Recovering from Years of Anti-Depressants

[jper74]

I am a 34 yr old male and for the past 4 years i have been on two different anti depressants. after a messy divorce there was not much i could do to keep from falling into deep depression. I have always been an emotional person but in the past I have used body building to help curb the onset of depression. after being diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression i was put on two meds to control it( going against my own lifes phylosofy, I am primarily drug free)

Any how the reason I am writing is that I have quit the anti depressants after some urging from friends and consulting another m.d. before starting the anti depressants i was rather skinny…5’7" and 137 lbs after the anti depressants i had gotten up to 190lbs and my body fat reached a staggering 32% and have a large amount of anxiety concerning my present appearence…celulite and fatty tissue where i once had a very defined mid section. any ideas on how to work my way down to to a managable 160 and loose this fatty mid section while maintaining and gaining muscle???

[Big_Aristotle]

Beginners section. Read threads, get knowledge.

[slimthugger]

Heavy lifting and cardio…solid nutrition

[roybot]

jper74,
I have a friend who was in a similar situation to you, so I can understand what you are going through to an extent.

He took himself off the anti-depressants, because he didn’t want to be on them anymore. After a while, he found that he couldn’t cope as well with everyday life (for example, he was finding it very difficult to drive in heavy traffic, whereas when he was on the meds he had no problem). In the end he had to go back on them, because he just couldn’t cope.

While it is understandable that you don’t want your life to be ruled by medication, I don’t think it is a good idea to quit on the urging of friends. They may have all the best intentions in the world, but only you can tell if the anti-depressants are doing you more harm than good.

If they are still helping you, there is no reason that you should stop. By all means try a period without using the medication, with supervision from your Doctor.

Then, if you feel that your quality of life is diminished without them, don’t hesitate to continue using them. Don’t try to battle through.

I’d also advise you to look honestly at the reasons behind your weight gain. Are the meds really responsible? Or is the weight gain caused by comfort eating from your anxiety and depression?

In any case, you seem to have gotten stuck in a vicious circle: you’re unhappy with your body at the moment and unhappy with having to take meds, which is only going to compound your depression.

Looking to exercise is the very best thing you can do in your situation. Regular exercise will elevate your mood, and improving your body will help you feel better about yourself. It may, in time, even let you leave your meds behind permanently.

Listen to Big Aristotle: read around this site (the info is second to none, and it’s free! :)). Build yourself a base of knowledge and make it work for you. Form good habits in exercise and nutrition, and the rest will follow.

Good luck!

[Travacolypse]

First learn to spell philosophy.

[300andabove]

[quote]jper74 wrote:
I am a 34 yr old male and for the past 4 years i have been on two different anti depressants. after a messy divorce there was not much i could do to keep from falling into deep depression. I have always been an emotional person but in the past I have used body building to help curb the onset of depression. after being diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression i was put on two meds to control it( going against my own lifes phylosofy, I am primarily drug free)

Any how the reason I am writing is that I have quit the anti depressants after some urging from friends and consulting another m.d. before starting the anti depressants i was rather skinny…5’7" and 137 lbs after the anti depressants i had gotten up to 190lbs and my body fat reached a staggering 32% and have a large amount of anxiety concerning my present appearence…celulite and fatty tissue where i once had a very defined mid section. any ideas on how to work my way down to to a managable 160 and loose this fatty mid section while maintaining and gaining muscle???[/quote]

Hello there.

By rights we should pack you off to the beginners section, but i have an hour to kill so i’ll throw out the basics.

I COULD just tell you what to eat, but you would be reliant on us thats NOT good as you have found out, so i’ll show you where to go to learn:

Losing weight is NOT hard, contrary to popular opinion, its quite easy except people make it out to be some HUGE deal that requires so much willpower its scary… it’s not

So as your just losing fat, all you need is the basics, i would advise for now just read these and ONLY these so you dont get all confused:

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article//tailormade_nutrition_part_i

7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1793585

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1795045

To search for your foods, and see whats in them:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

For nutrition, that will do what I would advise is take the 1st and 2nd article… the 7 rules follow them and the fat will melt off, i again cannot stress how EASY losing weight is ESPECIALLY at the beginning.

