By Naomi Rabon, NW Fitness Team Trainer
I’ve heard a few comments lately from my clients and others that they are feeling a bit like they’ve lost their mojo; their zest for working out is absent and discipline for choosing healthy foods over comfort snacky foods is lacking.
Where they once couldn’t get to the gym soon enough, they find themselves unable to budge from the couch. Or hitting the snooze button and sleeping an extra hour instead of getting up early to exercise and pack a healthy lunch.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE…
If this is you, then please know that there is nothing wrong with you. Even though you might be thinking that you’ve forever lost your love for fitness, which is totally unlike you because you typically love to exercise, everyone – even fitness professionals, workout gurus, health nuts, gym rats, etc. – goes through periods of “fitness funks.”
Being a lifelong fitness enthusiast, you will have cycles, periods of growth and various evolutions over the years.
But back to experiencing an occasional “fitness funk.” Fitness funks generally seem to hit people the hardest around winter (accompanying the winter seasonal blues), and can also pop up just before summer, after the realization that New Year’s goals haven’t been met and summer is just about here.
You are not alone, and your fitness goals are not doomed.
SEASONAL DEPRESSION
According to the Cleveland Clinic, approximately half a million people in the United States suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which is most common in the winter months but can also affect people just before summer hits.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “reverse SAD” occurs when individuals experience depression and lack of motivation or interests they use to enjoy during spring or early summer. Regardless of if it’s during the winter or late spring/early summer, people who suffer from SAD have many of the common signs of depression, including:
• Loss of interest in usual activities
• Withdrawal from social activities
• Craving for carbohydrates
• Increased need for sleep
• Extreme fatigue and lack of energy
• A “leaden” sensation in the limbs
• Irritability
• Sadness
• Anxiety
• Inability to concentrate
• Weight gain
All of the symptoms listed above can severely affect your desire to exercise or stick to a healthy eating regimen.
GET THE FUNK OUT
Here’s what you can do to get out of that funk:
1. Get Outside It is super hard when it is freezing, I know! Believe me, I am extremely cold natured, have an active breed puppy with no fenced-in yard, and am forced to bare the bitter cold temperatures of South Carolina winters (though 25-35 degrees is nothing compared to what some of you are experiencing). Regardless, I am forced out into what feels like an ice box in order to walk my pup for 20-30 minutes several times a day and am able to get some good “sunshine therapy.” It helps!
2. Exercise Ironically, one of the lifestyle treatments for seasonal depression is – drumroll, please – regular exercise! I know this is the hard part, but drag yourself to the gym and do something. Anything! Even if it’s just lying on a mat and foam rolling, or doing some planks and 15-20 minutes on the treadmill. At this point, just be proud of yourself for making it to the gym and getting some blood flowing.
If the thought of cardio or strenuous weightlifting is enough to keep you away from the gym right now, then sign up for a yoga or Pilates class for some accountability and low-impact work (though some yoga and Pilates classes can be extremely intense).
According to clinical nutritionist and chiropractor Dr. Axe, staying active increases the production of feel-good chemicals that can help ease depressive feelings and brain fog. In one study, just 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill for 10 consecutive days was enough to produce a significant reduction in depression.
It was also found the frequency and consistency of exercising, rather than the duration or intensity, has the most positive effects — so just keep moving your body in some way several times per week with regular exercise.
3. Eat Healthy According to the Cleveland Clinic, eating a well-balanced diet that includes sufficient amounts of vitamins and minerals as recommended by the FDA will help boost energy even though your body is craving starchy and sweet foods. When we experience vitamin and mineral deficiencies, it can severely affect our hormones, which in turn affect our energy levels and mood.
4. Seek Help If you feel like your symptoms of SAD are on the serious side and you’ve tried many of the above techniques with no success, you may want to talk to your doctor about looking at all treatment options for how you are feeling and the behavioral changes you are experiencing.
REIGNITE THE SPARK
Sometimes it just comes down to making yourself go to the gym or lacing up your shoes and shoving yourself out the door to go for a walk or a jog – no matter what – because staying in bed all day, or sleeping more than normal, eating more, or less, than usual and feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to make you feel any better.
But a good weightlifting session, or cardio session followed by a few minutes in the sauna, or a good hot yoga class, just might shed a little light and a little warmth in your life and relight that spark!
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One of the trainers on Nicole’s elite NW Fitness Training Team, Naomi is a certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. She is a NPC Figure competitor who has been involved in the health and fitness industry for over 12 years.
Go here to find out more about training with the NW Fitness Training Team!