Fitness, Health and Social Anxiety Disorder

I was reading some social anxiety blogs and noticed Sinking in Ecstasy had a post about the social anxiety disorder diet. In other words Mike discussed the eating and excercise habits of those with social anxiety, shared his experiences, and offered some suggestions and diet resources.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I am probably around 30 pounds overweight. I think I wear it well, though it is obvious-especially in my face. I mostly got lazy and decided I was OK with just eating whatever and not bothering to exercise too much.

My biggest problems are depression and irregular sleep schedule. Both are directly related to social anxiety disorder. Social Anxiety causes depression and depression works against overcoming social anxiety. It’s a cycle. While depressed it is very hard to get any motivation. When it is hard to get things done procrastination sets in and I have to pull a lot of all-nighters or get things done whenever the mood hits me. This is usually at odd hours after massive amounts of caffeine. Sometimes eating junk makes me feel better, though I’m sure it’s a bad idea. Days go by in a blur sometimes. Multiple days of being depressed and doing nothing but sitting, eating, and sleeping.

The fact is I am in lousy shape, and I need to take the initiative do do something about it.  The weight really isn’t the biggest issue. I am getting old and I want to prevent illnesses. I also miss doing things like being able to run without getting winded and dunking a basketball. I want to be more flexible, have my joints feel better, and just have a higher quality of life. I would also feel better going out in public with my thin face.

My highest level of confidence and social relaxation coincided with the time of my life when I was in my best shape- my late teen years. I don’t think it is any coincidence. When I was a teenager I grew wide when others were growing taller. From the ages of 13-15 I gained 60 lbs but only one inch of height. I was very depressed. Fortunately I grew 8 more inches and basically stayed the same weight. Through healthy eating, weight lifting, and sports I gained muscle and lost fat. I was in decent shape when I was 18 or 19 years old. I was lean and could run without getting winded. I could bench press well over my bodyweight. I also had a lot of energy. I felt a lot better about myself and girls showed me attention for the first time. If you are a guy with social anxiety, you understand what a big deal that is.

Then I got complacent. I got too comfortable. My set point went up a few pounds every year. I stopped lifting weights, stopped playing sports. And I stopped working on my social anxiety. Then reality hit, and it’s been punching me in the face every day since.

A guy I know was telling me about a workout program he followed that helped him lose 35 pounds and get in much better shape. I am thinking about doing it, but this particular thing does cost some money.  While I consider getting on board with that, there is no time to waste. There is no better time to start doing something than right NOW. So I am going to figure out today what I am going to change and hopefully see some results before I decide about that program.

I am going to take before and after pics and stats, but I’m going to keep the methods a secret until after the experiment.

This entry was posted on 25. March 2009 at 20:32 and is filed under fitness, social anxiety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.