Depressed, Need to Lose Fat

Nutrition
1

Need serious, serious help… Ive screwed up my body and a few things in my life and I actually am suffering from full on depression… I really need a help out of this hole. My emotions have always been tied strongly to my physique/strength/wellbeing.

Over the last year ive gone from 78kg and 9% bodyfat to a flabby 93kg at 22% bodyfat (at 5’10 and 21 years of age) … the result of uni, relationship problems, shoulder injury and some real illness… had a very severe bout of glandular fever and my immune system is still fairly wrecked so any attempt to train at the moment is severely hampered.

I want to get lean again and no lighter then 80kg.

Obviously first I need to get better again… Ideas on speeding this up?

Ill be using this time to try and improve my diet/sleep patterns as training is out of the question.

I want to go into some kind of fat loss phase however currently my metabolism is completely shot… Im guessing if I calorie restrict now bad things will happen?

My current plan is:

  • Focus on getting better, improving diet, improving sleep, start to work in some mobility drills/nepa walks/etc… start aiming for 3k cal diet.
  • Jump back into training of some kind like WS4SB on a 3k calorie diet and begin to ramp up calories to a calculated maintenance over 2 weeks then run at maintenance for 4 weeks or more.
  • Follow diet guidelines from Thibs refined physique transformation but with his new high carb perri workout protocol (maybe), use destroying fat or similar training plan. Taper down calories where necessary. Keep this up for 6-8 weeks.
  • 2 week taper up to calculated maintenance and hold here for 2-4 weeks before repeating another cut cycle.
  • This whole process is repeated until I hit 80kg or below at which point Ill come off, taper up to maintenance and gradually start upping intake for some mass gain to bring me slowly up to 90kg before repeating everthing.
  • Once In the 80-90kg range with 10-12% bodyfat Ill attempt to break the 90kg boundary again.

I am unsure about the macros - shall I jump into low carb except for training period right away… or shall I introduce more carbs… is it the switch from macros that will affect fat loss?.. Will I have better results if I switch from high carb to low carb when I start to cut?

Is this a far to long winded plan? Is there a better way?

2

If you can afford it, I’d HIGHLY recommend doing a V-Diet.

IMO, the V-Diet really lends itself to the highly-transient college lifestyle, and is a really nice way to just blast your body for about a month. I’ve done 1.5 now (had to quit the 2nd halfway through because I was moving around the state a lot and ended up completely without powder for about a week), and I really like them. Nothing beats a V-Diet for fat loss mostly because it really does what a diet needs to, which is be a 1-month war and then return you to a normal eating schedule. You don’t end up with the metabolic crash that can occur after a long time of caloric deficit, will maintain about 97%+ of your current lean body mass (and some people even gain), and eliminates the need to count calories for about a month.

You can adapt the training part of the V-Diet around your injuries, and maybe getting some bodyweight circuits could help, or maybe you can just do some cardio every day and end up with some nice aerobic enhancement.

Take a month to just destroy some body fat, and reasses from there. Especially when it comes to dieting, planning more than 1-2 steps is useless in my experience. Better to know your next step, and when you get to the end of that step, figure out what your next step is.

3

I am not going to lie. You are a really sad story. I did not even bother to read your whole post because it is depressing and there is a lot of whine with no cheese. Here is what i suggest.

  1. Its about about attitude. Power, strenght, build all come from thoughts. There is was a show on called superhuman and they talked about powerlifting and thoughts. Read the secret. You can change anything you want probably. so change your attitude first.

  2. Complexes are a great way to go. There is a great article i think called you vs your body or something along those lines.

  3. eat carbs for fuel but other than that limit them. Protein helps burn fat, so go for it.

  4. lift daily. Try to go heavy but if you cant work out upper due to your shoulder, go for legs. Its some big muscles your movin so calories burning will follow.

COme on man you probably know what you need to do. Just do it. no sob stories needed. Just get off your booty and lift some weight brother.

Good luck

4

[quote]samdan wrote:
If you can afford it, I’d HIGHLY recommend doing a V-Diet.

IMO, the V-Diet really lends itself to the highly-transient college lifestyle, and is a really nice way to just blast your body for about a month. I’ve done 1.5 now (had to quit the 2nd halfway through because I was moving around the state a lot and ended up completely without powder for about a week), and I really like them. Nothing beats a V-Diet for fat loss mostly because it really does what a diet needs to, which is be a 1-month war and then return you to a normal eating schedule. You don’t end up with the metabolic crash that can occur after a long time of caloric deficit, will maintain about 97%+ of your current lean body mass (and some people even gain), and eliminates the need to count calories for about a month.

