Welcome to your 30's and lets talk

So I have seen teen, 20's, 40's, 50's and beyond, but no 30's group.  So would anybody like to get something started?  Not sure where to begin hmmmm

I guess being in our thirties our metabolism has not hit a wall just yet, but it certainly isn't what it was in the 20's.  Don't you miss those days?  Anything you want and as long as you did maybe one sport in high school, then no worries.  Ohwell on to real life where nothing seems to be on schedule.

Let hear your thoughts.

While I was counting, I didn't eat out much at all, but when/if I did, I would use it as a treat.  I would eat very well the rest of the day so that I could stay close to my maitenance calories.  I really enjoy eating out and it does suck that CC can ruin that, so I try not to let it.  I would try to choose fairly healthy while still getting something I knew I would thoroughly enjoy (no point in wasting eating out calories on something that is mediocre), I would be VERY good about not eating bread before the meal, and practice portion control trying to eat up all of the relatively "healthy" parts, while enjoying smaller amounts of the higher cal stuff.  Salad is great, but always get it with dressing on the side, clear soups are always good fillers as well (miso soup would be a good choice at a sushi place to have before the rolls).  With sushi, stay away from rolls with "spicy sauce" (basically mayo), or deep fried things.  If you like sashimi, even better because that will limit the amount of rice you consume.  However.... IF you absolutely adore spicy tuna rolls... then by all means get one, and have a few pieces.  Mostly, try to ENJOY yourself while you are eating out, while being conscious of what you are eating without being obsessive.  

When I chose to lose weight this time around, I really wanted to be able to do it in a "real life" situation and NOT have to count for the rest of my life.  I wanted to be able to totally over indulge on special occassions without feeling guilty or sabotaging my maitenance weight.  I wanted to achieve balance!  Having a mother and a husband who eat pretty much what they want and maintain a very low weight made me sit back and evaluate HOW they actually do it, and the key, they eat when they are hungry or have a craving, satisfy themselves and move on.  While they both have crazy fast metabolisms, I knew that couldn't be the whole story, and while I do not think either of their eating patterns are the healthiest option (they both have been known to skip meals frequently and neither eats breakfast), they both have maintained a healthy weight at the low end for their heights their entire life.  Neither EVER obsesses about food/calories/weight, both choose "relatively" healthy options (both love veggies), and neither will deny themselves a craving (my mom LOVES her chocolate).  Other than that, neither will just eat for the sake of eating if they are not hungry, then they have no problem passing on food no matter what the situation.  I strive to be able to be like this, and while I do not think I will ever achieve the ease at which they deal with food, I hope that I am able to maintain my weight loss no matter what situation I am thrown into and what food I am surrounded by.  So far so good.... let hope a year from now I can still say it is going well.

I hadn't posted anything in a few days so I thought I would drop a line. Just a warning this might be a bit long. LOL

  This weekend and the beginning of this week have been hell.  Our 17th wedding anniversary was on Sunday.  We leave Saturday afternoon with assurance from the 15 year old that she can hold down the fort for 2 hours until my mother could get there.   She then proceeds to call me four times in 2 hours about absolutely nothing.  Well the last time wasn't nothing.  But, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle quickly over the phone.  My youngest son who is six has suddenly discovered he can torment his older sisters by dropping his pants and doing a "naked dance"  My father would have called it a nekked dance.  naked is when you don't have clothes on.  Nekked is when you don't have clothes on and your up to something LOL. 

Anyway.........

I had intended for us to go get lunch and then hit the museums and farmers market.  But, dear sweet hubby picked up the flu somewhere a couple of days before this and it was so hot he didn't feel like being out in the heat.  So we went to Barns and nobles, ate what my kids call Lupper at Chilli's.  (lupper is lunch and supper together.) then we went to see Hell boy II.  It was a good movie. 

On top of all of this, it is of course TTOTM (it was on our wedding day too.) but it was at the end of it so it was one of those start stop situations where you think its gone and the sucker sneaks back.  Which is always so much fun at the movies. 

