Exercise & Weight Loss - Does It Really Help?

[want2cope]

I can't tell you that it will solve all your problems, but it does help the mind and soul. I have found it does help my PTSD and my depression. It has science to back it up too. When you excercise your body produces the feel good chemicals in your brain. Yes, at first it does suck cause it will make u more tired and sore, but if u push through all that and just take it slow maybe, you will become stronger each week and have more energy. I promise you its worth it. Good luck and much love.

 

[HëllaBubz]

Ah solo, your post made me crack up big time!
Yes, the credit card chompie machine (aka BF) bailed me out, I owe him my life back.:inlove:

I say *ahem* rediscovered *ahem* "exercise" because I underwent surgery for cervical cancer, so I've healed up now, and with my implanon (contraceptive) out, I'm starting to feel hormonally female again *rawr* :D:whistling::laugh:

I'm so glad we can help each other, and I'll most certainly PM you!

For me, my love affair with the post box was getting books in the mail from eBay and Book Depository (HIGHLY recommend - free postage) and buying things for the house etc.....getting parcels in the mail is super freaking AWESOME :D

Except for the cost.....:sneaky::whistling:

##### NOTE; I find that I do not feel guilty about sleeping during the day because I know I've gone out and done something productive for the day;) , and even though its tiny in someone else's eyes......it's pretty big for me!

 

[Girl3]

One of the studies I participated in was looking at receptor areas of my brain - and they found that I have scads of receptors in areas that respond to endorphins in a way that calms the body. My psychiatrist hypothesizes that my love of exercise is directly related to my receptors.

Exercise releases endorphins. While endorphins are often referred to the body's natural opiates, they aren't exactly like morphine or other drugs in the same class. So when I exercise, it is a treatment in a sense - boosting my endorphins makes my brain happier. Taking opiates on the other hand always makes me violently ill, depressed, and unable to move.

More recent research actually shows that you cannot really exercise enough to lose significant amounts of weight. Rather getting rid of high calorie drinks and foods will lead to significant weight loss. If you drink a can of Coke that is 140 calories. A woman of average weight would have to run about a mile to burn off the calories from that can of coke. Eat a Snickers bar and you have to run three miles. Beer - mile and a half. Burger King Whopper - you'd need to run 5-6 miles.

"Researchers from Loyola University Health System and other centers compared African American women in metropolitan Chicago with women in rural Nigeria. On average, the Chicago women weighed 184 pounds and the Nigerian women weighed 127 pounds."This is just a quote from an MSNBC article, but I've read a number of studies performed in the US looking at that type of data.

Many of the foods and drinks that aren't good for our weight, temporarily light up the nucleus accumbens -the pleasure center - so our body craves that food high. Sugar is a very potent stimulator. Not as much as crack cocaine, or methamphetamine (which is why those addicts get so thin because they replace their food high with a drug high.)

For years I struggled with eating disorders - both bulemia and anorexia - so I just keep wholesome foods aroung me. If I don't have goodies sitting in the house, I don't eat them nor will I go out to get them. While I've never been more than 20 pounds overweight, my depression gets steadily worse if I start gaining. Just eating healthy stuff and excercise for my endorphins keeps me more sane than any medications ever have.

 

[HëllaBubz]

Hmm.....I have found that I feel better when....

1. I'm on here and I've got a new alert!:geek:
2. I got's me a new book!:notworthy:
3. The house is clean
4. The cats are fed - therefore not chewing/attacking on my mouse:mad::rolleyes:
5. The sheets are fresh and smelling nice:inlove:
6. I just got a parcel or letter in the mail:D
7. I've just got out of the shower after a nice gentle walk for that letter and about to dive into said sheets.:sleep:

Creature of simple pleasures.

 

[Red Feather]

Before I got PTSD I was at a gym. It helped a whole lot. Now after PTSD, it had more than 6 months since I have gone to a gym. I was feeling how much my body missed excercising. So I went! Yesterday was the first training. I am soooo glad I did it. Sometimes I wish I could do fitness everyday just because of the way it makes me feel. I think it is definetly worth it. Not everyone is in for going to the gym. I can understand that. It takes some getting used to. But there are lots of ways of excercising. I like going to the gym simply for the reason that I can go at my own pace and choose the times when I will go. I am so bad at keeping to fixed dates.

The idea of going to work stresses me at the moment. I am on unemployment benefit and my doctor keeps on writing me off sick. I am stressed about having to take on any job, but do need to find some perspective on things. And I just can't imagine suffering like I have been the last year, for another 2 - 3 years. My doctor and social worker both saw me dissociating and they both said I will be needing 2 years before I start stabilizing. It just whacked my brain. I want to continue with my music.

I think my PTSD symptoms should be manageable if I am working a field that I love. I studied art and the only reason I was able to finish my studies because of the fact that the major was very flexible and I had a lot of freedom to do what I wanted to do. Now I have an equivalent of a masters degree and could even do a PhD. It's just.... I am a starving and suffering artist in a severe identity crisis. :( Anyways, I hope fitness helps me get a perspective on things. I think I want to prove the social worker wrong, but I am scared because stress really gets to me and I start drifting really fast. Last night I think I was even triggered (or just stressed?) and had flashbacks just because I tooks some steps, and might have an opportunity to sing, and then realized I wasn't up for it at all!