Exercise to help control Bipolar

I am going to exercise by videos with the window open so I can get some fresh air . I am doing this to assist me to stay baseline, and also to feed my muscles the much needed oxygen it desires. It takes 20 minutes before the body begin to burn fat while doing cardio, so I will aim for an hour and see how that will play out, I'm optimistic.

I will keep this thread updated with my daily experiences, or weekly the very least.

I exercised one day. I will do something today. That'll be 2 days this week so far.

how's the exercise routine going? have you been consistent ?


i will try to go for a walk and/or a bike ride at least 5 days each week for 30 minutes, more or less!

did i say "I will try"? :) ;)

Ok, who else would like to try it?

No, I haven't been exercising :-(

I am so filled with emotion that I focus on that and won't stick to anything.

I need to so badly.

Sincere, Have you tried jogging outside? I've found that when my thoughts won't stop racing through my head, jogging helps me stop obsessing about them. Jogging outside gives me the opportunity to get out of the house.

Hey there jen, I apologize about the delay, my life has been upside down and all around crazy. Glad I'm on a REAL mood stabilizer beginning today. So, anyway, I'm not going to jog, I need a real secure bra for that LOL. I will walk or ride my bike, and I'm seriously getting my exercise plan together. Thanks for the great tip; my Geodon is working miracles with my obsessive thoughts. Take it easy and much love.

Sincere, I know how hard it is to get started. I find if I can do that, it is easier to keep it going. I also found that if I try to plan the exercise and/or diet goals weekly, I do much better. For me Sunday is a great day to plan them, for example I sit down and review my schedule for the week Sun-Sat and then I pick days and times to workout, I aim for 4 days in the beginning, 30 minutes each of walking. Then my goal is to keep 2 of those commitments no matter what! If I make those I might plan 4 more the next week and plan to keep 3 and so on. It has been a way for me to keep things going and try to build confidence in my goal planning. Remember it is the small things over time that make the most difference. I hope you are doing well. Good luck on your journey.
Kim

kmblyrn, that is a good plan. Thanks for the blessing. Last night I began exercising again. I have to stop being lazy, that is all it is. Keep up your workout routine, and I pray to do mine, like right now. Taking it day by day.

Hi Sincere & Kim!

Sorry I missed this thread somehow. I usually only have time to check in here once or twice a month.

I try to do pretty much the same thing you do Kim, but it has been a bad 3 weeks for me. My favorite exercise is walking outside in the fresh air. But I am very sensitive to heat and we have had heat indexes over 100 a lot lately. Even on the cooler days though, I have not gone walking.

So I need to have a plan B and stick to it when plan A doesn't happen. So I am going to go pop an exercise video in as soon as I finish this post. Thanks for the encouragement. I'll be back in about an hour to let you know if I actually did it. If you don't hear from me then I probably didn't do it.

K

Well it took more than an hour to get back here, but I did exercise!!!! I only did it for 16 minutes, but it has been almost 3 weeks since I have done anything, so I'm giving myself a gold star. Tomorrow my goal is 20 minutes. It will then be Tuesday before my schedule will allow me to exercise again. I wish that I could find a way to fit it into Sat, Sun or Monday. I hate having to go 3 days in a row without at least planning to exercise.

K

Well I didn't exercise Friday, but at least I did low-impact aerobics for 23 minutes today. If I exercise tomorrow I will have at least met my goal of exercising 3 times per week for the first time in a long time. Now I just need to get it back up to at least 30 minutes each session.

K

I've lost 20 lbs. so far. I'm out and about doing my walking and come home and do my floor exercises. I feel better and my kids say they can see a difference. I'm so proud of myself. How is it going with everyone else?

Thanks for the encouraging update. I'm still only exercising once a week. Monday we went for abour an hour hike at a State park and we're going again Friday. Hopefully your reminder will encourage me to do something today.

Hoosier, at least you're doing something, even the thought for some is a start--maybe a slow one but a start nonetheless. I'm sore, and alternating the floor exercises right now, I do it every other day, but my walking is my cardio, I push to go everyday. Have a good hike Friday, when I was younger I loved to hike.

