Going from 300 to 175

Jenbtech

I started my journey the end of December at 300 lbs. I hated myself. I have now lost over 30 lbs and I am loving who I am becoming. Eating healthy and exercising at home have propelled me to get outside and start to get my run on!

However, I want to start a c25k program, but most of the folks I see post here are not as large as I am now. I am currently sitting in the upper 260s. That is still 85 lbs of extra weight to slosh around when I am running. It takes a toll on your back and knees for sure.

Do any folks that lost a lot of weight (more than 75lbs) or are currently trying to loose the weight able to post some tips for a newbie attempting the c25k? What should I expect? How long should I allow myself to get to the 5k mark? I dont want to set myself up to dissapointment if it takes longer than I think it should.

Thanks in advance!

thekarens

I'm not in exactly the same category, but I am almost 42, going from 200 to hopefully 130lb. I'm 5'3. I've haven't run since I was maybe13 years old and then it was under duress from a PE teacher. I've been sedentary all my life. I also have one bad knee. I had surgery on it when I was a teen and never did the therapy to get it back in shape.

Anyway, my suggestion is to start slowly, listen to your body and don't be afraid to do days/weeks over as many times as you need to. Personally, I find the treadmill easier than running outside. I've done both and the treadmill is easier on the joints for me.

I'm doing the first week over and over until I feel comfortable going to week 2. That doesn't mean I'm not pushing myself because I certainly am. When I started I was "jogging" at 3 miles an hour. I'm now up to 4.2. I'm trying to get to 5 mph.

Suz_w8loss

I'm a 40 y/o & started the C25K program weighing 253 at the beginning of February. I am on week 9. I took it very slow in the beginning and followed the program with a rest day in between. I did have some shin issues that I was able to correct with some proper running shoes. I am now running just about 30 mins every other day without stopping. My advise is to try it, start out slowly, listen to your body & rest. I would not worry about your pace/mileage because as you progress you will build endurance & speed will come with that. What has kept me going is knowing that despite my size I can do it & the feeling of accomplishment after finishing week to week is AWESOME.

Shaigirl79

I started my journey the end of December at 300 lbs. I hated myself. I have now lost over 30 lbs and I am loving who I am becoming. Eating healthy and exercising at home have propelled me to get outside and start to get my run on!

However, I want to start a c25k program, but most of the folks I see post here are not as large as I am now. I am currently sitting in the upper 260s. That is still 85 lbs of extra weight to slosh around when I am running. It takes a toll on your back and knees for sure.

Do any folks that lost a lot of weight (more than 75lbs) or are currently trying to loose the weight able to post some tips for a newbie attempting the c25k? What should I expect? How long should I allow myself to get to the 5k mark? I dont want to set myself up to dissapointment if it takes longer than I think it should.

Thanks in advance!

Let me just say that as soon as I saw the subject of this post, I just HAD to reply! I, too, hit 300 lbs back in November. Seeing that absurd number on the scale was definitely my wake-up call. I started using MFP, counting calories, wearing a Fitbit, and walking on my treadmill daily. Before I even heard about C25k, I started jogging/running here and there through-out my walk. It has definitely accelerated my weigh loss! In three months, I've lost almost 45 lbs. And I'm really excited to finally be starting the actual Couch To 5K running program on April 1st.

I'm with everyone else! I plan to take it slow and rest every other day until my body gets adjusted. Since I'm not training for an actual 5k, I'm not setting any sort of time frame! If I have to repeat a week a few times, so be it! I know my body will eventually become conditioned enough to move on.

One thing I will suggest is if you haven't already... GO GET FITTED FOR PROPER RUNNING SHOES! Shoes make all the difference in the world. I started with a pair of Propet walking shoes. They were probably just fine walking here and there, but when I started running... my feet ached and hurt so badly I could barely walk without pain much less get through my 30 minute work out. I had massive blisters and bruises all over! Found a local running store where they analyzed my walk and fitted me for the right kind of support. After breaking in my new shoes, my feet feel a million times better. :-)

Congratulations on your loss and good luck!!! :-)

tameko2

I have a friend running 10ks at your weight (and running the whole thing). And probably shorter than you. You can do it!

Just 1) go slow. really slow.

2) be ready to repeat weeks if you need to. It might not be a 9 week program for you - might be 12.

3) don't push yourself too hard - don't try to run multiple days in a row. Honor your rest days and don't do anyhting high impact

4) watch your landings, you want to land softly as possible and take the first strike of your foot coming down on your fore or midfoot, not heel

5) you might want to go someplace where you can spend at least part of your time on grass or dirt. Running is fairly high impact and you will PROBABLY start getting the feeling of shin splits but you can keep them from getting too bad by taking those rest days (see number 3!) and keeping your impact as low as possible until you are more used to it (see number 4 and this). I can run on regular concrete no problem now but in the beginning I had to zag onto the grass and use those sometimes until my legs got used to it;

spearfox

I tried starting a few weeks ago. W1D1 went great until a few hours afterwards. I had hip pain for two or three days. Enough pain that I knew running would not be good till I solved it.
A little research said I probably need to strengthen my core.
I started doing exercises to strengthen my core muscles(abdominals and obliques)
High stepping or knee raises, planking, oblique twists, all sorts of little exercises I found on the internet. And these were exercises I could do at work.
It seemed to do the trick. I restarted C25K and on week 2 without hip problems.

Something else I do is run at a local park. I do my brisk walk getting to the park which is about 20 minutes away. That gives me a little extra warm up time.

Suz_w8loss

5) you might want to go someplace where you can spend at least part of your time on grass or dirt. Running is fairly high impact and you will PROBABLY start getting the feeling of shin splits but you can keep them from getting too bad by taking those rest days (see number 3!) and keeping your impact as low as possible until you are more used to it (see number 4 and this). I can run on regular concrete no problem now but in the beginning I had to zag onto the grass and use those sometimes until my legs got used to it;

When I had shin splints I also bought some compression socks & sleeves. I wore those during the runs & after for recovery. They along with proper running shoes eliminated my shin splints.