Where to start after complete mental breakdown food and exercise wise

[Helpmyhair2019]

Hi after a very hard couple of years I suffered a complete mental breakdown from ptsd a months ago. I am slowly (very!) putting myself back together and would like to try and get some health and fitness back. I put on a huge amount of weight due to medication and shot up from a size 16 (which isn’t small I know) to a 20/22 in just a few months.

I am now on a different medication which should halt that but the fact is I’ve still got the weight. It physically hurts to exercise I feel so weak. I walk the dog and do not lead a sedantry life style at all but i want to become stronger physically and mentally and feel that this may help me rebuild my life. I have 8 weeks off work (I have quite an active job where I am on show a lot of the time) and would like to use this time but I have no idea at all where to start.

I can’t face classes at the moment and running is painful on my knees so looking for other things. I have taken out a swimming membership but feel very self conscious in a costume.

Any ideas would be very much appreciated.
Thank you x

Start by cleaning up your kitchen cupboard and fridge. Bin everything that isn't doing you any good. From biscuits to crisps, frozen meals to ice-cream, sauces and crappy cheese.

It is time to love yourself and give your body and soul the best they deserve. Fill your kitchen with colours, blueberries, cherry tomatoes, oranges, crispy cucumber and so on.
Not tomorrow, now. And don't worry about the money you are binning by binning ultra processed food. If you were a smoker that decided to quit , you would wait until you had smoked even cigarette you could find in the house, car or bottom of handbag. Bin the lot.

Aim at whole grains. So rolled oats for breakfast with fresh or frozen berries, or maybe a bit of papaya. A massive salad for lunch/dinner with at least 5 different veggies (lettuce, radicchio, rocket, tomatoes, cucumber), a soup for dinner/lunch and maybe a small piece of not fried fish, a chicken breast with fresh rosemary, cracked salt and pepper and lemon.
You don't need snacks. But if you really feel you have to eat something, have some frozen berries or prepare yourself this smoothie that you keep in your fridge . It will help your gut bacteria and the kale will make wonder tot your skin giving you a nice glow. and it cuts cravings. Have some green tea.

Sorry got to go. I will come back

I was going to suggest swimming so am happy to see you are already thinking along these lines. Try not to worry about what you look like in a cozzie - nobody will pay you any attention. If your swimming facility offers aqua aerobics classes I would recommend you give them a go. Apart from anything else they will give you some ideas for exercises to do in the pool other than just swimming up and down which can be boring and not energetic enough. You want to be a little out of breath so concentrate on working hard in the pool.

I’ve found walking to be great exercise for rebuilding my mental health, especially walks in the countryside, nature reserves etc. If you have anything like that nearby make use of it!

Food wise, I suggest you take it one step at a time. It can be tempting to try and sort everything out in one go, but that can easily get totally overwhelming. Try and change one thing a week (e.g. eat more fruit and veg, fewer snacks, drink less alcohol etc). All those small changes will soon add up to something bigger.

Good luck with it all. I know from personal experience how much energy it takes to recover from a mental breakdown, but it can be done! I’ve lost 3 stone since the start of the year and am back at the weight I was before I became ill. It did however take me a whole year before I had the energy to do something about it. I physically and mentally just couldn’t do it any sooner. I really hope your situation will be different. It sounds like your head is in the right place

Thank you so much everyone for your advice and sorry for the late reply. Lots of helpful info there and I jsut hope I can pull myself together and make a good go of it in the time I have off work. Crazzzy - I hope you are feeling much better now. I wouldn’t say I’m managing things better - just running round like a headless chicken at the moment trying to find a pathway forwards and a way to do it :-) x

Best of luck. Please don’t worry about swimming. I am a size 20, I swim twice a week and no one looks. I also walk in nature and research has shown this to be extremely effective in recovery.
I am sure you will lose the weight easily, it hasn’t really had time to bed in !