Seasonal Affective Disorder and weight gain

Monday, 28 September 2009 at 08:49 | Edit note | Delete
Symptoms of SAD may consist of: difficulty waking up in the morning, tendency to oversleep as well as to overeat, and especially a craving for carbohydrates, which leads to weight gain. Other symptoms include a lack of energy, difficulty concentrating on completing tasks, and withdrawal from friends, family, and social activities. All of this leads to the depression, pessimism, and lack of pleasure which characterize a person suffering from this disorder. (Wikipedia)

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Every year I suffer with this. Every year I say this year will be different, but it never is. It starts very slowly around August and I just slow down more and more until at Thanksgiving and Christmas there is very little of me as a human being left to deal with all the dreaded holiday activities.

This year I am declaring an all-out fight against this. Maybe I'm "shoveling shit against the tide" but while I am able to fight I will keep trying. I have lost over 30lbs since summer with the help of The Hypnosis Guy. I listen to the CDs everyday. I am still exercise bike riding 30 min x2 a day. I am still not eating after 6pm and still avoiding pastry and sweet things (my downfall) My med nurse put my Prozac up 10 mg. Those who know me know that I take a lot of medication, much of it against bipolar disorder ( The one leaning towards the depressive side)
(written in Sept. 2009
Now I am trying to get the sun by walking around the block, which is "radical" for me because I hate being outside and so this is way out of my comfort zone. Today I will call my med nurse and get her to boost the Prozac a little more.

Despite all this I see myself staring to eat starches again and not bothering to make my own supper ( DH cooks much better stuff and lots of times he picks up fast food) I am doing my best to eat my fruit and get a salad when I can and try to keep my hands off the chips, crackers, bread and other carbs. I feel myself sliding toward these foods and want to stop it before I get to the point when I don't care anymore about anything and all I do is eat and sleep, and come to myself in the spring and see what an awful wreck I've made of my body the past few months.

Anybody who reads this and suffers SAD I feel so sorry for you, and hope you can overcome it this year