We get  up the next morning, the day of our actual anniversary and hubby is coughing up a lung.  To top it off my throat is feeling scratchy.  So I had to cancel the tickets to the dinner theater.  I was quite sure no one wanted him hacking away as they ate or watched the musical.  I probably wouldn't have liked their version of Guys and Dolls anyway.  I mean no one can beat Marlon Brando in that movie. So,  We ended up going to all the museums we missed the day before.   The farmers market was closed though.  I saw a beautiful  Monte and a civil war cannon.  Oh gee what an anniversary.

So we get home, My mom has already left.  The house was in beatiful condition, my oldest telling me she kept it all nice and clean.  Only to find out that meant she forced the younger 5 to do all the work while she played on the computer.  (Shes going to pay for that.  I can feel it coming and in this house when the younger kids put their heads together for payback time you know its a doozy.)

So I wake up on Monday morning and my scratchy throat is now full force on fire and hubby is feeling better. other than a really bad cough he is good to go.  My  head has been pounding for four days.  I feel like Ive been run over by a mac truck and to top it off 5 of the 6 kids are sick.  Which ones?  THe  younger ones.  (which is why the payback hasn't happened yet) 

Do you know what its like to have the flu, I mean coughing achy fever, someone just shoot me now and put me out of my misery please flu in the middle of 100 degree weather with 85% humidity?   If you do add 5 sick kids to it and a teenager who claims to be sick too but looks non the worse for wear and spends all day chatting with her friends on IM or talking on her phone.  Im about to throw away that  "Go" phone and tell her it had to "go" bye bye.  LOL

So anyway, with all of that going on, my diet is completely missing.  Ive been living on White tea and Ramon chicken noodles during the day and  ice coffees with Balies mint chocolate Irish Cream  after dark.  Im hoping Ill either get so plastered I won't notice how bad I feel or it will work like a hot toddy and let me sweat this crap out.  So far there has been a lot of sweating it out and very little plastered.  Ive about decided that Im one of those people who will never know what drunk feels like.  Oh well.

So thats my last few days in a nut shell.  Maybe when its all said and done I will have lost like 10 lbs and it won't come back.  Yeah right, like I would get that lucky.

Hi girls, how you all doing? I see we lost a 30 something to another site on counting calories. I wish her nothing but the best of luck. Ladykelien, wow.... You didn't miss a beat did you.. Congrats on the 17 years of marriage.. What a blessing. I'm so happy for you... Long few days, and I hope you and your kiddo's get to feeling better.. WOW! let me know about the pay back.. That young lady is going to get it. I love it when my two little ones team up on my oldest. It's not a pretty site.. SO let me know what they do.  The funny thing about teens and little ones... The teen thinks they are so grown, and then you have the little one.. Always knocking them down to there level.. With... " You don't want mama to know that now do you." My baby girls has that down pat.

Well,  I 've been fighting this head ache for the past 2 days. It's been coming on for a week know.. I feel it coming, and then it past. I guess I have some sinus problems, because all at once.. This mega head ache hit me. My girl friend on top of all my best friends are doing a 31 days of clean eating next month, and wants me to join her. Like I really want to be meat free on my 31st brithday next month.  She was like.. Lose 20 pounds in 31 days eating nothing but veggies and raw foods. Nothing cooked.. I give it a week before they all give up. Yeah I know... A friend with very little faith. These are the girls who will do the hard eating programs to lose the weight, but want pick up a gym back and head to the gym to save there life.

I asked my friend D was she going to do it. Then she made me laugh so hard. She said to me.. I look at the table funny if there isn't any meat on that sucker... When I go fully rabbit... I will let you know, but until then.. Give me some damn meat please.  I told her.. You lose up to 20 pounds, and she comes with the.. That's what they all say up to, meaning.. You are never going to lose it, and if you do lose it.. Give the red line a call at the white house, because for once.. Some one lost what the box or program said. LOL WEIGHT!

