Introduction: Hi, it's MaryAnn

artemisathena013

Hi, all. I'm MaryAnn, I'm in my 60s and weighed 275lb when I started with myfitnesspal in December '23 at the suggestion of my doctor. I'm proud to say I've broken the 260lb barrier (haven't been below 260 since the beginning of the pandemic). Currently 258.2.

I live in eastern PA and travel by bus so I am limited as to where I can go, but soon as the weather gets warmer I'm going to start walking and riding my bike, but it terrifies me to think of riding near traffic.

When I was younger I was 150lb with lots of muscle but I got sedentary (lung issues) and gradually put more and more weight on; since 2018 when I got a seated job I gained close to 80lb.

I know the way to lose the weight and MFP is helping keep me on track. I'm discovering new foods (carb-balance tortillas are a Godsend) to help me keep my food goals and have started using Hybrid Calisthenics to strengthen my muscles a little.

All I need now is some way to remind me to get some endurance exercise and build up my lung capacity. I get exhausted so quickly and my heart rate shoots up from 78-82 to 140 within a minute, so I need to find the "just right" exercise. It's very frustrating and if anyone out there has has this problem with heart rate and breathing shooting sky high, I'd love to hear how you addressed it or overcame it.

AnnPT77

artemisathena013 wrote: »

Hi, all. I'm MaryAnn, I'm in my 60s and weighed 275lb when I started with myfitnesspal in December '23 at the suggestion of my doctor. I'm proud to say I've broken the 260lb barrier (haven't been below 260 since the beginning of the pandemic). Currently 258.2.

I live in eastern PA and travel by bus so I am limited as to where I can go, but soon as the weather gets warmer I'm going to start walking and riding my bike, but it terrifies me to think of riding near traffic.

When I was younger I was 150lb with lots of muscle but I got sedentary (lung issues) and gradually put more and more weight on; since 2018 when I got a seated job I gained close to 80lb.

I know the way to lose the weight and MFP is helping keep me on track. I'm discovering new foods (carb-balance tortillas are a Godsend) to help me keep my food goals and have started using Hybrid Calisthenics to strengthen my muscles a little.

All I need now is some way to remind me to get some endurance exercise and build up my lung capacity. I get exhausted so quickly and my heart rate shoots up from 78-82 to 140 within a minute, so I need to find the "just right" exercise. It's very frustrating and if anyone out there has has this problem with heart rate and breathing shooting sky high, I'd love to hear how you addressed it or overcame it.

Congratulations on your success so far: That's really excellent. I'm 68, F, in maintenance now but lost from class 1 obese to a healthy weight almost 8 years ago, and have been maintaining a healthy weight since. I've been active athletically for over 20 years, having started while still obese, maybe becoming the semi-mythical pretty fit fat person, even competing athletically (not always unsuccessfully) in a short-endurance cardiovascular sport, on water and machine rowing.

There can be other reasons, but heart rate shooting up can simply be a symptom of a current low-ish fitness level (with respect to that particular type of exercise). If so, it will improve with repetition, i.e., as one gets fitter. Conditioning can be surprisingly activity-specific, so we can see a bigger heart rate jump with something new-ish, even if we're active in some other thing that may seem superficially similar in challenge level. For example, my rowing heart rate response differs from my cycling or swimming or walking heart rate response, even though they're all cardiovascular challenges.

What exercise are you doing that causes this? How adapted are you to that particular exercise, i.e., is it somewhat new to you?

A common thing here is people thinking they need to do some super-intense exercise in order to benefit. That's completely incorrect. In fact, overly-intense exercise (for current fitness level) is likely to be counterproductive for either weight loss or fitness improvement.

It's counterproductive for weight loss because it causes disproportionate fatigue that tends to make us rest more during the rest of the day(s), so burn fewer calories in daily life than we would otherwise. It's counterproductive for fitness improvement because rest/recovery is where the magic (rebuilding better) happens, because it increases injury risk, and because intensity inherently limits duration.

If you're talking about cardiovascular exercise, IMO/IME the best way to build that is to start with slower, easier, but longer duration exercise, like walking. The sweet spot would be a manageably challenging pace for the amount of time available. This builds cardiovascular base and endurance, which is a foundation we can build on as we get fitter. IOW, as we get fitter, the previously-right exercise will start to seem easy, then too easy. That's a sign to increase duration, frequency or intensity (such as pace) to keep the manageable challenge challenging, or to change the type of exercise to a more challenging modality (such as jogging).

For sure, I've had to ramp up the intensity of my exercise as I got fitter, and early on my heart rate and breathing were quite stressed by things that are now not very challenging (after 20 years! ). Some things I used to do, such as following certain low-impact aerobics videos, became so unchallenging that I needed to move on from those to something else, because my heart rate just wasn't going up enough to be useful anymore.

I know it's hard to be patient and persistent, but progress will happen by picking something (anything) that's manageably challenging now (to do for a reasonable duration), sticking with it, then progressing from there as fitness increases . . . because it will.

Best wishes!

I'm not saying walking then jogging are right for you - that's just an example.