I did exercise at least 19 minutes today. Better than nothing. It is amazing how hard the first 5 minutes is when I'm in a depressed cycle. My goal for today was just 15 minutes. Thanks for reviving this topic and reminding me to get back on track. Notice how few green dots (indicating exercise) I had last month. My goal is to have at least 15 dots this month.

Hi all, sorry I haven't been able to be on here much. It is important to be easy on ourselves. I have been struggling, but things are looking up. I am so thankful the weather is nicer so I can get out and walk! I am aiming for an hour a day right after work, no excuses or distractions! I have a great park/school by the house and it is perfect. I have been feeling much better the past few days. Two things I have been working on are: organization and time management. I tend to get distract by TV and the internet and time goes by and things, like exercise don't happen. So I purchased a timer and I am limiting myself with those 2 things at least during the week. On that same note, I wrote out some long term goals and I plan to work this evening to tying those big goals into choices/decisions I can make everyday to work toward them. I attended a really great organization and time management class last week and it was just what I needed to refocus. Also, I have PCOS, don't know if you heard of it, but I have been tracking not only my moods, but my cycles and I am really starting to see a pattern. I take Metformin and my symptoms are much better, but it is good to know sometimes I will just be depressed and it might take a couple of days for them to improve. I really want to encourage all of you to keep up what you are doing and try to take some time to celebrate the small positive changes you have made in your life. They really do matter most!

Hoosier, you see my green dots, lol, I was simply slacking and that's not good because its hard to get out of, just like exercise--if you keep doing it, its hard to get out of. 19 minutes is good you went 4 minutes of what you planned, that's good. Remember: 100% of something beats 100% of nothing!! Yeah we have to fight old depression, but I'm proud of you,m keep up the good work! Well I'll be looking out for your dots and you mine, how does that sound? ((smile)). I'm on my way to walk.

Kmblygrn, Tell us how your hour go. I can get distracted heavily by TV and internet, but its a vicious cycle and once I got a taste of some peace I went back for it with my exercise, now I stay on the internet after I'm done, but I must check my email every morning. And I find that TV isn't as fulfilling to me. I want that fresh air and look forward to it. That's good you have goals written down, I have a weight and eating chart that I stick to daily. My main goal right now is to lose this weight and keep it off, never to return to the land of fat. No I've never heard of PCOS, but its good you're sticking to tracking your moods and cycles--we're our best doctors. Well, as I said before I'm leaving the house to walk, slipping on my shoes when I close this lap top. Have a good day.

Thanks for asking. I got in an hour walking around the park/school by my house. I was tired and worn out after and had to rest a while. But later I felt great and I slept great also. Today will be hotter so it will be challenging, but I am up for it!
Have a great day.

kmblygrn, yay!!! Doesn't it feel good when you take control?! I see that my symptoms are better too, I've been more at peace, and chilled out and relaxed when it comes to becoming irritated, and my depression has went away!!! Yeah that heat is no joke, I try to get out early before all the heat, but it never happens, its hotter today where I am too, so I have to do what I have to do. Talk to you later. Have an excellent day.

Hey Hoosier! Where u @? :-)

My sleep pattern has been off since taking a dose of Vyvance last week and I didn't get to sleep until after 2am last night. My husband then got called into work this morning so our hike at the park is out. I've been awake a few hours but still haven't exercised any. Surely I can at least manage at least 15 minutes today.

I here you Hoosier. Hang in there and do what you can no matter how little it is, it does make a difference. I didn't get my walk in yesterday. I came home from work and laid down just to take a little nap and ended up sleeping for 12 hours. I was upset, but I guess I needed the rest. I have had some stress at work and I have been pushing myself mentally for a week now. Yesterday was the first day I felt I had gotten a handle on things there so I think it was relief. I have had a great weekend so far and I am doing some work with resistance bands this evening and walking tomorrow.

Hi!

How are you all doing?

