Hi all. My name is Andy and I’ve been coming to T-Nation for a few years now. I am not a hardcore weightlifter or anything like that, but I am looking to make changes in my life for the better. I did take a stab at the HOT-ROX challenge a few years ago, and was some what up to date on training and dieting. Mainly through reading the articles that were coming in to T-Nation at the time.
But it has been a few years, and I am very much out of the loop. I let my weight get up to 246lbs while only being 5’8. I did a diet, not sure if you would consider it a crash diet. But got down to about 205lbs in 2.5 months.
Through a turn of events I ended up seeing a Psychiatrist do to personal problems I was having. She diagnosed me with A.D.H.D and told me that I do have anxiety issues. I do have panic attacks and mood swings and certain social phobias. How this comes into play, I started a diet a few weeks ago. Things were going well, but I felt like shit. I was always hungry, couldn’t stop obsessing over food. And I would get sort of mentally hungry. And I finally went off of it thinking this wasn’t going to work for me. Yes it had always worked in the past, and I always lost weight but eventually hit a road block and never got below 200lbs.
What are some awesome articles and posts to read up on that would help me in coming up with a solid game plan. Nutritionaly and Physically. I don’t want to slack, and go easy in any areas. I want to do this, and do it right. It gives me great anxiety not knowing whats wrong with my body and it really makes me hesistant to jump in the saddle without a full plate of knowledge as to what I need to be doing.
Are there foods that can help increase and sustain seretonin levels? I was told that low seretonin levels can greatly effect my mood and my anxiety.
In the morning on my diets I would eat a 1/2 cup of oatmeal and a banana. Not sure if this was to little or the wrong combinations of food to start off with in the morning. But I felt like shit after eating it as well. I will give you guys any details you need to know about me, and even if you tell me what Im doing or was doing is wrong I will accept it. I just wan’t to be healthy and look healthy too. Thank you for taking your time to read this.
second your creating this stress etc by making this diet a stress. your over thinking instead of just doing your obsessing with it wanting it to be perfect and if one lkil thing goes wrong oh hell you screwed the whole thing up might as well quite.
You need to relax and just nail solid eating habits and forget the very very structured diet for now. You need to regain a healthy relationship with food and eating.
The main thing being eat whole foods, nothing in a box, processeed crap, etc fruit, veggies, meats etc. yes your oats and banane are fine add a protein source.
With your obvious prob I almost hate to even go this structure but I think just nailing these habits even iof it takes a year will do you a world of good. take it slow dont stress on this if you screw up, well learn fromk it and try not to again.
AS for seratonin yes good whole foods and carb sources, get your veggies and fruit. Also walks simple long relaxing walks and moderate to low paced cardio is awesome for a big whack of seratonin.
Hey thanks for the advice and positive words. I was hoping I could share this food log with you all to tell me if I was doing to low of a caloric intake. This use to work peachy for me but now I do feel rotten inside. Here goes
1st meal A.M.
1/2 Scoop oatameal.2 Scoops Metabolic Drive.1 packet splenda. 1 whole banana and 2 large glasses of water.
2nd meal.
1 can tuna,1 tbsp mayo.1 Apple. As much water as I could drink
3rd meal.
1 Chef Jays Trioplex Bar
430 calories
46g carbs
16g sugars
30g protein
4g fiber
5th meal.
3 Strips of skinless chicken breasts
1 whole grain wheat torilla
1 tbsp pace picante sauce
A little shredded cheese
6th meal
Cottage cheese
This isn’t what I would eat all day every day, I would very it some. But for the most part it’s a majority of what I eat. Like I said, I use to be able to eat this food in this size of consumption and be fine. But now it feels like it’s messing with my head and I always feel hungry. I am not taking any supplements outside of Whey protein, and Metabolic Drive and a multivitamin. Any suggestions in this area would be greatly appreciated.
Is there any harm of me not dieting, and just bulking? I know my body fat is a bit high compared to where I would need to be to be lean. But I do know muscle burns more fat, if I could bulk up with muscle and try to keep as little of fat gain on me, then when I try to cut down wouldn’t that extra muscle I’ve gained help in burning fat as well?
Like I said, i am really out of the loop as far as what needs to be done. So any articles or helpfull facts would be greatly appreciated.