HOLIDAY DEPRESSION

Pretend I’m laying on a couch and you are sitting beside me with a pencil and notepad in your hands.  Yes, this is therapy.  And I’m going to spill my guts all over you.  I’m doing this because you probably suffer with the same thing I do.  I know this because I’ve had lots of conversations lately with people all complaining about the same thing as me.  Holiday depression. Ok, depression might be too strong a word.  Rut might be a better choice for you.  But whatever you’re feeling, you’re not alone.  I’m in the trenches with you.

I feel fat.  Yes, Wendy Damonte feels fat.  But what’s worse, I feel unmotivated to change it.  I’m eating like crap.  I’m drinking more than I typically do.  And all of these factors feed off each other making each individual problem worse.  And at the end of the day, there’s me;  a mopey, fat, unhappy slug who can’t change things.

Now… here’s what I think happens.  The holidays hit… and in my house, that means October 8th.  That’s my daughter’s birthday.  Somehow, she parlays that one day into a two-week ordeal. Always fun, always with lots of friends, parties and typically, with my family, lots of wine.  So now, it’s mid October and Halloween shows up.  Again, lots of pizza because we’re out late getting costumes, adding to costumes, tweaking costumes, etc.  Well hello November!  Now this is where I should suck it up and be as healthy as possible for at least the first two weeks of the month.  But the bad, unhealthy, fast food rut has already grabbed hold of me.  A nightly glass or two of wine is killing my morning motivation to work out.  And Thanksgiving is just 24 days away, so why try??  And then December hits and any chance of getting back to a normal, healthy routine flies out the window like Santa up a chimney.  At this point, I’m way too busy to even fit in a 30 minute workout.  My daily diet consists of grazing on the food table at work (yes, we have a food table at work that overflows with cookies, fudge, cake, See’s Candy… pretty much you name it… during December) and then eating whatever I can quickly throw together for dinner… think frozen lasagna!  And now, it’s the new year and I can’t move!

If I were to put all this into a cycle for you it would look like this:

We get busy… we eat like crap because we’re too busy to cook… we drink more because there are more parties… we start to feel fat… we wake up slightly hung over and that zaps all motivation to work out… we become depressed (get in a rut)… and once you’re depressed (in a rut)… this cycle repeats over and over again.  And eventually, we get sick… which is what I did on January 6th… the very day I was determined to stop the cycle.

So you know what I did??  I went on a walk anyway!  I was hacking and coughing and wheezing the entire hour I was in the hills.  But you know what?  I wasn’t going to allow  myself to make an excuse.  Any excuse.  Even one coming from my phlegm laden lungs.  I had to start somewhere.  So instead of a run, I walked.   Instead of going for 2 hours, I went for one.  And you know what happened?  My body felt worse, but my soul felt much better!  I finally had an endorphin or two flowing through my body.  And you know what happened next?  I had a salad for lunch… and it tasted great!  By the time I got off work that night, I was exhausted because I was still fighting a virus, but I didn’t feel like a bowl of  pasta and a fishbowl of wine.  I ate lightly and went to bed.  And guess what?  The next day I woke up headache free.  I had motivation to fit in another quick workout (which I did on my windtrainer bike inside my house).  I’m laughing more.  My mood is lighter.  My depression is easing… in fact, it’s disappearing.  And it’s only been four days!  I’m now back on track.  So what’s your excuse?  Early morning meeting?  Go for a 10 minute walk if that’s all you can fit in.  You’re sick?  Reread the start of this paragraph… I don’t want to hear it!  You’ve got young kids at home? Figure out quick at-home workouts you can do.   (One of my favorite websites is www.marksdailyapple  Search that website for quick workouts!)  You’re too fat and out of shape to start?  You’re never too fat or unhealthy to try to make a chance.  Drink one less soda a day.  Eat donuts only once a month instead of weekly.  You have a leg injury?  Swim.  See, you can throw any excuse my way and I’ll come up with a healthy option.  Start today.  It doesn’t have to  be huge.  It has to be one step.