About this I must say I am really proud of myself.. when I was a youth I thought I would NEVER exercise or enjoy it, but one day (hypomanic) some years ago I started, and after that its been going on mostly.. Of course I have had some really bad periods with pretty long breaks (months and even one year), but now I've kept on without breaks for 2,5 year! (good working medications) I made it to something to be proud of, and it's like "my personal space". It's really strange, because often I can be so depressed that I can't get out of bed, but still I somehow get to the gym at least within two days or so.. So often I can ironic enough say "today I've been useless lazy and gymming" :P It's good for me because I still can't control food or sleep much even though I work figuring it out. Gymming works as a really good medication for me. I had some pain in my leg, and had to gym less for a short period, and it affected my mood immidiately..

Did you think of trying groups on the gym? When I am hypomanic I can easily get out bicycling, swiming etc. alone, but when I am depressed it just doesn't happen.. Group classes on the other hand actually works.. I think because it's other people there, and also I know it's a place where I feel good and I associate it with something positive. Even when I'm down I can go there and feel that I did something really good, and that feeling of that I manage something give me motivation to continue. It's fun with strength/power (not sure if its called that in english? guessing) excercise because it's easy to see when you get progress - like when you can do another push- up the next time etc. I usually have 2- 3 group classes that I go to EVERY week (if it's not some very special occation, then I try to find another chanse to gym), and those 2 I go to even if I am depressed. Then when I am hypomanic or baseline I fill in more when I want to. I kind of made these classes "sacred" (I dont know how to explain it otherwise, hope its not bad to say that) so other things come second.

I hope you manage to find your way - it helped me A LOT.. to be honest it's at the moment one of the best thing in my life. I still see myself as the person I thought would NEVER set my foot in a gym - now I look forward to the gymclasses all day. How cool is that????? ;P

Thank you. All of you. I'm new and scared.

Hi jumpingbum!

Welcome tothe group. This is a very supportive place to navigate the journey to stability. After 12 years of failed combos, moodtracker has been a vital tool in living a full and satisfying life. And exercise is one of the healthiest mood stablizers.

Gunnrun, I do understand what you are saying. I think I used to spend lots of time thinking about doing, rather than doing. I am at the best place EVER in my ENTIRE LIFE! I know I deserve lots of credit for that, but I also have great people are me, like my doctor and even a great dentist who both understand where I am at right now, what I need from them and where I want to go. I had a 3mo check up last week and I am down 12 lbs in that time. Super motivation! I am in agreement with you, we have to make things sacred or special so we can get excited about doing them. I love walking and since it is nicer out, I have been going outside. Today I went 2 miles in 33 minutes! That is crazy usually it is a 20 minute mile, but I was pumped up!

Hi Jumpingbum.....feel free to express yourself. There are great, non judgemental people here who might be able to help you. If not, it is great just knowing someone is out there like you with the same struggles.

Have a great evening all!

You should try going on 30 minute to hour long walks. Trust me it really helps. I do it at least 3 times a week because it helps me relieve stress, get at least a little bit of exercise, alot of sun :) and it helps me clear my head and think things thru better. Also try listening to music on these walks.

Me - late as always (I am so forgetful that I forget the forum excist ;P):

kmblygrn: That's so great to hear! I must say I still think more than do, but not when it comes to gymming ;P What does the dentist for your excerzise etc? I dont really know how long a mile is, but it sounds good! Keep up the good work!

I have a question. Is it better to exercise outside? Also what type of exercising should you do if your bipolar?

I have been doing Turbo Jam and Turbo Fire DVDs and also yoga.
I have noticed that yoga feels more relaxing to me and the turbo fire is such fast pace that its hard for me to keep up .

I just thought I should ask cause I want to feel good and loose weight at the same time.

Thanks
Erin

Hi Erin. I don't think the type of exercise matters. Staying motivated and following through are the keys. I personally like running outside, but am unable to spend the time outside much of the year b/c I won't run when it's cold, snowy, or icy. During this time, I use the elliptical that we have. This year we moved it from the basement (which is only in the upper 50s during the winter) to our TV room. My goal is to use it more often since I won't have to get additionally motivated to deal with the cool temp (it's cool at least to me). I think it's up to you where you exercise (inside or outside) and do something you enjoy so it doesn't require as much effort to stick to the routine.

For me getting outside even on a cloudy day is a mild to moderate antidepressant, but as jendreamer said, the important thing is to do what makes you feel better. But be careful when manic that your exercise is more calming so that it doesn't feed the mania.