To abuse the metaphor, telling the obese to cut calories may not help, but all the same cutting calories is exactly what they need to do to get better.

Anecdotally, when I'm exercising all the crap in my life just fades away to where just putting one foot in front of the other is all that matters. It's not a state of not caring, it's more that it doesn't exist in my head the same way The Game doesn't. It's Zen almost - calming and peaceful.

Less anecdotally, you can rationalize the release of endorphins as an evolutionary trick to get us to do something that while unpleasant used to be very necessary for survival. (Imo, whether this is true or not is not important. Rather it is a rational for productive self-delusion).

I know the exact feeling. I am almost sure that I am depressed as of the last 2 months.

I have written less than a page of code (last sem in uni) but have the IDEE open in front of me 24/7. Stopped working out, stopped developing my hobbies. For context, I used to be a proper high functioning extrovert and juggled full grad level course-load with good grades through 2017 and 2018. have even landed my dream job starting in July.

It is frustrating to see people tell me to just get on with it. I am fully motivated to do the tasks that are piling on, but the absolute sense of mental inertia is something no one understands. I have blocked websites. Avoided "time wasting events" and stayed up at night hoping to do something. But, it has failed literally every time.

I am slowly inching towards a solution, and it has to do with making the task more mentally accessible.

Instead of working out at the gym, I do pullups on my door frame every-time I stand up from my laptop. I try to walk to the campus whenever needed instead of taking public transport to catch some sun and get some exercise. Instead of going to the gym, I follow the feet of my friend who is also going to the gym, just so I reach there first. (not even lying)

Making the task a series of small and achievable smaller tasks seems to have been the best approach so far. It's not perfect, but I am getting there.

I am however, sure about what my 'depression' (not diagnosed, so can't be too sure) is based in. My friends have all graduated and I have no peer group left. My relationship with my project guide is purely professional, and I feel like an imposter to ask him questions about simple things when I get stuck. Lastly, I am stuck in the project in a spot where the problem can't be broken down into a series of small steps.

I have seen plenty of others stuck in such a situation during their time in grad school. In almost all cases, external support is what works best. A new group of friends you can rely on. A gym buddy who will pull you to the gym. A mentor who is willing to go beyond call of duty to walk you through the block.

At this point, I can't wait to graduate and move to the new town, where I have established friends and get a breath of fresh air. Hopefully, that change will be sufficient.

This morning I woke up at 9am intending to run at about 10 (I'm training for a marathon, so I wanted to get started on my long run early). I stayed in bed until noon and didn't start running until around 2:15. I was able to do the run (and I feel good for having done it), but motivating myself to begin was still difficult.

The motivation to start is often the hardest part for me, but I never regret it once I get going. In a sense, I always want to run soon but I never want to run now.

Think of it more like your brain is lying to you about your energy levels and that exercise is calling your brain's bluff. Writing off exercise without trying it is like the Israelites writing off looking at the brass serpent.

A doctor once told me that I shouldn't exercise if I already felt exhausted - advice which I followed and it pushed me into a deeper depression - so, yes, it will help.

For me it took a loooooong time of mostly failing to get out of bed, but occasionally convincing myself to get up and do something. Like half a decade. Once I get up and start there is almost always plenty of energy and it feels good, but the prediction you make when you’re lying in bed feeling shitty is that exercise is gonna suck and you’re gonna feel crap and what’s the point in even trying. It’s like I had to un-learn the prediction and train whatever makes those predictions to expect what really happens. I still fail sometimes, but those days are by far the minority now.

I do think this advice on its own is mostly /r/wowthanksimcured because the advice people really need is the how of setting up a situation where they will actually get out if bed and get started. And I don’t have an answer for that because I think I did it the hard way and kinda got lucky.

This is a good point. The aim isn't to just tell people to go for a jog / cut calories, but to provide them with access to a structured program to help. For people losing wieght that might be 3 months free access to Slimming World. For people with depression that might be 3 months access to a structured sports group, or help to access Park Run.