I can bust a gut thinking about the up to 20 pounds..  When ever I see those words I just say.. Yeah right... You find it hard to believe, and then when you see it. You think.. Okay. What photo shop programs did they just use to make this woman look this good.. WOW! They air brushed her... I'm just blah-blah-blahing.. I need a break.... Not from the word life style change, but a break from stressing...

I mean.. You get 1200 calories in one day. You push yourself to get 1400 in, because you are eating under for what you do daily. You have a relaxed day, and on the day you need to be eating less food.. You eat over 1800 caloires, but the weight is still doing good.. You don't have any weight gain. So that's a good treat for you, but you keep on pushing harder and harder to lose the damn weight. I mean really.. DO we damn pears have this bottom heavy hang up or what.. I mean... EVERYWHERE you drop with NO PROBLEM, and then here comes the thighs and the BUTT.. I'm this close to telling my trainer she is FULL OF CRAP... I won't.. I'm still losing weight. Sorry girls... I needed to rant a little before I leave... I mean really... Belly gone.. Check.. Boobs gone, didn't want to lose them, but check.. Double chin... Check Check, and then you got the arms.. Lose that and gain some back in muscle. I can deal with that. Thighs and A** are they really going to part ways with me.. NO! We are just going to tone them and make them a better part of your body she said..... WHAT!

Sorry again girls. :( Rough week in since Monday..  

Lynnhaslost Sorry to hear about the headache.  Those can be really tough.   I know what you and your friend mean about no meat.  I can do with or without it.  But, hubby is a steak and potatos man.  He ordered a mushroom swiss burger while we were at chillis and told the waitress to hold the rabbit food.  She said, "Ah your one of those guys who won't eat your foods food."  I loved that line.

Those kinds of diets are stupid and ultimatly will kill you.   I don't know how many diets my father tried and ultimatly he gained the weight back every time.  I know we did a 10 day fast, (he was a preacher so that was more spiritual than diet but he liked the "diet" side effects) Atkins, (which is what i personally think did his heart in) slim fast,  And then there was some program when I was a teenager that he did as a trial where he had all these pills he was suppose to take.  It included a very small chocolate waifer that he could have every day as his "treat"   The only diet he ever went on that ever worked, was when he worked for FMC.  The whole plant went on a diet.  They had this huge competition.  Daddy counted his calories and lost 40 lbs in 6 months.  He came in 3rd.   But, the plant had a huge lay off shortly there after and he gained it all back and then some.

I do occasionally do a fast myself but its never longer than three days and its always for spiritual reasons.   Daddy did it to "have a close and personnal relationship with his savor"  I do it while im on a vision quest with my totom animal.  LOL

I think Ive figured out how they are getting even.   Shes the only one not really sick right now.  So when something needs cleaned up shes the one that has to do it.   You should see the piles of capri sun containers and used tissue all over the living room.  If she can talk like a normal person and her only complaint is the same "my stomach hurts" complaint I have heard her whole life, then she is going to clean the livingroom today.  Which will be so much fun.   If her sick 11 year old brother can make a half hearted attempt at it.  Then she can actually complete the job. 

Then there is of course the whole, Sissy Im thirsty, sissy Im hungry, sissy I don't want that comments that have been driving her crazy for the last two days.  LOL.     But the real pay back will come from my 14 year old.  That one has a dark streak about her.  She seems so nice and sweet till you tick her off.  But, if you want to know what she ultimatly does, you will have to wait for months.  She plans things very slowly. 

