My knee doesn't hurt! :)

Sara1978

I just had to share with somebody who might understand...

I've had knee problems ever since I was about 12 years old, when I managed to bang up my knee pretty well playing baseball. It's followed me throughout my life and has made some of the activities that I used to really love pretty painful. The pain got even worse when I gained weight, and it began to force me to limit the length and types of physical activities that I could participate in because I knew it would leave me hobbling along and miserable.

A couple of my very athletic friends asked me today to take a pretty strenuous hike with them in 85 degree heat up a mountain to a pretty little alpine lake. I was a little bit concerned since my knee has historically started hurting pretty badly after about four miles when there's significant elevation changes involved, and the proposed hike was nine miles long and included 2300 feet of rapid elevation gain over a relatively short stretch of the trail. Normally, that would have been a recipe for joint injury disaster for me. But I hadn't tried a long hike since I'd started on this site and lost the weight I've managed so far, so I figured-- what the heck? Might as well try.

I hiked nine miles. I kept up with both of my friends, and at the end, I felt as if I could have gone further if I'd had a reason to. And my knee IS NOT HURT. It didn't hurt during the hike. It isn't hurting now. And I'm willing to bet, based on how perfectly fine it has been up to this point, it isn't going to hurt tomorrow either. I know they say that for every pound you lose, you reduce the amount of force your knees need to absorb with each step by four pounds, so it makes sense, but I had no idea just how huge an impact losing fifteen little pounds would make on how I feel now.

I'm still only a little over halfway to the weight that I'd like to be, but to be honest, I feel like THIS-- what I was able to do today-- is what I wanted more than anything else. If I never lost another pound but was able to always do what I did today without anything hurting, I'd be completely content.

jessudd

That is awesome!! I totally understand--it's incredible to overcome those aches and pains... In the last 6 months, I've gotten much more active than I'd ever been before and it's been such a wonderful feeling to be able to do things I never thought I could. And the more you do it, the less those things hurt and the more you lose the easier it all becomes! It's like getting a whole new body! Congrats on your achievement and good luck continuing!!

Funnydream

Wonderful news!

Knees are funny. I have a torn cartilege that needs to be sorted out with surgery (soon), but losing weight has greatly diminished the knee pain that has been constant for me since last October. In my case it hasn't gone away, as I do need an operation, BUT - it feels much much better then it did when I was 40 pounds heavier!

Well done you!