35 lbs down and more to go!

[Steve]

It really depends. You're right, the weight adds a ton of impact forces when you start running... but I've seen many heavy people do so without harm. Personally I prefer to see them utilize low/no impact machines to start with.

Also, speed walking is fine too. Not all walking is created equal.

 

[Shasta]

Steve...
Should someone whose heavy even attemp jogging? Barring to health reason??

Personally I think jogging when you are heavy is terrible on your joints and back. However even when I'm at 165 I like to get my stride on now and again.
The most important thing is to take care of your joints and be prepared. Wear the proper shoes/socks, stretch, good joint-and-muscle friendly diet, etc.

 

[wildhorses]

Good job so far! I know how frustrating plateaus can be!

Perhaps try another option for exercise such as bike riding, cardio videos, workout classes at a gym, swimming etc.

If you think you're ready to move up from walking to jogging and if it's something you're interested in, first of all talk to your doctor to make sure she thinks it's safe for you.

Thirty seconds is a perfect place to start! There's no need to immediately start jogging a mile or two. Try jogging for thirty seconds, say three times throughout your walk. It will feel horrible at first, but eventually your body will adjust and get used to it. After a week or two of that, try jogging five times. Then 7 times, then 10 times, and so on. Don't push yourself so hard that you hurt yourself, but constantly make it just slightly harder for yourself. Once you're able to jog 10 short times throughout your walk, move on to alternating walking for one block and jogging for the next.

Goals are achievable if you break them down into tiny little parts. I started on a treadmill running for a minute and walking for a minute for twenty minutes, and I felt close to death near the end of that. A year later, I can comfortably run 5 miles. You can do it!

 

[wildhorses]

Shasta, I agree with you about making sure to take extra care of yourself if you're doing anything high-impact with extra body weight. I don't think running is out of the question, but it needs to be accompanied with lots and lots of walking and stretching.

 

[Shasta]

Exactly! I think you had the right idea in mind with the no/low impact machines as well.

Back when I had free gym membership in college (so many wasted opportunities!) I preferred spinning to any jogging, especially on treadmills.

 

[KaraCooks]

I just wanted to throw my $0.02 in about exercise:

I started running when I was in the mid-170s. Now I'm a little taller than you are (about 3") but not by much. I was careful, I didn't leap right into it. I used the Couch to 5k program, which starts you off with 60 secs of running at a time, interspersed with brisk walking. IMO, as long as you're reasonably healthy and don't already have joint issues, you should try it. The worst that can happen is that you find that it isn't working for you and you go back to walking.

But as Steve said, there's more than one way to walk as well. Pumping your arms, changing your stride, etc ... walking is more than just strolling. You can do all kinds of things to make it work for you. And there are lots of other exercises you can do as well. Be sure and read the posts in the exercise area that are sticky'd to the top. There's good information on weight lifting and body weight exercises that you can do that will help raise the intensity of your workouts w/out necessarily raising the impact on your joints.

I will also agree with Steve that food is the most important part of losing weight. It was pretty easy for me to lose just by cutting back when I first started. But after a while I really had to pay attention to what I was eating.

I'm dealing with that right now, in fact. I am trying to move out of maintenance and back into moving and I find I have to be MUCH stricter with my food - not just how much, but what. Before a few slips each week wasn't any big deal. Now ... it can make a difference.