The last time Brit ticked her off, she ended up waiting until we painted their bedroom then some how or another "missed" her sisters favorite dress, book and CD when cleaning out the room.  Then she spilled paint all over it and did the whole, "oopsy look how clutsy I am" routine.   When I asked  her why she did it, because Brit was nearly in tears.  She started ticking off the list of things brit had done over the last year that she was waiting to get her for.   So I can see this one bringing a doozy but not for a good 6 months.  LOL  She truely believes in the saying that revenge is best served cold.  LOL

Those two are only 14 months apart.  They love each other dearly, they even have their own language.  They communicate with facial expressions and hand gestures that none of the rest of us understand.  But, that doesn't stop Neva.  When brit is getting to big for her britches, Neva will bring her down a peg or two.  Which works for me.  It means I don't have to do it.  LOL

I have been really pushing myself this week.  I've been exercising twice a day (morning and evening instead of just mornings) and walking my dog.  I have managed to lose a total of 8 pounds since I started, and I'm assuming it's the exercise, cause I know my calorie counts have not been where they should.  I also know this won't last.  I've drastically cut my calorie count from what I was before (I'm sure I was eating double or more what I am now), and that has a lot to do with what I'm losing.  I don't see a difference in my body or clothes, but I haven't measured inches (in the middle of moving, tape measurer is packed somewhere).  This sight and the support groups have really been helpful too.

wbbuff Are you really trying to diet and move at the same time?   I wish you all the luck in the world.  I think I would just blow my brains out and be done with it.  LOL   Seriously.  We use to move a lot.  I mean a lot.  You would have thought I was an army brat.  Between K grade and graduation, I moved 9 times and went to 7 different schools.  Ive moved several times since getting married.  I hate moving.   The only good thing about moving is you get to see new places.  

Seriously, I bow before you.  6 kids is nothing compared to that.  :)   I wish you luck.   Just remember that not everything that seems like a healthy choice is a healthy choice.  When eating fast food for those three days your kitchen is still packed up, might I suggest Wendy's over the rest.   Their southwest salad is very filling and pretty low cal if you don't eat the chips or the dressing.  Since it has their chilli on top it doesn't need dressing anyway.    That with a baked potato is a great meal. 

Im sure you can handle it though.  Im not sure I could but, I have personal issues and bad flashbacks to parental fights over how many books a person should actually put into a box.  LOL

Ladykelien my moving situation is interesting.  I'm working about 45 minutes from where I live this summer, so I'm staying with my parents during the week and then moving things into the house on the weekends when I'm on my side of town.  This weekend was all the furniture and anything else left in the house.  Thank goodness my boyfriend and his friends moved all that, although, I think I would have been ok.  I've been building muscle in my arms   I barely ate anything during the day.  Just some Fiber One bars and 100 calorie packs of stuff.  All my calories came at night because I ate out twice this weekend (dinner theatre to see one of my students on Saturday and brother's birthday dinner on Sunday).  It was nice to actually eat a filling dinner for once because I never have calories left over when dinner hits.

Just wanted to share with everyone here that I had a great surprise last thursday....

I stepped on a scale... yes it was one of my infamopus scale showdowns where I stress and debate whether I should do it, but I figured, what the heck lets just see.  Now, this was the first time I had stepped on a scale since around Easter.  So, I get ready to step on, I have estimating my weight to be around 138 lbs (63kg) or so (maybe +/- 2 lbs) thinking I probably lost maybe a couple kilo's since Easter because I haven't really been trying.  Now the friends scale I stepped on I know weighs a bit on the low side anyway, so I am expecting somewhere in the low 60 kgs (maybe around 133/134 lbs), and you will never guess what the scale said, I almost choked!  It said i weigh 57 kgs!!!   57kg??? I was astonished, even if it is weighing me 2 kg light (which is about the max it could be since I weighed my 2.5 year old on it and it said she weighed 11 kilos, and I know she is ~12.5 kilos).  57 kg?  So assuming its 2 kg light, that still means I am 59 kg!  Which converted to pounds is just under 130 lbs... I am in the 120's?  Really?  me?  I have only ever seen this weight two other times in my life... once when I was in the best shape ever in my mid 20's (working out 2+ hours a day) and the other when i was probably like 12! 

I am still in shock that I actually weigh close to 129 lbs, thats almost 10 pounds lighter than I thouht I was!  I have no idea how I dropped 10+ pounds without even trying, I really have been munching and eating pretty much when I feel like it, and while i try to make healthy choices, I definitely don't deny myself anything. 