You can adapt the training part of the V-Diet around your injuries, and maybe getting some bodyweight circuits could help, or maybe you can just do some cardio every day and end up with some nice aerobic enhancement.

Take a month to just destroy some body fat, and reasses from there. Especially when it comes to dieting, planning more than 1-2 steps is useless in my experience. Better to know your next step, and when you get to the end of that step, figure out what your next step is.[/quote]

Would it or would it not be better to ramp up my metabolism fist before doing something like a v-diet? I have been undereating for a while now I suspect with shitty habbits and Im as flabby as ever.

5

[quote]sonnynlewis wrote:
I am not going to lie. You are a really sad story. I did not even bother to read your whole post because it is depressing and there is a lot of whine with no cheese. Here is what i suggest.

  1. Its about about attitude. Power, strenght, build all come from thoughts. There is was a show on called superhuman and they talked about powerlifting and thoughts. Read the secret. You can change anything you want probably. so change your attitude first.

  2. Complexes are a great way to go. There is a great article i think called you vs your body or something along those lines.

  3. eat carbs for fuel but other than that limit them. Protein helps burn fat, so go for it.

  4. lift daily. Try to go heavy but if you cant work out upper due to your shoulder, go for legs. Its some big muscles your movin so calories burning will follow.

COme on man you probably know what you need to do. Just do it. no sob stories needed. Just get off your booty and lift some weight brother.

Good luck[/quote]

I used to have such a ridiculously hardcore mindset with my lifting and everything in general… everything I did 24/7 was about hitting a new PR every time I hit the weights room… - really struggling to find it again though. I think definatly not being ill will help things.

Ill look for some motivation - I found my copy of “strong” earlier…

6

Eating as clean as possible for two weeks certainly won’t HURT your case, although since you won’t be doing full-on weight training the extra cardio would probably achieve the same thing. When you order your V-Diet stuff, make sure you remove the Surge from the cart afterwards if you aren’t doing weights for the 4 weeks.

7

[quote]samdan wrote:
Eating as clean as possible for two weeks certainly won’t HURT your case, although since you won’t be doing full-on weight training the extra cardio would probably achieve the same thing. When you order your VDiet stuff, make sure you remove the Surge from the cart afterwards if you aren’t doing weights for the 4 weeks.[/quote]

Wait are you suggesting V-Diet without weights? :expressionless:

8

Two things :

a> You are highly motivated , just that the weight of expectations is overwhelming you so much that you are failing to redirect that motivation to positive results and constructive progressive effort.

b>Start to relax a bit first because to go full throttle you will need to be fresh every time you apply yourself in the strength game, that doesn’t mean you loose focus but formulate a plan based on whatever goals you set yourself and the breakdown/factorization of the work needed to reach your goals, set milestones, keep reevaluating and set the highest standards. I guess you were very strong before the injury stopped you , so start with that weak link , fix your shoulder trouble integrating your whole body in the process and take critical learning about what went wrong and how to maximally bulletproof yourself against any future injuries.

Who am i to advice , but i can understand how an injury wrecks someone relying on strength pursuit as a goal and life’s motivation! I have gone through hell with a devastating injury so i can relate, but I am recovering and am grateful to T-Nation for that. Doctors in my case were hopeless.
Last but not the least don’t underestimate your motivation, its still there.

9

It would appear that you have two main issues that are tied together…your physical state and depression. Each is impacting the other.
If I was in your situation, this is what I would do;

  • high dose Vitamin D and Omega 3. Both of which have been tied to general health including depression.
  • a program combining barbell complex training, cardio (intense if it was me), and bodybuilding training
  • some combination that gives you 4-6 days a week (if it was me I would do 6 days if scheduling permitted so that I could set a goal and beat the shit out of it).
  • if you continue to struggle seek a medical assessment but think carefully about prematurely going on anti-depressants
  • get a solid diet plan
  • I don’t think a V-Diet is the way to go at this point. Get a few months of hard training under your belt and then reassess.

The complexes and intense cardio are included to improve conditioning, reduce your fat levels and help with depression as high intensity exercise has proven positive impacts relative to clinical depression. Building muscle will help your look, your self-esteem and make losing and keeping fat off easier. Assess your body and mental state as you go and determine the best training balance.

