Big Loser (In the bad way)

If running is hurting your legs, do you have access to an elliptical? I have flat feet and get shin splints really easily, and the elliptical is the best thing ever invented. I can do a 45-55 minute workout on Level 8 now, and just 3 months ago I could barely do 15 minutes on Level 1! It's easy to work your way up to higher levels, and you can use Hill mode, where it is basically interval training. It's great, and my legs are so much stronger. I could probably run now if I wanted to, but I like my elliptical. Oh, and it burns calories like crazy. I burn 520 for 45 minutes (5'3" and 180 lbs).

There you go, girl! It's an overused phrase, but baby steps is the best way to go. Start out with small activities and short term goals. reaching litle milestones is really encouraging, and helps you build up slowly, as opposed to shooting for a huge activity and falling short.

That's sweet your BF is so accepting of you. But you also should do what makes YOU feel good. You can do it, hon! :flowerforyou:

If you can't run, just walk!! Walking is very low-impact and that's how I've always started running was by walking... and then slowly adding in a little bit of running (as much as I could at one time) and then going back to walking. If you are deadset on running, definitely go with walking to start off with!! And you can do plenty of things in your home/bedroom in privacy that will be effective... pushups, sit ups, mountain climbers, lift with free weights. Go to Self.com, Shape.com, or just search "work outs" online and you can find a ton for every part of your body!!

Lifting weights will help you burn fat faster as muscle burns fat so definitely try to get into a lifting routine if not just using some sculpting moves.

Don't be discouraged! Easy to say, hard to do! But I know you can! And it's OK if you can't run right away. That takes a while to build up. But once you can run, keep at it. With running AND even walking...once you do it you don't lose it. I used to be just a summer runner (with occasional bursts of running in spring in fall) and wouldn't hardly run in the other months (teaching takes lots out of me). When I would go back to it after school was done, I would run for those 3 months and lemme tell you it only took a few days/weeks to get back on track.

Why not just walk? then after you can walk about 3mph then try to jog while on your walk. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!:happy:

Start by doing whatever workout you can stick with. It REALLY IS a long hard road. When I first started running I could only run for, I kid you not, 30 seconds at a time. 30 SECONDS. That was last November. Now I can run for miles and miles -- I usually run 30-45 minutes at a time but I could probably go for hours if I felt so inclined (which I haven't, yet :laugh:).

Secondly I wanted to mention you're not doing this for your bf -- you're doing it for you, right? So, who cares if he thinks you're fine? I mean, it's very nice to have someone who loves you unconditionally but you seem to recognize the issue is you're not happy with yourself and that's what you need to work on here. I can see the sadness in my fiance's eyes every time I lose an inch on my hips :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I don't care. He fell in love with me when I weighed 230 and still loved me at 270 and he's going to love me at 150, too, because by the time I get there we will have been married for several months and he won't have a choice (just joking)! I love me a lot more right now at 190-something than I did at 270. But you know what? It's not about the weight, it's not about being fat. There are plenty of unhappy thin people around. The real boost in confidence and self-esteem comes from really taking control of the situation, working hard, and achieving the results you want.

I agree starting slow will help you so much. I know first hand going all out when you first start working out will make you burn out fast and you'll dread your workouts and put them off because they are pure torture.. IF you always make yourself do more than you're currently capable. That's what happened to me anyway.. I would work out for a day or 2 and then stop for weeks because I wasn't ready for what I was putting myself through.

Just yesterday I gave running outside a go. Usually I can do it on the treadmill, but I wanted more of a challenge. So I started walking and then told myself when I reached a certain point I would start running. I did, and I ran farther than I thought I would! I'm glad I pushed myself to do that.

Do what you can, but push yourself some every workout. You'll get to where you can do your current workout with ease - then just add to it and you'll be surprised with your accomplishments! Everyone has to start somewhere. You can do it!

5 months ago I would collapse after 500 yards! :noway: After my first mile I ached for 4 days! but now I can run 15k pretty easy and the next day I feel like I did nothing the previous day.

You should start off VERY slow and the elliptical trainer is an excellent way to start off. You should only be increasing the routine by roughly 10% a week. This is a long haul journey and it took me 5 months to get where I am now. The thing is you should always still push yourself. I would go 10% more but I would add random inclines or speed bursts into the mix to keep my heart rate nicely in the cardio zone.

I expected I could run 2 miles easy the first time I went for a run, that 500 yard session soon brought be back down to earth.

Slowly slowly and pushy pushy wins the day!

Hi there, five years ago i was heavily overweight and wanted to start running again, i went out and did 400 metres and thought i was going to die, i could not breathe and my asthma just felt worse. I also joined a local weight watchers. Well i perservered and carried on, but what i did was started running for one minute and walk two, and just built it up. Walking round the lake sounds nice but you may soon get bored walking round in circles. I now run with the local running club and we encourage beginners and help them along. The weight battle is a long and hard battle, but im sure you can do it, im still trying to lose another 19 lbs, ive been up and down but since i ve been using this site i have felt very focused. But remember if you have a bad day then dont' beat yourself up, tomorrow is another day. Good luck and fingers crossed for you.

First thing is you don't have to exercise to lose weight. Second you don't lose any more weight with exercise unless you under a doctor's care and are doing a very low calorie diet and trying to generate huge calorie deficits for rapid weight loss and there is some question about the long term effects. That is not something you can do safely on your own. Changing to a healthy diet and maintaining a proper calorie deficit is what loses the weight. If you exercise you need to eat those extra calories so you maintain the proper calorie deficit. So focus on healthy foods and portion control, which to me is far tougher than exercise anyway.

With all that said, I agree with the others about just exercise what you can but may I humbly suggest you keep the weight loss and improved fitness through exercise as separate tasks. You eat well to lose weight and exercise to improve overall health and well being. If you can't exercise some days then you don't think "Now I won't lose weight this week and have ruined my efforts." No, all you did was slow down your fitness improvement. Also as you do new exercises or increase the intensity, your "weight" will go up because your muscles will need to retain more water to help with repair during the first few weeks. Don't worry about it. Keep to the healthy diet and the weight (reduction in fat stores) will come off slowly over time.

I weighed 286 lbs when I started this journey. To say that I was out of shape was an understatement... 10 minutes on the treadmill at 2.5 mph wiped me out... like, go back to bed and sleep wiped out. Here's what I told myself... "Anything I do today is more than I was doing a week ago."

You need to build yourself up.. mentally and physically. Don't call yourself names... be kind to yourself.

Don't overdo it! Honestly... the benefit of exercise is the way it makes you feel. Don't set yourself up for failure by planning something that may be too hard for you. When I started, I set a time based " goal. I walked for 20 minutes a day. That's it... 20 minutes.. whether I went at 1 MPH or 3 MPH... I walked for 20 minutes. That was my promise to myself.

I found that as I did more and lost weight I could push myself harder and harder... but still to this day... my promise to myself is 20 minutes a day/ 4 days a week. Anything over and above that is a bonus. Some weeks I go over and some I don't... and it's okay!

I've lost 37 pounds and I feel great... so I know it's working.