So, I just wanted to share my revelation with you guys, I was so astounded.  I guess the way I look at it is that my body should find a happy place and stop losing eventually and I just need to pay attention to my hunger.  Hmmm... I am hungry right now, hehe, time to go find something to eat, I think I have an apple in my desk drawer.

Ladykelien~ Those kids are getting her good with the sickie huh. Well, she needs to help out. My mom always say... Helping is good for the soul. Maybe next time she will be a good big sister and help the little ones out more often. My teen loves to sit on the phone and talk, talk, talk.. Blah, Blah, Blah and I know what you mean about the Go phone.. That sucker can go Bye Bye... So long, and all this texting. I'm still learning how to read the codes.. LOL I know they still have some more pay back for her. This isn't the good stuff. They are sick right now, and they need there sissy. I'm going to love the pay back part of it. By the way. The diet issue.. My girlfriend who started this 31days cleaning eat raw steamed ect.... She was a wagon jumper this weekend. I'm so glad I didn't jump into that one..

Wbbuff~ You are doing a good job. Moving and on a watching your weight at the same time. I think I would have tossed in the towel and start all over.. Good for you... I know you aren't missing any of your calories. I miss a few meals from time to time during my running like a mad man days.. Then I notice.. I do make up for them later on during the evening. I try my best not to go off and miss a meal, but I'm always making up for it later.. Now I'm the queen of protein shakes and grabing healthy things as I run out the door. Not only that.. Trying to set the clock 30 mins early so I can get a good meal in.. I mean it's funny when your boyfriend jokes about programing a watch to beep every time you need to eat to remind you. Yeah. I can really say.. I that bad.. Missing meals. Now.... I have an quick easy fix. Morning I get a good breakfast in. Lunch.. If I'm not feeling heavy... I grab something light. Dinner... It's what ever I feel like.. Normally I feel heavy again. So It's my salad and grilled chicken and maybe some cut up fruit after with a 60 cal yogurt.. Great plan I must say.

Manta~ Congrats to your lost. I can wait to see the 140 on my scale. I got a little ways to go. Right now I'm trying to relax and get back into weight lifting and toning my body. So this month. I'm not really going to focus on losing weight. I'm just working on keeping my mind focus on toning, and getting more muscle weight. You know muscle burns 28 calories per pounds of muscle, and 2 calories per pound of fat. So what looks better. I think getting back into weight lifting hard core has really helped me lose the bulk of my weight. I mean.. I can't get rid of the BIG THIGHS... So If I can't slim them down as much as I want.. Why not weight train those suckers heavy to stop the giggle and get the wiggle out.. :) I've seen them come down a lot more using weight training. I must say. I do love weight training.. Makes the pure tough girl come out.. LOL

You all take care, as you can see.. I had one sunday full of fun and relaxing. I didn't push any workouts in. We just watched T.V. and then later on went for a ride in the hills.. It was nice.. Chat you all later.. Congrats again Manta

Original Post by lynnhaslost:

Hi girls, how you all doing?

hello lynn,

doing pretty well, just wished i had more holiday (it was a short two weeks!) now when there is a nice, but not too hot summery weather.

losing slowly but surely, and feeling more confident about my ability to overcome binges, cravings and overeating tendencies:)

wbbuff  Thats not moving thats re arranging in a new location.  LOL   I wish I had gotten to do that more often.  Most of my moves were two or three hours away if not further.   My advice, enjoy it and don't take anything with you that you don't just absolutely love, or have to have.   Its a great time for junk reallocation.  LOL

Manta thats incredible  I am so jealous.  I would just be happy to finally lose the first 10 lbs. 

