Running?

I have heard people say that running can be one of the quickest ways to lose weight.  I've never been a runner and whenever I've tried in the past, I've gotten nowhere with it (no pun intended) and quickly became bored.

Was wondering if someone could tell me....how long should you run?  How fast?  Do these things matter when you are so obese (and have physical limitations) that you can't run that long or fast?  I mean that if I can't run that long/fast then is running going to do me any good?

A few months ago I was doing the Eliptical machines at my local gym and I loved that.  However, after a few months of no weight loss....I gave up.  Granted I wasn't eating right at the time but my rationale was that I hadn't changed my eating but had added exercise...so therefore I should have lost at least some weight???  I lost zero!

All activity is a useful way to burn up fat.... running is only one option.  If you don't like running, don't do it but find something else you actually enjoy - the elliptical trainer, for example.  Reason being that if you start running for the sole reason of losing weight, reach your target weight, get bored with running and stop.... you'll regain all the weight lost.  If you find other activities that you can keep up with once you're at your target weight and beyond you'll stay slim.   Whatever you do, whether it's vigorous or gentle exercise, do it for at least half an hour a day.

The reason you didn't lose weight when you started exercising but not watching the food is because it is much easier & quicker to eat 200 cals too many than it is to burn off 200 cals in exercise.  If you want to see steady, safe, long-lasting weight-loss make sure you're active every day, that your food choices are good and that your calorie intake is well-managed.

Running is wonderful. I was never a 'natural' runner (always terrible at it in high school etc. and overweight as a youngster) but three years spent with an amateur running club and plenty of hard work later, I have ran 10K races and have really seen a difference in myself and my phsical abilities, well done for wanting to start!

When you are a complete beginnner, it is easy to push yourself too hard and then think 'that was horrible and painful, i'm never doing that again!' - instead you should accept that it will be hard at the beginning and start slow. Put on your trainers and go outside for 15 minutes - do a mixture of jogging for as long as you can, and brisk walking in between. Keep your heart rate up and swing your arms, set little goals for yourself e.g. alternate running and walking between lampposts on the street, or posts on a fence. Don't forget to stretch very well afterwards.

Gradually you will find that you will be able to jog for alonger inbetween walking, until eventually you will be able to do 15 full minutes of jogging. Then you can increase the time you are out again, until you can manage to jog that whole time.

I would try not to focus on speed in the beginning - just go at a gentle but steady joging pace - it is more important to get used to the feeling of constant movement and sort out your breathing than it is to push too hard. Just getting out there and working up a sweat for as long as you can is great to start with.

Even if you can't manage alot at the beginning, it is still doing you good and you should keep it up (obviously seek help if you experience any joint pains etc.)

dondons i like your suggestions...I have never been able to run and I've always wanted to.  I think I will try what you have mentioned!

I love running. If I get up to the gym before I leave for work, I can do 20 minutes at 6.5miles/hr -- it's exhausting, but it makes me feel great! However, I have to get up before 6am to make that happen, so usually I end up going to the gym after a long day at work, around 7pm. I feel tired and sugar-low, but eating before going to the gym is a bad idea. So I end up running less, maybe 20 minutes total but at 5 miles and hour. It gets my blood pumping and makes me sweat a lot -- after a long hot shower it's a great "tired" feeling!! You will sleep like a baby!

I was never much of a runner either, but decided to take it up last August.  I did the Couch to 5K program and scheduled to run my first 5k in December.  The Couch to 5K program is great and easy to follow.  It starts you off slow and you build up gradually.  It worked really well for me and now I love running.  I am not very fast, but that is okay.  Now, I am working on running a 12K in two weeks and am up to 6 miles. 

The trick is to have a program and stick with it.  When it gets hard or you feel like you want to quit, you just need to push through and complete the program.  I am not going to say that it is easy, because it is not.  It takes dedication and hard work, but it is all worth it.

The other thing I will say is that running alone will not lose the weight.  You also need to keep track of your calories daily and make it work.  I think if you can do both you will drop weight quickly, but you still have to keep track of what you put in your mouth.

I honestly hadn't been doing that up until now, but I have lost about 10 pounds since I started and I haven't gained any.  So I take that as a step forward as I have been continually gaining previously to me running.   