10

[quote]benmoore wrote:
… shoulder injury …

Ill be using this time to try and improve my diet/sleep patterns as training is out of the question.
[/quote]

I separated the parts that made me think that a VDiet would be a good way to start. If he were able to train with intensity I’d tell him to go lift heavy, break your body every day, and then finish each workout with 20 minutes of HIIT if it was upper body, 10 minutes if it was lower body. Even at a “maintenance” level of calories, I’m dropping bodyfat like mad while on the Anabolic Diet with that strategy.

However, if you’re talking a system that, combined with low-weight training, will provide huge results and also relatively fast ones… Vdiet. He can drop 7-8 kg in a month, which is a HUGE boost to the mental workout effort. The other reason why I like the VDiet, is that I really think that quotes from people like Dave Tate who say that dieting needs to be a flat-out war for about a month and then you go back to a maintenance diet. With training right, even a maintenance diet will lose you weight.

I can also understand where he’s coming from on this shoulder thing though… I’ve almost had to completely forget about upper body training since about the only thing I can do without pain is floor pressing because my shoulder is being a little bitch lately. To put it in perspective, a naked barbell shoulder press hurts significantly at lockout.

12

I read your post on CT’s forum page as well as here. I am no expert but for what it’s worth I had a similar episode early summer and, for me personally, the fat loss phase I am embarked on was a fantastic distraction to everything else going on.

I went on a programme based on John Berardi’s Get Shredded system (on T-Nation), as well as CT’s Physique Transformation plan. It was workouts, cardio, diet and supplementation to near 100% compliance. The results were awesome (for me that meant having abs for the first time in my life and drawing some nice attention from the ladies while on the beach!). I charted progress by taking pix, keeping measurements, and updating a carb cycling T-Nation thread, where the feedback was positive.

I won’t re-hash the obvious points about quality rest, hard training, etc. My take-home message is that great results can be achieved even in the short term if you adopt this single-minded strategy. I set myself a goal of 28 days strict compliance. I met that, was impressed by what I saw so extended it for another 14 days, re-evaluated again, then set up another 14 days, etc. This can really motivate you and keep you focussed and positive, especially once you see results.

13

For the record my shoulder injury was one of several factors that contributed to this recent hole Ive landed myself in. I hurt it way back at the start of the year… For about 4 months I couldn’t do any rowing/vertical pulling or any horizontal pressing PERIOD. Even pushups against a wall (standing up) would cause pain.

Now 7 months after the injury things seem to be coming together slightly in that respect… I can do weighted pushups without discomfort now… most rowing exericises and pullup variations are fine. Dips are still way out of the question and I havent tried particulary heavy barbell benching (should be fine) or dumbell presses (might have to be careful due to extra ROM).

In retrospect I should have manned up, sorted diet out and did leg work solid for a few months till shoulder healed but I didn’t It was dumb and stupid. I was just happy to spend the time with my girlfriend after a rough patch (although we broke up later that summer).

The reason weightlifting is out of the question RIGHT NOW is because I am still ill! Most of the summer I was ill to some extent with bad throat/cough/fatigue… my ex lived off pretty much just supernoodles and junk food yet still managed to have an amazing figure… I stupidly joined her in her diet as I stayed at hers most of the summer… bloated out like crazy. The poor nutrition and irregular sleep (and some stress about other things) must have really killed off my immune system.

The sore throat got worse and worse until eventually I went to the doctor… by this point the back of my throat looked like cottage cheese, EVERY gland in my face/neck was swolen up to the point where I couldnt turn my head and swallowing felt like being cut with razor blades. Also developped a bad cough… was very fatigued and could barely swallow anything. This lasted for about 2-3 weeks. In the last few days I remember being very satisfied as I coughed up lumps of infected tissue the sizes of peas (complete with remenants of old blood vessels!). [/disgusting detail].

So now my immune system is whacked and Im constantly sleepy and sluggish. I was told recently by my GP that fatigue/depression can hang around after glandular fever for up to several months (or even become chronic in some individuals!). For bonus points I was also diagnsed with mild caeliacs disease (Although bizzarely I dont seem to be having the symptoms these days).

So that depression/legarthy combined with personal problems/etc. has kind of added up and as giterdome said - all of these factors seem to feed the others.

BBB and Giterdome I shall give these supplement protocolls a whirl as soon as possible! Thank you and also everyone else who has replied so far.

