pain in my leg from walking.

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2

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  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    I've never walked a marathon before so I have no idea how long they are. Also- when I walk 13.5 miles a day I burn a lot of calories- which is nice because I can eat whatever (with in reason) and still lose weight. I have only been doing this since the 4th of may. friday and saturday were my rest days. When I have days where my leg hurts then I only walk 6-7 miles. I see nothing wrong with walking this much. It is low impact, I have the time it takes (4 and a half hours) and I am more active so I don't really see a problem. I will however adjust if I should start taking vitamins. So far all I do now is drink muscle milk after my walks.

    The thing that is wrong with walking this much is the pain you are experiencing. To put it in terms MFPers seem to like "your body is telling you" blah blah blah.

    You are simply in the position of making a choice.

    1) realize that you started a very short time ago and this was your trial schedule to see if you were up to it and the pain indicates that you may need to increase your walk times and distance more slowly to condition yourself (even if you have all the time in the world and want to eat all the cals earned by the long walks.)

    2) continue on the trajectory you are on and risk having the problem exacerbate to the point where you are unable to keep up even a milder schedule of say 2-3 days a week of easier walks.

    Now to solve the problems that are in your way of seeing that this is the solution.

    1) You have lots of time. There are other things you can do with this time that will help your weight loss goals.
    -researching the injury you are feeling
    -researching couch to 5k
    -researching walking for exercise
    -researching critical thinking

    2) You want to eat the cals you gain from all this walking
    -stretching burns cals log this
    -swimming burns cals try this too
    -research how adequate fiber and protein and fat intake can help with satiety.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Yep, everytime I experience excruciating pain after overdoing something, my first thought is "I'm going to take some more vitamins."

    Do you think I should take a multivitamin- or a specific one like calcium- I appreciate all the help, I love walking a lot but I dont want to hurt myself.

    YGTBSM. Listen, walking is a fine, low stress activity. Just like water is a healthy refreshing drink. You know, right up until you try to drink five gallons of it and die from dilutional hyponatremia. Your half marathon walks (a full marathon is 26.2 miles btw) are the exercise equivalent of water poisoning. Too much, too soon.

    Take whatever vitamins you want as long as you WALK LESS. And less often. Eventually you can walk your halfs but build up to it. Pain is the body's way of signaling a problem. Listen to your body.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    https://www.google.com/
  • SibyllKingsley
    SibyllKingsley Posts: 33
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    True I only started walking 13.5 miles this week but since the 1st of april I have been walking 6 miles. I increased my distance because there was no weight loss at only walking 6 miles a day.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    True I only started walking 13.5 miles this week but since the 1st of april I have been walking 6 miles. I increased my distance because there was no weight loss at only walking 6 miles a day.

    Your weight loss is dependent on you walking 13.5 miles. It's dependent on your calorie intake.
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
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    True I only started walking 13.5 miles this week but since the 1st of april I have been walking 6 miles. I increased my distance because there was no weight loss at only walking 6 miles a day.
    are you weighing and measuring all of your food?
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    True I only started walking 13.5 miles this week but since the 1st of april I have been walking 6 miles. I increased my distance because there was no weight loss at only walking 6 miles a day.

    A more effective means to weight loss would be to increase the distance from your plate to your mouth. Exercise us for fitness, diet is for weight loss. Trying to out exercise a bad diet leads to futility and injury.
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
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    So I walk a lot. roughly 13 miles a day. yesterday on the way back from my walk i developed a pain in the right side of my thigh. here's a picture of where the pain is:
    http://s566.photobucket.com/user/artsygirl87/media/DSCF2632.jpg.html
    has anyone else had this? any ideas of how to deal with it. Today I only walked 6 miles and it feels a thousand times better than yesterday but still acting up. Its more annoying than painful.

    OP...google "training to walk a half marathon" or "training to walk a 10k". Each program has you start out walking 30-40 mins every other day. Each week for 10-12 weeks they have you build up in time and distance. Each will give you rest days and recommend that you cross train and strength train.

    Do some research and I think that you will figure out what is causing your pain...over doing it. Even people that have been walking marathons for years don't walk that far for training.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    OP you're going to end up injured to the point of not being able to walk at all.

    If you're not losing weight it isn't because you aren't walking far enough, it's because you're eating too many calories, and likely not being patient enough.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    I think I have figured out why OP feels she NEEDS to walk this much everyday.


    "TOPIC: walking Tue 05/06/14 04:34 PM
    Why do I walk so much? well I am going to college (6.2 miles away from my house) and I don't have a car. I figure its a win win because I am chunk and can stand to lose 70- 80 pounds."
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    Buy a bike.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Buy a bike.

    BOOM! Perfect solution. Exercise plus transportation plus saving legs from overuse. Well done, sir, well done
  • nz_deevaa
    nz_deevaa Posts: 12,209 Member
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    DSCF2632.jpg~320x480

    Is this your leg in this photo?
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    Buy a bike.

    BOOM! Perfect solution. Exercise plus transportation plus saving legs from overuse. Well done, sir, well done

    I can't take the credit.

    It was a solid MFP team effort that brought us to this inevitable conclusion...

    ...and there's no "I" in team.
  • SibyllKingsley
    SibyllKingsley Posts: 33
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    I think I have figured out why OP feels she NEEDS to walk this much everyday.


    "TOPIC: walking Tue 05/06/14 04:34 PM
    Why do I walk so much? well I am going to college (6.2 miles away from my house) and I don't have a car. I figure its a win win because I am chunk and can stand to lose 70- 80 pounds."

    Exactly, I really don't have an option.
  • SibyllKingsley
    SibyllKingsley Posts: 33
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    I have a bike- yes that is my leg picture. I'm working my way up to using the bike. there are some steep hills I don't want to take it only to have to push it half the way anyways.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    I have a bike- yes that is my leg picture. I'm working my way up to using the bike. there are some steep hills I don't want to take it only to have to push it half the way anyways.

    The same hills you would be able to ride down on the way home?

    And the efficiency of having a bike that you occasionally have to push is almost certainly higher than walking.

    But most importantly, what you're currently doing is causing you serious problems. How about trying a different approach to see if that fixes them?

    Or whatever...keep doing what you're doing and let us know how that works for you.
  • zenhiker2014
    zenhiker2014 Posts: 84 Member
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    You may need to walk the bike up parts of those hills but you'll have fun coming down them, a good goal to train for (riding all the hills), a nice calorie burn, and shorter commutes so more time for other things each day. Plus you'll be working different muscles and avoiding overuse injuries. And you'll have the bike available at school in case you need to run errands or whatever. What's the down side of pushing the bike on the steep parts?

    Oh wait - I see someone beat me to that question already!

    ETA: I bike to and from work even though we often have strong winds in the afternoon this time of year, and they are almost always head winds for my trip home. Last Friday the wind was hitting 40mph and yep, I walked the bike - until I got to the turn that made it into a tailwind. It was fun after that.
  • canadianbooty
    canadianbooty Posts: 38
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    I often would walk up to 12 miles a day, usually only seven to ten while in the Dominican. Mind you it was on a beach, but I see no problem with this much walking. In fact I would often get pain in my toe joints from this much walking, but I solved it by wearing vibrams and stretching.

    Don't listen to the nay sayers. If it's not omg pain and just annoying pain, it just means you are irritating something. Look into the stretches. Make sure you have good shoes and walk on I say. Humans were meant to walk. I wish I had four hours a day to walk while in Canada. Maybe see a physical therapist if the pain keeps up.

    People on here can be so negative sometimes.

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