Here's one park run that's coordinating with their local NHS Mental Health service provider around suicide prevention: https://www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/our-events/parkrun

But your point is one of the things that I found so irritating about the exercise advice. People would describe profound deep depression, and someone in the comments would say "go for a jog" (or "cut out sugar"), which always felt really trivialising.

I can feel that I’m not ready for exercise but be wrong. I can cerebrally know and trust that exercise may help un-kill my emotions and attempt to rotely manoeuver my body into exercise in the substantiated hope that the point to doing anything may return because of it. and it has worked.

What you describe is a bootstrap problem: not meeting the prerequisites to get the process of getting better started. It's not an isolated case, think of all the "too poor to start saving" or "too busy to rethink priorities" problems.

Some tips. You don't have to take them, but if you ever feel like trying it, they might be useful. This is for solo exercise. Getting a partner is sometimes good too, but because the partner can also derail you as well as motivate you, it can be hit or miss. Solo stuff is up to you.

- Exercise at a set time every day. I find that morning is easiest for me due to a few tricks. But do what works for you. Also, if it's not working, then try something else.

- Designate some cloths as "exercise" clothes (whatever exercise you decide to do). At first, it literally doesn't matter what they are. Don't go out and buy something. Just put aside some clothes that are only for exercise. Make a rule that when the set time comes to exercise that you put on your exercise clothes. If you don't feel like exercising, then at least put on the exercise clothes!

- Morning works well for me because I set out the exercise clothes the night before (which is easier because I'm not about to exercise). When I see the exercise clothes in the morning, before I wake up I put on the exercise clothes. Following random rules when I am groggy seems to be easier than when I can think up good excuses.

- Keep in mind that you will almost certainly not want to do it. Keep saying to yourself, "Well, at least do X". Don't think past X. If there is a good excuse why you can't do your exercise today, try to put it at the back of your mind and think only about "At least do X". At first, X is just "put on the exercise clothes". Even if you know you are not going to exercise, put on the clothes. It will only take 30 seconds.

- Do some warmup before your main exercise. Keep it light and easy. After you put on your exercise clothes, you might as well do the warmup. Otherwise it's a waste of time to put on the exercise clothes, right? The warmup should be relatively short -- up to 5 minutes. If I'm running, then walking for 2-3 minutes away from my house is perfect. Even if you know that you are not going to exercise, just do the warmup. It's easy. It's light. You won't get sweaty. It's less than 5 minutes. If your schedule is so tight that 5 minutes is going to make a difference, then you are going to burn yourself out anyway. Just take the 5 minutes and do a warmup. You owe it to yourself to just have that "me" time.

- If you really aren't up for it, feel free to go back home after that warmup. But even if you are ill, or hung over or busy, or whatever, put on the exercise clothes. Then just do the warmup -- it's only 2-3 minutes (max 5 minutes). However, as you are dressed and warmed up, you might as well do 1 minute of jogging (or cycling, or fast walking, or whatever). It's only 1 minute and if you are really feeling bad, you can always go home after that.

- It's important to always allow yourself that real choice. If you are really feeling bad, then go home. But are you really feeling bad? It's easy to lie to lie to yourself, but it's also easy to detect the lie. If you don't know if it is a lie, then just do the 1 minute, or whatever. It's not going to kill you. You'll find out if you really can't do it. But if you can't, then go home after that 1 minute.

- When doing aerobic exercise, breathing is really, really important. If walking or running, breathe in for 5 steps and then breathe out for 5 steps. If you have no trouble with that cadence, then speed up. When you start to have trouble, switch to 5 in, 4 out. Then 4 in 4 out. Keep working your way down to 3 in 3 out, or even 3 in 2 out. Then adjust your pace until you can maintain that.