Ive always had big hips so last year despite being 9% bodyfat at 78kg with little veins popping up everywhere I was still only comfy in 34 inch jeans but they were loose as hell. These days Im wearing 38 inch jeans and it pisses me off every time I see my reflection. I want this flab gone… yesterday!

Ill spend some time trying to tidy up my diet also and gradually implementing some walks… some mobility/stretching… some bodyweight movements and as soon as things pick up will start off with some lifting.

I tried stronglifts 5x5 when I got to uni in an attempt to get back into things… just made me ill and I made no strength gains at all… just got weaker, fatter and less mobile despite stretching my ass off. You know its bad when 5x5 with 60kg cripples your form!

14

Its about about attitude. Power, strength, build all come from thoughts. There is was a show on called superhuman and they talked about powerlifting and thoughts. Read the secret. You can change anything you want.

Truth. Make a decision to change your life, create a plan using some of the advice on here, and follow through with a dogged persistence.

On another note, a food log and a training log would be a great start.

15

I tried stronglifts 5x5 when I got to uni in an attempt to get back into things… just made me ill and I made no strength gains at all… just got weaker, fatter and less mobile despite stretching my ass off. You know its bad when 5x5 with 60kg cripples your form!

Obviously your nutrition was shit, and probably your intensity in the weightroom, if you got weaker and fatter using ANY training program. That doesn’t make any sense.

16

What the heck are NAC and liver glutathion?

I think as a first shot you should start trying to “eat clean” (just in general, no particular fancy diet), and try to ease up into productive workouts in the gym. Make take a couple of weeks (or longer) to get into the swing of things. that would probably do wonders for your outlook.

17

[quote]Chi-Towns-Finest wrote:
I tried stronglifts 5x5 when I got to uni in an attempt to get back into things… just made me ill and I made no strength gains at all… just got weaker, fatter and less mobile despite stretching my ass off. You know its bad when 5x5 with 60kg cripples your form!

Obviously your nutrition was shit, and probably your intensity in the weightroom, if you got weaker and fatter using ANY training program. That doesn’t make any sense.[/quote]

Aye nutrition and the such definatly hasnt been what it has been in the past - I was simply trying to eat more clean foods, more protein, etc.

Fatigue and a bummed mood has had the biggest impact on intensity in the weights room.

18

It sounds like you’ve had some serious health setbacks. I would speak to your doctor before starting any kind of training or diet program, especially one as extreme as some of the solutions suggested here. I think that consistent exercise of any kind (biking, walking, whatever) will help your mood. It certainly does for me and most other people.

You would see changes overnight, but track your progress with measurements and photos and you will see results. Just stay with it, and save the weightlifting until you’re healthy enough to do it. Recovery is more important in the long run.

19

To be honest, your not that bad off, most people are a hell of a lot fatter with no idea how to do anything. you have the tools so do it.

20

I had a similar situation where I had a couple of consecutive injuries, some deteriorating personal relationships, and tons of stress cause me to feel absolutely miserable and let it wreak havoc on my body.

Such being the case, I can definitely understand your desire for a “speficic plan.” I used to just make lists and plan all of these things to try to make myself feel “sure” about something when I was feeling really down. However, I think your plan might be overly specific.

It’s important to have a general idea of what you’d like to accomplish in the long term, but you can’t really “calculate” the future with these sequences of dietary phases. Right now, I think the most important thing for you would just be to consistently do things a little bit better than you were doing them the day/week/month before.

I’ve had experience with trying to come out of a depressed state by creating these highly specific plans (sometimes as specific as trying to plan out the exact foods and quantities I’m going to eat), but I find that the extreme specificity combined with the lingering depression just makes it near impossible to follow the specific plan for very long. Progress is usually made in increments.

In terms of speeding up the period of time it takes you to feel better, I’ve found that a change of perspective works the best. In particular, trying to meditate or even just being consciously aware of the sensations I’m feeling can be incredibly helpful when I feel overwhelmingly shitty.

For example, I often felt an extreme combination of loneliness, tiredness, and unbearable sexual frustration. Instead of convulsing, pulling out my hair, and yelling “I just want to fuck!”

(which I did for a long time and it got me nowhere and only made me feel worse) I simply sit still and quiet, and pay attention to the individual sensations - the individual heartbeats; the dull, tingling ache in my balls, etc. I realize this probably seems pretty unorthodox or bizarre, but it really helps put things in perspective when you feel depressed.

The fact that you posted this shows that you’re ready for things to change, and that’s the first step.