Help Please

bm99

I am 5'3" 235 pounds and I've been pretty much completely sedentary since my pregnancy 2 years ago. I get on the treadmill and can do a half hour of 2.7-3mph and it takes a bit of effort, although not nearly as much as when I first started! When I started it was between 2 and 2.5 with a 26 minute mile.

I'd really like to kick up my exercise and start jogging and doing cardio, but I'm wondering if at this weight I just can't do it. My shins start to hurt and my chest feels like it's going to explode. I tried to get through it and made it a minute at 5mph, then another minute back down at 2.5. I'm only 26 and have no health problems, and I quit smoking 2 weeks ago.

Should I wait until I'm at 200 or under to start any serious exercise? I would keep walking and trying to go longer and faster, but I worry I am going to hurt myself if I try jogging while I weigh so much.

I know I need the cardio to shed the pounds, but weights and walking will at least do something if I have to wait.

stephanie1133

Hi. I've been lurking for a while but this is my first post.

I started jogging at over 200 lbs, in fact at 220. I'm under 200 now and it's definitely easier. I can only speak for myself, not tell you what you need to do, but here is my experience: Intervals work wonderfully for me. I started doing an incredibly slow jog of 4mph ( I can walk very fast at that pace, so I know it's SLOW), just 1 minute at a time, 3 minutes of rest or more in between, when I first started, for 20 minues. In the past 8 weeks I've worked from that to being able to run an entire mile at 5mph and do my intervals between 5 and 6 mph for 3 minutes and just 1 min walking in between, for 60 entire minutes!

Like I said, I can't tell you what will be right for your body! But if you are healthy and without injury I don't see why you would need to wait!

omma_to_3

For starters, walking IS cardio. Don't feel like it's not! When I started working out last October, I was walking. 20 minutes at around 3 mph. I worked my way up in speed, time, and added in hand weights. I started doing C25K in February and am currently only on week 7 (I repeated weeks when needed).

For you, while you could start running now, I think you'll do better if you increase your walking. I would get your speed and endurance up to 3.5 mph for 45 minutes before working on running. At least that's what worked well for me!

Also, if your shins are hurting, go to a running store and get fitted for good running shoes. I was having shin pain too and that pretty much eliminated it.

shadowkitty22

Hello Friend!

I started this journey of mine at 303 pounds this year and only walking on the treadmill at a 3.0 and I would work up a sweat (I still do in fact because apparently my natural walking speed is like a 2.5). My shins and calves hurt the first few times but then I started properly stretching before and after my workouts and that pretty much ended. A month into this whole thing, my best friend and gym buddy told me that we should do the C25K program. So we started doing that (and with stretching) everything was hunky dory until about a month in my knee went stupid on me and it just hurt to move. I still don't know what the hell I did to it but it took it a few months to finally stop hurting. I've been fine for a few weeks now and have wanted to start up the program again but I knew that with my upcoming move that it would just be easier to wait to start it until after I've moved. That way I knew I would also be physically lighter and therefore it should be easier on my body to move around this much weight than when I started the program. So I'm hoping things work out better for me NEXT WEEK (so excited!) when I start going to the gym again and restart the program than they did for me earlier this year. I'll be around 50 pounds lighter by the time I go home so that should definitely make a difference.

So basically, I guess what I'm trying to say is that while you can definitely exercise at your current weight, and possibly do more than I can, that you should really just listen to your body. If your body hurts, then you need to figure out why and see if there's anything you can do to relieve the pain (stretch better, rest, change exercises, etc) to help reduce the risk of further injury. Also, you could do low impact cardio exercises like biking, the elliptical and swimming in lieu of walking or jogging.

bm99

Thanks for the advice, guys! It was really helpful. I never can tell whether I'm just being a wuss and making excuses or if I actually can't do something.

I think I'll step up the walking and weight training and leave the high impact for under 200lb. I have toddlers and I can't imagine trying to cart them around all day with some kind of injury.

shadowkitty22, you'd think I just ran a marathon the way I huff and puff and sweat during my treadmill walks lol