Been super emotional lately...

I posted before that I just started with a trainer 3 days/week and since then, I've been crazy emotional. I'm not sure what this all about. My girlfriend says she thinks it's because I'm making myself vulnerable and facing fears I've had all my life. I'm sure that's part of it. I'm going to start journaling so I can look into what's going on. I'm not typically emotional (especially with my antidepressant) so to suddenly be on the verge of tears while sitting at my desk at work is just weird for me.

My best friend said something interesting last week...the she didn't think someone can make such a big change and NOT be emotional. I guess she's right but it's just catching me off guard.

Anyone else ever deal with this or have any thoughts??

I think your friend is right...big changes can open up some old wounds that we have that haven't been dealt with.  I have found that I can be happy as can be one day and the next, just be wallowing!  The other reason is that you might be dumping some old fat stores that are loaded with hormones, which can cause some UMS (ugly mood swings) as we metabolize them.  It is great to face your fears and conquer them...

Losing weight is very emotional for many of us.  For me, losing the lbs. was like peeling away the layers of defensiveness and the hard shell, (or soft fat) that I had enclosed myself in to protect me from feeling real emotions like pain and anger.  I've learned through therapy that I still have a hard time identifying what I'm feeling because growing up I was never encouraged to acknowledge feelings.  Our family mantra could have been "Buck up! and keep moving forward" or "Never let them see your emotions, put on a good show at all times!"  I never realized that I used food to handle all emotion, happy or sad, until I started working with a therapist last year.  I'm getting better at identifying the emotions that I'm feeling and doing that allows me to deal with the reason for the emotion without turning to food to try to make it go away.

It's nice to no longer have the self-loathing, but it's not easy adjusting to a world without my emotional coat of armour!

Besides, there were so many NSV's that brought me to tears, being able to do the exericses your doing is probably a miracle in itself.  You probably can't believe that you're able to move like that!  Celebrate the win!  You deserve it.  We all know what hard work this is!

Best~
Lisa O.

Congrats on the exercising with the trainer.  This journey is about more than the number on the scale and there's so many changes.  Any change, even positive is stressful.  So I get what you are saying and even 20 months out I go through spurts where I wonder what my problem is.  On Spring Break I made it to the top of the climbing wall. It was a goal that I had made when I had my surgery.  I still can get teary eyed thinking about it.  ( I'm not an emotional person that usually cries) and our DS is going off to college in the Fall and I feel stressed/ emotional about that.  Life keeps moving on and not eating when stressed is a challenge. 

Sounds like your friend is right on the money and how nice to have such a sensitive friend!

Kristi