In regards to training, what are you willing to do 1,2,3,4-7 days in the gym ??

Just for basic reading, heres some articles:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1764218

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1765943

Besides that a beginner program, you REALLY can’t go wrong with and i would presume 80-90% of the people here would agree with is Ripptoe’s beginner 5*5 program, if ALL beginners stayed on it for a year there would be a WHOLE lot less problems !

And here it is:

Program Basics

There are 3 “Starting Strength” programs presently.

The “original novice program”, as written in Starting Strength, is as follows:

Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Standing military press
3x5 Power cleans

You train on 3 nonconsecutive days per week.

So week 1 might look like:
Monday - Workout A
Wednesday - Workout B
Friday - Workout A

Week 2:
Monday - Workout B
Wednesday - Workout A
Friday - Workout B

If you choose Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday or Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday as your workout days, the planets won’t get knocked out of alignment, so don’t sweat this one, as long as you get in 3 workouts on 3 non-consecutive days each week. NO, YOU CANNOT TRAIN 2 CONSECUTIVE DAYS, so don’t ask.

In Practical Programming, due out the 1st or 2nd week of December 2006, Rippetoe recommends that a set/rep scheme of 5x3 (5 sets, 3 reps, instead of 3 sets, 5 reps) can be performed on the power clean, and is possibly advantageous, especially once power clean technique improves.

He also allows for replacing the clean with the bent row, with certain technique caveats (again, see the Exercise section in this write-up, as always, check the Table of Contents) He prefers the power clean, but in many cases, the power clean is not safely performed, or is impractical.

This is the format that I have used and recommended for the majority of peeps new to weight training. I suppose we can refer to it as “Kethnaab’s novice program adjustment”

Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Standing military press
3x5 Pendlay Rows

Essentially, the programs are the same. Day 1 is a squat, a press, and a heavy pull from the floor. Day 2 is a squat, a press, and a lighter pull from the floor. Simple, easy, basic and effective.

All sets listed are “work sets” in the format “sets x reps per set”. The nomenclature does not include warmups (discussed in Section V - Specific Routine Questions - look in the Table of Contents). All sets are done with the same weight (known as “sets across” - look in Table of Contents, Section VIII for further info). You should be working quite hard by the last set of each exercise, but ALL exercises are done with perfect technique (look in the Exercise section of the Table of Contents)

What? Were you looking for some incredibly complex training program? 3 exercises per day, 3 times per week? That’s it???

Considering all the discussion on this program, you may have been expecting it to contain intricate details and incredibly complex variables, and all you get is a full body workout, 3 days a week?

Yup, it’s that simple. These are the 2 base programs that everyone should start with. Pick one that suits your abilities/goals.

Now the videos:

Squat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ

Related Videos

Bench Press: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQutODgl2J4

And look at the related videos

Deadlift: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqxim0YXr90

Standing Military Press: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sebbhlKhs2E&feature=related

Ok that about sums it all up, come back to us with a diet made out of those 7 rules, and we can go from there.

And welcome to T-Nation

[300andabove]

[quote]Travacolypse wrote:
First learn to spell philosophy.

[/quote]

Honestly, if you just joined and the 1st thing someone did is correct your spelling would you think it was helpfull ?

[300andabove]

Also, if you have some spare money, i would HIGHLY advise to buy this book, he is our resident Q and A guy found here:

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_author/thibs_qa

So his book isn’t some random joe who knows nothing (for once)

http://www.muscledrivethru.com/product.php?165&aff=86

Just another option to consider

[jper74]

thanks for your help, i was taken off of the anti depressants because of the adverse affects to my body and mind…i have never had an eating problem and didnt develope one from the pills prescribed…anyone worth their salt knows that most psycotropic meds will encourage the body to store fat in 80% of the individuals taking them…

as for the miss spelling, travacolypse I have found alot of elitist pricks on here that are eager to point out errors on posts…I am liscensed clinical social worker and a certified addiction specialist…and as such have had plenty of psychology classes and last nights circumstances when writing were tough…sorry you couldnt pass up the error and see i need help.

everyone else that gave their best effort, i thank you.

[300andabove]

Chill

If you were to argue with EVERY person with a smart comment, you would keel over from a heart attack, just let it go.

Read the articles and get back to us, if you need any clarification.