I am just now starting to keep track of my food intake and will see how that works out.  I am sure the pounds will come off as in the end it is simple math, take in 500 less calories then you burn and you will lose.  Running has given me the strength to feel like I can do anything; including losing this weight, plus the motivation to carry a few less pounds and make my time faster is also helpful.  I have been taking it a day at a time since I started running and have realized that this is a journey and it will take time to change myself.  Good luck to you and I hope you check out the Couch to 5K program, it really is great! Below is the link!

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.s html

I will tell you my "running" history also.  I started with my exercise December '07, I had a lot of weight to loose, so I wanted to get some weight off before I even attempted real strenuous workout on any machine.  I started with the elliptical and worked on it for a good couple of months.  Ya, I lost weight but it was with a steady diet and a nutritionist.  Then I moved on to what I call the crosstrainer machine or the crossramp as it says on the machine.  I liked it, it gave me more of a push, but still just pretty good steady weight loss.  So, last August ('08) my siblings and I decide that we are going to tackle a sprint triathlon together, so I thought I better see how I can run LOL.  As a disclaimer, I HATED to run, just thought it was good for nothing.  But, my sister runs and seeing how we are twins and how well it did for her, I thought I would try even though I never thought I could.  Yes, I had to start off very slow and really in 5 mins intervals if that.  I might have even started just doing 2-3 min runs. To make a real long story short, I will tell you that once I started running, I lost 20 lbs from August to the end of September without ever changing my diet.  Plus at the time I started to run, I was in a real plateau so to speak with my weight loss and starting to get in some treadmill time really broke that for me.  I have heard that you can get your body stalemated on just doing the same thing over and over, so maybe that was in play also.  Now, you have to remember also, I was training for that triathlon, so I did have additional workouts, I know that plays into it.  But, running was my MAIN source of cardio at that time.  I wasn't real worried about the swimming or the biking, but I was worried about the running.

More than my weight loss, I am more proud of the fact that I can now run (without calling 911) 6 miles at different inclines and speeds for a solid hour or so.  I NEVER in my life thought that would be possible, but it is.  And just for reference, I started out at sprints of 4.0 with walking in between.  Now I warm up at that speed on a 10 degree incline and doing my sprints at 7.5.  I really found for me, I had to challenge myself with running and mix up the speeds/inclines to keep it interesting for me.  If I do that, the hour goes by so fast. And while I will not admit to actually "loving" to run, I do love what it has done for my physic and overall health, so I am keeping with it.  Just the other day when I was getting my pedicure, the lady doing my feet commented on my nice calves and when she asked me what I do, I told her I run, so that felt good.

I can't tell you how long or how fast you should go, you need to listen to your body on that one.  If you have physical limitations that make it so you can't run, then I guess you can't.  I never thought I could either, but I had to try to know.  I personally advocate anything that will make you work and get you moving, that is the important thing.  Honestly, any machine is what you personally make of it.  I have seen people diss the elliptical because it uses just your momentum to move, well not if you have it set on the right resistance to make it work for you.  I have also seen people on treadmills doing crossword puzzles and having full on conversations on their phones the whole time, so which is better? I do believe you need to find something that suits you and go with that, if it is not running at this time, try something else and maybe something down the road will turn you to running like it did for me.

Personally running is great for weight loss. I can honestly say I was dropping pounds a lot faster with running for a shorter amount of time then I do doing circuit training, general aerobics with videos (which I am limited to, due to lack of money and no gym membership.) I actually have to do about 90 some minutes of videos just to burn what I do on a treadmill in an hour which sucks. Ha Ha. Sadly, have no access to a treadmill where I'm at now and I don't trust the area outside where I'm living now to go running out there. (plus I wouldn't really know what my speed was. Heh.) But, if I could go running everyday I totally would.

I started doing the Couch to 5k in February.  I was never a runner.  I had never ran a mile with out walking in my life.  I had tried running in the past without a program with no success, probably because I didn't really have a goal set.  When I started C25k, I had pretty much spent the three previous years avoiding exercise.  Since I started C25k I have lost 15 lbs and I finish the program in two weeks and my 5k run is scheduled the week after that.  Running isn't my sole form of exercise though.  I also weight train 2-3 days a week and do a couple days of pilates too.  There have been days I dread going to the gym, but once I get there and complete my run, I feel so much better and so accomplished. 

