Lesson learned...

So yesterday I  was feeling totally depressed, and just not myself. I had no idea what was going on. I was eating well, I was wokring out a lot. All things that should help a person feel less depressed. It just kicked in all the sudden, and  I felt horrible. Being the curious person that I am, I looked up depression related to working out. I figured it was a long shot since working out is supposidly something that is supposed to help with anxiety and depression. But I found several articles on how they can be linked!

The causes are over training, and low blood sugar, also related to over doing it. Basically when you push your body too far you can start to feel depressed. This Live Strong article is a good read on that topic.

 http://www.livestrong.com/article/392641-does-exercise-cause-depression/

 and this one... http://chriskresser.com/why-you-may-need-to-exercise-less
(the article mentions Paleo, I'm not Paleo, but the over training information still applies)

I also read a great blog article about a woman who took 4 weeks off for vacation, and tried to jump right back into her routine only to feel awful and depressed. The problem was low blood suagr, because she was also dieting. I can't seem to find that article again.

But I asessed my weekend and realized I was probably suffering from over training and not enough food.

When you work out you burn calroies, and if you are dieting the advice is to eat what you burn, because you are already at a calorie deficit for the day. It is so tempting not to replace all those burned calories, because you think you will lose faster. But that is not true. Your body needs the food to function and you may end up killing your weight loss dreams.

The calorie limit I have set for myself is based on my weight, my weight loss goals, and my activity level. I set my activity level at light acticvity, because most of the time I am sitting around the house. I don't have an active job. So my calories are based on sitting on my butt. When I work out I burn anywhere between 500 and 1000 caories a day. Honestly some days I just cant replace them. I just don't feel hungry enough to eat 1000 more calories. So what to do??

First I think I need to slow down on the weekend workouts. I get bored and end up running and biking, and sometimes more. I also need to replace my calories. I made the mistake this weekend of not replacing enough of these calories the day before. I read that low blood sugar can take up to a day to kick you in the butt.

The article says some peole need to eat before a work out and right after to help keep blood sugar regulated. Another article I read said that most athletes remember to replace protein after a work out so their muscles will repair, but we also need carbs. Your body needs carbs after a work out to refuel and repair itself. So don't be afraid of carbs! Eat complex carbs though, not white flour, sugar or white rice.

Lesson learned, don't over do it. Eat enough to fuel your body. There is no fast track to weight loss, chill and it will come off. Reminding myself this is a marathon, not a sprint.