Lynnhaslost  Im glad you didn't jump on that wagon with her too.  Things like that rarely work.  Anytime you deprive yourself your going to end up jumping off the wagon.   I figured the best way for me to handle it was to not get on the wagon in the first place.  LOL  To be honest, since 50 percent of my calories before I started trying to lose weight came from mt Dew and chocolate, it hasn't been hard to change my eating habits.  I still eat what I want to eat.  I just don't drink the mt dew anymore and changed my chocolate balverian cream cake in for  banana split ice cream sandwiches.  Ive never had problems eating just one of anything.  So, I treat myself with things I like that are lower cal than the things I use to and thats it.  Makes me happy, makes me healthier and keeps me very much on the right path even if Im walking that path instead of riding on a wagon.

Ka2007~ You wished you had more holiday's. I don't care for holidays right now. That's my down fall. You know.. A holiday come in... You have to cook for a few of them yourself, and you always have to taste this, and taste that. I need a holiday break. A holiday comes in... HELLO 2.5 pounds or maybe even 3 pounds I don't need... LOL.. That weight is going to leap off before you know it. You just have to find that unline of balance with you and your cravings.. I have to address each craving sometimes. I get that need for a binge, and I hurry up and address the issue in hand.. I'm I pissed off at someone. Like my boyfriend. Scared alone upset... Or am I just borded out of my mind.. 9 times out of 10.. I'm borded out of my mind and pissed at my boyfriend. When I'm pissed at him.. I lay on the floor and I do crunches and bitch. If I'm still upset.. Hey... I do squats and I bitch some more. If I'm still pissed off at him.. I get a nice cold glass of water and I open up a book and I read, oh and I can't forget the bag of carrots nexts to me replacement for my chips I normally have.. LOL. I do what I got to do... Stay grounded, and know what you want. :)

Ladykelien~ Yeah I know all about that. I try to go and have what I want, and get it out of the way from time to time.. I mean.. I still have chips, but I don't go and get the whole damn bag, a 25 cents bag of chips and I'm just fine... I do love cookies, and I had both last night cookies and chips. I'm good until wednesday. I have these things planned, so it works out great. I use to go nuts about candy, but every blue mood I want some candy.. Butter Fingers Yummie.. I got to have it. Every so many months now.. Can you believe that... I have to be proud about that. The only thing I don't get is my friend, but I can't go on and on about what she has done.. I've done those things too... Cabbage Soup diet. I lost every friend in the world for as long as I was on it.. Let me tell you this. It's not worth the weight loss or the smells.. Best thing to do when it comes to losing weight is.. Cut back what you have too much of, and 75% of my weight gain came from not controlling, or making myself stop when I knew I just ate something good 10 to 14 mins ago.

ladykelien thanks, just stick to it and the pounds will start to come off, I was amazed in the beginning when I was being strict about staying within my calorie range (1300-1500) at how quickly the weight dropped off.  Now I would say its the running that is burning off the extra cals because I am certainly not counting cals religiously like before and most days I would say I get close to 2000 (more on the day I do my long run, I just like to eat and eat that day since I burn about 1000+ cals on that run).  According to cc, sedentary I burn 1630 cals, so when I add in my runs, I am usually burning between 1900-2100 cals (except on my long run day).

So I just received the Rockin Body DVD pack that I ordered.  Already I know I can't do this workout if I'm going to walk my dog afterwards.  My legs are killing me.   I'll have to stick to the lower impact aerobics if I want to walk my dog afterwards.  It's ok, she doesn't need to be walked everyday.  She's usually so exhausted after our walks I feel so bad.

I've noticed, now that I'm hitting my 3rd week of watching my calories and exercising, that exercising is easier and so is watching what I eat.  I'm not hungry all the time which is good.  I'm finally able to balance my meals pretty well.  Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this up once my school hours start up again.

Manta, Ive been trying to jog.  It isn't easy.  Even when I was skinny I was always uhmmmm top heavy.  So running in highschool was an exercise in not getting a black eye and keeping my bra strap from breaking.  