For a beginner runner I suggest you find a running plan such as C25k to get started.  You don't want to push yourself too hard and get an injury.  I pushed myself too hard one week because I felt good and ended up with shin splints.  OUCH!  For speed I wouldn't worry about going too fast.  You should run fast enough that you can still talk in short sentences and not so fast that you can't catch your breath.  I only run about an 11 minute mile right now.  As you get stronger and train more you could add more speed.  If you are very over weight and not conditioned you probably won't run very fast, but even running an 11 minute mile pace like I do you burn 600/cals an hour.  I never had any success with the elliptical either.  Some people have great results, but not me.  Running has shown me the greatest impact as far as weight loss goes.  But I would also suggest to continue with strength training (if you're doing any now) on your off days (C25k you run 3 days a week) to help maintain maintain muscle and boost your metabolism.  I have seen great results with this routine along with eating a well balanced diet. 

There is a thread in the fitness section of the forums on learning to run again.  They have a plan very similar to C25k.  Try heading over there and checking it out.  Its great to have a support system!  Good Luck!!

Try Galloway!

I was an athlete in high school and college and I hated running.  I'm talking HATE.  I was MISERABLE anytime a coach would send us on a conditioning run.  Once I finished college, I stopped running (and exercising) altogether. 

After being completely out of shape and lots of weight gain, I decided that I needed to do something for exercise again.  A friend suggested that I run a marathon with him - I laughed in his face. 

After weeks of selling me on "Galloway" training, I agreed to go on one run with him to try it.  Galloway is a competitive runner who advocates intervals of running and walking to accomplish mileage goals.  I think the basic idea is that your muscles get rest with the walk breaks from the very beginning, allowing you to run farther with less effort. 

Well, I LOVED the interval training and finished the marathon (and lost 25lbs and 4 dress sizes to a size 3!).  It makes all the difference physically and MENTALLY with me for running.  When I'm tired and want to stop running, all I have to think to myself is "one more minute and I get to walk!" Then you walk and get to rest before you run again.  I did my first marathon using a 5:2 (walk:run) ratio.  This year I'm using a 2:1.

In sum, the KEY is to running is to make sure you ENJOY it.  Don't be competitive with anyone (or yourself!).  If you go out and go crazy and run til you die because you think that's what you're supposed to do, you will hate running, dread your next workout, and not get very far.  Start SLOW and concentrate on enjoying the run and DONT push too hard, just focus on completing a particular distance.  Eventually you will build up to running faster. 

My entire life I have had a love-hate relationship with running, but always at different times in my life.

For some reason I am incrediably inconsistant when it comes to running. Some days I am really feeling it and others I can barely walk fast.

When in grade school, I hated sprinting, but motivated myself and a friend to finish running the mile in under 10 min! That was amazing! Niether of us ever did that...okay, enough of memory lane.

In HS, I started running so I could go down a road and smoke cigs without my parents knowing lol...well, later I started running not to smoke, but bc running was such a release.

Years later, I gained a ton of weight (hense why I am on CC). I want to lose the weight, but a big factor as to why is bc I want to enjoy running, even jogging, again.  It really feels amazing and little by little I am getting there.

I used to love the eliptical, but now I get bored on it...but I kept a routine to get better at running:

First few weeks, I just walked fast on the treadmill on an incline and after a few weeks I raised it to a steep incline.

After a few weeks of that, I would raise to a steep incline for a few mins and lower it and start jogging.  After lowering the angel, it is SOO much easier to lift your legs.

Currently, I walk at 4 and jog at 5 and raise and lower b/w 3.5-7 for about 15 mins.  Sometimes I jog at 4.5+ for the same amount, but my heartrate races when I switch it up and I burn more.

Sorry for the life story, but I am loving running again, even though it's still taking time (when I started a couple months ago I was wearing knee supports and I don't have to wear them anymore :) ).

Try other exercises if you still don't like running: swimming, kickboxing, zumba, weightlifting, anything. Just have fun!

You runners really sound passionate about running!

Thanks for all the GREAT replies to the thread. So many tips and advice!  I appreciate them all and will try them out.  I want to start running.  I think that if nothing else, it will at least boost my adherence for chasing my kids in the yard