Does anyone struggle with depression and/or anxiety?
 

I was beyond hesitant to post.. but then I remembered, this is the Internet.

I'm just curious if anyone struggles with depression and or anxiety? I'm highly medicated for both..

even though I'm medicated, some days I still feel so sad/overwhelmed, and I am an emotional eater.. I do good for a few weeks, then something will trigger an emotion and I will cheat and I will BINGE horribly. For two or three days straight. i never gain weight, if I do its a pound or two, but obviously, I do knock myself out of ketosis.

If anyone is treated for either of these, do you feel it affects the way you diet, how do you control it?

I have been tread with medication and it made me gain weight... Sometimes it makes people lose weight.

It does the opposite for me, it definitely aides in me gaining weight :(

But emotional eating is something that people who are not on medication do also. I haven't taken any medication in years now btw.

Yes it made me gain weight too - and now I stay away from medication. I still struggle, but I have learned to handle stress better as I have gotten older. I still have issues with it though, but the side effects of medication bothered me so now I try to go a more natural route. One thing that really helped me was cutting back on caffine. I notice If I drink a cup of coffee in the morning I am more anxious and irritable. Caffine is a lot stronger than people give it credit for. Some people who take a lot of it have withdrawl symtoms like headaches if they try to stop!

I had 25 years of chronic depression. Medicated on and off. Being in ketosis has fixed many of the negative feelings I had, as I don't feel bloated and like I'm dragging myself around any more. I'm not sure how many people get this huge blast of energy and feeling great, but I hope it kicks in for you, too!

I find that if I have planned treats (pick a packet that you really love - or find a low carb product that you can work into IP - I like the ChocoRite dark chocolate bar for 1 net carb), or package your chocolate soy puffs into small portion bags. Plan your cheating. If you can find a way around it, great. If you can't, then that bag limits how bad your "binge" is.

I have struggled with depression and anxiety for most of my life. First it took getting on the proper medication and dose and staying on it. Yes, many of the drugs for depression and anxiety make you gain weight, crave carbs etc. I will tell you that I am on IP since Jan 1, 2015 and I am down 17 lbs. I am averaging approx. 2.25 lbs per week which is average. I slip up sometimes but nothing bad. I can tell you that you can lose weight when on the meds. Please understand when I say this it is out of concern and not to judge or be mean because I have lived what you are living. If you are still feeling depressed, overwhelmed and anxious you are not on the proper medication and or dosage. For years I just couldn't figure out why I couldn't diet, lose weight or be happy. It took finding the right doctor to prescribe the right medication. It is a journey and it is not always easy but you can do it. If you are eating and it throws you out of ketosis than it takes 3 days to get those carbs back out of your system. It slows you down but its not the end of the world. You cannot keep bad carbs in your house if you are having binge eating issues. Good luck and this is a great site for support.

I do not take meds for my anxiety but I have noticed that it is has been horrible since I rebooted two weeks ago. Everything makes me nervous! I'm also very irritable and moody. I have read that happens with low carb diets and when you start to lose fat, your stored estrogen is also released, thus affecting my mood.

I say, hang in there! This change in feelings is temporary and in the long rung you will better your mind and body if you stick with the diet.

I had anxiety attacks (Monday-Friday) and when I had a stressful event coming up. I was prescribed medication, but refused to take it, I knew I could find another way to prevent these anxiety attacks. Ever since starting IP diet, thank God I haven't had another anxiety attack! :):):)
I feel so great, liberated and relaxed and loving myself :)
I really hope I continue feeling this way once I go into maintenance. :D

I'm probably on IP because of depression, at least indirectly. I took a job that ended up being really stressful (the boss was a J-E-R-K and also a bad manager), and I had to resign it because it was so awful. I ate poorly and drank a lot while I was working at that job, because eating take-out and junk was my default behavior when I was too busy and too stressed to have time for self-care (which cooking healthy foods is totally part of, right?). And the culture at that place was kinda messed up; heavy drinking was part of it, probably because that manager stressed everyone out.

And then I beat myself up for making the mistake of taking that job, after I quit. I got super depressed. (While my family has tendencies toward real depression, I think this was little-d depression, the kind that is short-term. I don't think it was real depression.)

And you know how sometimes those depression checklists list "sudden weight loss" as a sign of depression? Yeah, not for me. I gain weight. Rapidly. Because I self-soothe with foods I find comforting.

Anyway, yeah, 20+ pounds later, I came out of the worst of the depression fog and didn't recognize myself. And I started IP (for a second time, but I did the first wrong in several important ways; don't let my reboot be a discouragement, please!). I'm well on my way to working through the depression weight, then will come the hellboss weight, then will come the rest, which I gained more slowly through somewhat less dramatic bad habits (the last place I lived had some great restaurants :)); I expect that will take a while, but it's OK. I can do it!

Anxiety and maybe a mild case of obsessiveness is why I'm doing IP instead of just calorie counting. I'm scientifically minded; the math of calorie counting never bothered me. But I would get really anxious about whether I was measuring right, "how many servings does this recipe make?", and the only way I could calorie count was to eat only processed and chain restaurant food. Even fruits and vegetables stressed me out. "Is this a medium banana or a large one? I don't know!" ... I know that sounds really stupid, but it seriously affected my mental health.

IP is easier on me, because 1) I know if I get really hungry I'm allowed to have another packet, so I always have insurance. 2) I know they build in a buffer for carbs, so if I accidentally get too many or too few veggies in a day, it probably won't hurt me in the long run. I can trust them to have been obsessive for me. :)

(Sorry, I didn't set out to write a novel, but there you go.)