So I'm thinking. I've realized, lately, that I can measure my progress upward out of my familiar depressive spiral by a number of things. One of those is my daily tasks list, another is how much time I'm spending aimlessly forum-surfing, another is how much resistance I have to the idea of social activities even with the friends I love most.

But one of the big ones, for me, is my ability to stay on-plan. And perhaps the grandmomma of my benchmarks for progress on depression recovery is: When I work out, which area of the gym am I willing to go to? (The background - at my gym, there are two main cardio areas. One is kind of tucked away in a corner, and is usually deserted. It also only has 6 large TVs across the front of the room, which are preset to certain channels, none of which are the ones I like to watch. The other area is exposed, usually a little more crowded, in front of a mirror-wall, right next to the weights area and all those guys, but it has individual TVs on each machine, plus a DVD player on each.)

See, when I'm depressed, I stick to Area 1, because it's quieter and hidden and I can be alone while I work out. I just suck up and deal with not having anything interesting to watch. I can measure whether I'm in a good headspace or not by whether or not I'm willing to go work out in Area 2 where I can watch what I want, but have to be around people and visible to do it.

My question to you guys is, do you have any similar benchmarks? Can you tell how far into or out of depression you are by some trait like this, like what workouts you can do or how well you're eating? A lot of places tout the link between exercise and lifting depression, but I'm finding that for me, it's the other way around - once I get a little less depressed, then I exercise. What about you?

I did when I was in college. My soda intake increased the further I went into depression, and I tended to go to the Hoot'n'Scoot more frequently, so I wouldn't have to eat with anyone, either at my table or in the general vicinity. Also, my junk food intake increased exponentially depending on how deep into the depression. I also WOULDN'T go to the gym

I haven't noticed any trends now that I'm home from college though. *shrugs*

When I am depressed, I eat a lot and just sit. I have the tendency to spend money too. The latter has stopped after I moved. I freaked out on all of the stuff that I had not used and clothes that still had tags on them. All of this was donated to the Youth Ranch charity here in town. This past week, I was having a bout with depression and yesterday I overate and drank too much. I didn't do as bad as I usally do which is a very good sign. I could have consumed a couple of candy bars and a bag of chips.

Lately, though, I have been having a desire to exercise. I started my eating plan two weeks ago this coming Monday. I decided to wait on exercising for a few weeks and then incorporate it into my plan for losing weight. I feel ready to start walking and lifting weights. I am going to do some yoga as well. I have time to exercise everyday but I need to make it a priority and not make excuses as to why I won't exercise. But, I am ready to start moving.