Hit a mental wall, having trouble finding my way back

[Arcelas the n00b]

I am Arcelas, defender of all that is pixelated. At least, I used to be. Arcelas was the first character name I created for WoW all the way back to Vanilla. I mighty warrior with a will of steel and pants of twill. 

Death was something I was well acquainted with. Whether I was falling off something or being hunted by boars, I died so often I decided to fight naked, so my repair cost would be negligible.

And that's where I am today. Fighting naked. I am Bi-polar and Manic with PTSD and anxiety disorders.

When I started this grand Nerd adventure, I was 276 lbs. I am the jump-right-in-with-both-feet-head-first sort of guy. So I went cold turkey. In fact I think I mainly ate turkey for the first few weeks. 

Progress! I felt better, I looked better, and I needed suspenders to keep my pants around my shrinking waist.

I now am 285 lbs. With almost no energy. To be honest, I do not know what to do to start again. Help me please?

[Elastigirl]

Pick one thing and work on it until it become a habit. Then pick another . Here's some ideas: walk 15 minutes every day; eat a vegetable at dinner; drink one more glass of water a day than you do now; bring a sack lunch to work 2x a week. Pick something that you think is super easy, success is motivating, do it get good at it, then pick something else easy.

 

[ChrisWithaStick]

Without knowing the rest of what you're doing, or were doing, I'd hazard a couple of thoughts.

 

1) Given the conditions you stated, you are keeping any doctors you may be seeing in the loop about the changes?  Could changes in your diet and/or exercise have any side effects you need to be prepared for, or work around? 

 

2) What Elastigirl wrote!!!!

 

3) If you start looking at food and diet again, careful about any extreme caloric deficits - especially if you introduce a lot of hard exercise at the same time.  If you're really out of it/tired, you might want to bump up the healthy carbs/fats a little (think half a sweet potato with some butter).  I remember a talk by Anthony Mychal (possibly spelled wrong - the guy that is training Steve, at any rate).  He said aim for a weekly deficit, not necessarily daily.  Easier on the body, easier on the metabolism.  Reduce on 2-3 days, then normal on the others, and don't reduce hard on days you're training.

 

Given you have a Warrior icon - if you're weightlifting in any way, I'd check out those forums and ask about nutrition.  That's a whole different field of eating requirements that I know zip about, and am constantly amazed at what some of the serious lifters can put down and still worry about getting enough food. 

 

 

[Noname123]

This. Everyone claims they're an all or nothing person. The thing is humans are creatures of habit. And it's extremely difficult to change ALL your habits in one go. So pick one and go all out on that one. Commit to it and stick to that. Then move on to the next one when that's habit. Eventually you'll reshape everything you want and reach your goals. Going all in just burns you out and works against you so try to step back and really focus on one thing at a time. 

[Evicious]

Ditto what everyone else has said, and adding the following to their advice:

 

• Large, sudden caloric deficits may result in mood swings/depressive feelings. Keep that in mind (pun intended) should you choose to go that route (which it sounds like you may have done last time).
• Exercise initially boosts your mood - and then may spike your appetite. For somebody already struggling with hormone imbalances, the up-down of intense exercise coupled with a decrease in calories may be more noticeable.

 

In short, your best bet is to go slow with whatever you decide to do. Oh, and if that seems like it will take too long... remember that you have the rest of your life to be healthy. Depending on your age, that's likely anywhere from 50 - 20 years. Taking one, two, or even five years to accomplish your goals is a mere blink when you compare it to your expected timeline. Plus, the science is on your side: you are far more likely to both attain and maintain a healthy lifestyle if you take it one step at a time.

[fitnessgurl]

How's it going?