Now they have good sports bras that work well so Im not fighting those things anymore, but this flu bug Bear gave me on our anniversary is kicking my butt.  I have a near constant cough right now.   So I have reverted back to walking.  I spent an hour out walking today.  I don't have a clue how many calories I burned.  No where on here can I find walking on hills.  Not just walking up hill.  I go up and down those hills.  Because of the hills and the fact, I have a fairly short stride, I can only do about 2 miles an hour walking.  But, thanks to the jogging/walking I did before I got sick, I can now take the big hill.  The hill itself is about a 1/4 mile long at about a 70 degree incline.  Its a tough hill.  Ive lived here off and on for the last 12 years and this is the first time I have ever been able to climb it without stopping so things are looking up there at least.

I hope this cough goes away soon so I can get back to the jogging.  I was actually enjoying it even if my knees did bother me a bit the next day.  But, if I go based upon the last time I had a cough this bad,  It will last several months.   I started coughing like this around Christmas of 2002 and didn't stop until Easter of 2003.  I just hope it doesn't hang on that long this time.  I don't think I could handle it.

You don't need to be jogging to lose, the walking you are doing is great, and you can lose quite effectively just by being very careful with your calorie intake.  I certainly wasn't burning anywhere close to what I am burning now when I started and just by watching the cals, the pounds dropped off.  I hope you get better soon, I HATE being sick!  It seems my little one is always bringing home  a new bug to pass on to me from daycare.  I had a bit of a stuffy nose right now as a matter of fact.... I find just trying to continue to be active helps me get through the sickies. 

wbbuff, yeah I noticed that as well, about 3-4 weeks in, it started becoming MUCHh easier.  The first week of counting for me was awful, I was so hungry the whole time and really struggling with my will power to not eat unhealthy, high cal options.  Then I got into a groove for quite a few months, hit a few bumps along the way, but have been pretty good at sticking to the healthy eating.

i second that. walking daily, having lost over 60 lbs, and not jogging at all

I tried to do jogging, but it hurts the front of my shins.  I'm not sure why, so I stick to walking.  Hopefully the new dance workout programs will help so I can actually start jogging at some point.

wbbuff, shin splints are quite common when you fist start running.  One thing that really helps is to get a good pair fo running shoes that are designed to withstand the nuances of your gait (i.e. whether you over pronate, under pronate, are neutral).  This made a HUGE difference in the shin pain I was feeling.  Also, you need to ease into running slowly, you body needs time to adjust to the impact.  If you want to start running, I would suggest going and getting yourself fitted at a dedicated running store (not a big chain store) for shoes and use those shoes ONLY for walking/running.  Then start adding in short running intervals into your walking and slowly start extending the running/ decreasing the walking.  Or, alternatively, you could follow a learn to run program like Couch to 5K or something similar. 

Running is all about not trying to do too much too quickly.  You can expect a bit of soreness when you start (not all out pain, but the soreness you get that lets you know you pushed your body), but that will get better with time just like with any other exercise.  I went from sitting on my fat arse on the couch to running a 5K distance in 8 weeks, and in less than a year am able to run a half marathon (and have lost over 35 lbs in the process), BUT I built it up SLOWLY.  Getting the right shoes was integral to my success.  With that said, running is definitely not for everyone, and not essential to losing weight.  When it comes to weight loss, your diet is really the most important tool in losing!

Original Post by manta515:

wbbuff, shin splints are quite common when you fist start running.  One thing that really helps is to get a good pair fo running shoes that are designed to withstand the nuances of your gait (i.e. whether you over pronate, under pronate, are neutral).  This made a HUGE difference in the shin pain I was feeling.  Also, you need to ease into running slowly, you body needs time to adjust to the impact.  If you want to start running, I would suggest going and getting yourself fitted at a dedicated running store (not a big chain store) for shoes and use those shoes ONLY for walking/running.  Then start adding in short running intervals into your walking and slowly start extending the running/ decreasing the walking.  Or, alternatively, you could follow a learn to run program like Couch to 5K or something similar. 

 

Can I use the same sneakers for running/walking and my aerobics?  I'm a little short on cash at the moment, but I need to look into new shoes anyway.