- Getting that breathing going is actually kind of tricky. If you are walking, you may have to jog a bit to get your breath going. Then you may have to slow down to a walk to maintain that level. Or you may just have to adjust your pace, but it takes concentration.

- If you are not in good shape, it may take longer than your workout and so you won't experience it, but you body will slowly switch from burning more sugar to burning more fat. Fat is interesting in that it already binds some oxygen. Because of that, it requires less oxygen to "burn". Somewhere around when you start burning more fat than sugar, you will get your "second wind". If you are super fit, this will happen almost immediately, but if you are not it can take 20-30 minutes to get there. The first time you experience it, you will be surprised. You will go from suffering and having trouble gulping down the air to it being practically effortless to get enough oxygen.

- For the first 2 weeks, no matter what exercise you choose, it will probably feel bad. It will be hard to get your breath regulated. It will be hard to push yourself. Your body will feel bad. It will be hard to keep concentration. When it inevitably happens, just think to yourself, "Yep. That's it. That's exactly what should happen." Too many people think that aerobic exercise isn't for them because they never get past this phase and they expect to enjoy it at first. Enjoyment comes later, unfortunately. My experience has been that it usually is about 2 weeks later that you have a day where you think, "Wow. That was great. I can't wait to do it again tomorrow". Then a while later you will feel the same way again. Eventually, almost every day (unless you are ill) that's how you will feel. It will even get to the point that if you don't exercise you feel absolutely awful and you are pulling your hair out until you get get a run, or cycle or swim or whatever in.

- Your body will hurt at first. It's important to understand the difference between "good" hurt and "bad" hurt. You will get some sore muscles from doing exercise. You may think, "I'd better rest because my muscles are sore. I don't want to get an injury". However, with sore muscles (even if they are really sore), this is not necessary or desirable. After 2 weeks or so, you will never get sore again (assuming you keep doing the same kinds of exercise), no matter how much you do. However, if you get a sharp pain somewhere, then slow down, stop, and figure out why you have the pain. Take a rest and if it persists, go and see a sports medicine doctor. There are some common training injuries (illial tibial band syndrome, shin splints, etc, etc). Googling can help. Try to do a different kind of exercise until the injury heals. Don't push that kind of injury!

- Exercise 6 days a week. One day off a week is usually enough to prevent over training unless you are doing really intense stuff (which you won't be). Trying to do less is just an invitation to "I'll make up for it tomorrow". If you are training practically every single day, there are no days to be able to make up. If you miss a day, you miss a day. So, just put on the clothes. You can't afford to miss a day. Just do the warmup. If you at least do the warmup, then you might do the exercise. Just do 1 minute. If you do 1 minute, you might do the whole thing. By the time you have gone half the distance, you are committed because you have to go the other half to get home ;-) Every day is dramatically easier to maintain than every second day (the the point where if you choose to exercise every second day, I'm willing to bet that you won't continue with it long term).

- Start off with only doing exercise for about 10 minutes (so 30 seconds to get dressed, 5 minutes to warm up, 10 minutes to do your main exercise -- 15 minutes 30 seconds total ;-) ). Every week, extend that by 1 minute. Only 1 minute! After 5 months you will be exercising 30 minutes 6 days a week (3 hours of exercise a week). From there you'll be in a good position to figure out what works best for you. The 1 minute of extra per week will avoid injuries. Injuries are crap because if you get one, you have to rest and then start the whole process over again.

- Realise that it is hard to do this. Take pride when you succeed. Forgive yourself when you do not. But the most important thing to remember: Today is the best day to start over. If you lapse, start over today. Just keep starting over until it sticks. It's totally normal to lapse. It's totally normal to start over. It's totally awesome when you string 2 days in a row.

Like everything else when it comes to depression, yes for some people this won't help. But it will definitely help some portion of people, knowing that you really have to prioritise exercise is useful. At least it was the case for me when I first found out about the mood benefits of regular exercise.

I actually notice my mood and energy levels drop significantly when I reduce my weekly exercise.