too. And, I don't have any dangerously unhealthy foods in the kitchen right now, so I'm hoping to get myself back on the right track today.

Yeah, it's a very suck-y cycle, isn't it?
Glad you are doing all right so far today!

I know what you mean.. life is quite tough at times but you need to hold yourself together and think positive. That means focusing on the good things, that's what gets me through the tunnels in my life

I don't know how to prevent this. I am in the same boat.

I usually put on 10 to 15 pounds every winter and lose it in the summer. This last summer, I did not lose it, so I am a little worried about this coming winter, since my Seasonal Affective Disorder makes me crave sugar, fat and carbs big time in January and February.

Since I get depressed at that time, there is also a measure of punishment. I am down on myself (as I am in depression), so I punish myself with food that I know isn't good for me and eat to hurt myself. It is a guilty pleasure. Then it becomes a cycle, since I feel shame and guilt that I ate such crappy food, then I eat it again to punish myself more.

Also, when I am depressed, I don't care as much about life in general, so fitness goals seem far away.

I am on here trying to head off things this before they start, so let me know if you find a solution that works for you.

When I get stuck in that horrible "zone out" it is very hard for me to break free. It takes a lot of thinking about my goal and why I want to reach it in the first place. Pretty much me telling myself to put my big girl panties on and get back on track.

mottainai -- The cycle is definitely sucky. Worst is feeling stuck in it and powerless to change it. I think your suggestions about positive awareness are right on. The more I face the same issues, the more I admit them, the more likely I am to change them at some point. Does self-awareness keep you from over-indulging by mood? How do you deal with getting back on track after you've "fallen off the wagon" so to speak?

I've been pretty good about avoiding mood-bingeing, though I did make some poor choices last week. I know that once I get into the right rhythm, it will be easy to stick to it, but right now, I feel like I'm building a habit and lacking the discipline.

Been finding time to work out about 20 minutes a day, so far. I need to up that to an hour, which is the goal for Monday and beyond.

It's kind of ridiculous, but I feel like the biggest part of the challenge for me is making myself care when I am apathetic to almost everything most of the time.

brethren -- Been trying to think of the positive, but right now, it's hard to see it.

Ferny -- I don't think I've given much thought to the food as punishment thing. Why do you do this to punish yourself? I wonder if this is a factor for me, too, like I am deliberately sabotaging myself out of fear or familiarity or some kind of unspecified and unacknowledged self-loathing. There's definitely a component of despair and hopelessness involved. I'm going to think about this idea that you have raised.

ToriJ -- I am like that, too -- it takes so much effort to break free of the zombie-dom. I think that writing this post is my attempt to try to stay accountable and get back on track, even if it won't happen right away.

So, I committed to NaNoWriMo this month and I think as an accompaniment, I need to make some kind of commitment to working out. Maybe 30 hours during the month of November or something. Maybe that will offset the mood.

I've been an emotional binge eater for years. And it wasn't just poor choices, it was a huge crapload of them at a time. And the more I'd eat, the worse I'd feel, and so I'd eat more. I've gained a lot of weight doing that.

Funny thing though; this year I went through a pretty terrible breakup. I won't go into all the details, so let's just say it hurt. A lot. Usually, something like that would immediately drive me to a pint of Ben and Jerry's a night. I didn't do it, though. I sat on my couch seething that it actually happened, and I looked at the pizza menu I kept on my coffee table for quick references (I was ordering from them twice a week at this point). Then I stood up, changed into a sports bra and some shorts, and hopped on my treadmill. Something in my head clicked that day, I think. I realized I've been depressed, and I've been depressed for a long time. And all those empty boxes of food and takeout menus lying around that made me feel like sh*t was just contributing to this cycle I've been in for 5 years. And I decided I was tired of it. I've been working out almost daily since.

It's funny because I always feel better after my workouts. Always. I might dread getting on the treadmill or walking into the gym, but I always come out feeling like a million bucks. Binging made me sad. This doesn't. I think I finally got that for the first time in my life.

Now, there have been a couple days where I succumbed to junkfood. I ate it, then felt terrible about it. Not just emotionally; physically as well. That sluggish, tired, bloated feeling? I hate that. Lying on the couch and fighting back burps, getting tired in the middle of the day for no reason.... I'm so done with that. The next day I just went back to eating my regular healthy food and working out.

If you eat garbage food, it just makes you feel like garbage. Then because you feel like garbage, you eat more garbage. It's a hard cycle to break. But if you start correlating having a positive mindset with eating better and being active, your binge days will become more infrequent and won't bog you down as much.

Have you tried checking to see if your area has any workout groups? I didn't know too many people here and wasn't sure how to go out and meet new folks, and I wanted to get out there and be more active. A friend of mine told me about meetup (I'm not sure if I can post the link, but you can google that) and when I signed up, I saw they had a workout group in my neighborhood. It's really helped to keep me accountable since we meet up at different parks and the gym here for sessions and if I say I'll go, they hold me to it. If you need a local accountability buddy, I'd check that site to see if there are any groups near you. Goodluck!!