Can't shift the gut.

[Stu R]

Stop the booze, or cut right back.
Get your diet in check, low carb is good but you still want to be eating clean food, little and often.
lots of exercise and weights.
good sleep.

[Bill]

Eat less, do more. The booze contains easily accessible calories that your body will consume in preference to fat so that's an obvious place to start.

I found that realising that each glass of wine takes 2 miles to run off really focussed my mind.

[KH]

Good article, thanks for the link.

Stopped drinking last night for the first time in 30 years. Had a great night's sleep and now off to the running shop.

[Ken Sington]

Becoming overweight doesn't happen overnight, so why do people expect instant miracles when they try to lose it? 2lbs a week is good progress, but at the end of the day what matters the most is eating/drinking less/moving more.

[KH]

UPDATE:

I'm not fishing for praise but feel a duty to report back.

Running Shoes now on board - great tip. Thanks.

10 min jog at Old Lady speed = gasping for breath after one minute which improved slightly, thighs burning, mouth bone dry,eyes watering. Legs literally gave way when I stopped and ached liked crazy.

5 mins rest. Breathing recovered after 2 mins.

10 min jog back. Not gasping for breath but couldn't talk. Legs like hot pokers.


Breathing all over the place. Any tips?

Not looking forward to tomorrow.

[Team 17]

You will not get to your target without using some form of weight training.

HTH.

[Carrot]

KH said:

UPDATE:

I'm not fishing for praise but feel a duty to report back.

Running Shoes now on board - great tip. Thanks.

10 min jog at Old Lady speed = gasping for breath after one minute which improved slightly, thighs burning, mouth bone dry,eyes watering. Legs literally gave way when I stopped and ached liked crazy.

5 mins rest. Breathing recovered after 2 mins.

10 min jog back. Not gasping for breath but couldn't talk. Legs like hot pokers.


Breathing all over the place. Any tips?

Not looking forward to tomorrow.

I started running last Monday.

First time out, could barely run for more than 4 minutes without similar problems to you (although I was not at the leg giving way point)

Now only after 4 x 2 mile runs, I can run for at least 10 - 15 minutes without stopping, and I am averaging 11minutes per mile according to endomondo.

It gets easier VERY quickly.

[southendpier]

KH said:

UPDATE:

I'm not fishing for praise but feel a duty to report back.

Running Shoes now on board - great tip. Thanks.

10 min jog at Old Lady speed = gasping for breath after one minute which improved slightly, thighs burning, mouth bone dry,eyes watering. Legs literally gave way when I stopped and ached liked crazy.

5 mins rest. Breathing recovered after 2 mins.

10 min jog back. Not gasping for breath but couldn't talk. Legs like hot pokers.


Breathing all over the place. Any tips?

Not looking forward to tomorrow.

Careful, your muscle/tendons might not like you and you can get inflamation etc could stop you running for weeks. You need to listen to your body. It will hurt when you start - there is a reason. Rest days for runners are very important. Perhaps go for a 30 min quick walk instead. You'll still be burning calaries but with less impact. Then run the day after.

[Animal]

KH said:

UPDATE:

I'm not fishing for praise but feel a duty to report back.

Running Shoes now on board - great tip. Thanks.

10 min jog at Old Lady speed = gasping for breath after one minute which improved slightly, thighs burning, mouth bone dry,eyes watering. Legs literally gave way when I stopped and ached liked crazy.

5 mins rest. Breathing recovered after 2 mins.

10 min jog back. Not gasping for breath but couldn't talk. Legs like hot pokers.


Breathing all over the place. Any tips?

Not looking forward to tomorrow.

It sounds as though your second jog was (relatively speaking) easier than the first? If so (and at the risk of asking the obvious), are you warming up beforehand? Whenever I've gone for a run - and a long run for me is 40 mins - the first 5-6 mins are the hardest, after which I feel as though I've reached an 'operating level' at which I can keep going almost indefinitely. I can't of course, and I do feel tired even then, but it's bearable.

[KH]

Just a 5-min walk to the running path to warm up. No stretching or anything.

On the breathing front, does that get easier? I Hate that gasping for air feeling as I'm running.

Edited by KH on Monday 24th January 13:56

[pacman1]

KH said:

Just a 5-min walk to the running path to warm up. No stretching or anything.

Many people use a 10 min jog as a warm up prior to other sporting activities. The 5 minute walk you are doing prior to the jog should be fine.
I'm pleased you got yourself kitted out with some proper shoes. If you have any blister issues it well worth buying a pair of 1000 mile socks. They are double lined such that the two surfaces of the sock take all the rubbing, not your skin and the shoe. Good luck, and don't try too hard just yet, avoid pulling any muscles. Keep us updated!

[Animal]

KH said:

Just a 5-min walk to the running path to warm up. No stretching or anything.

On the breathing front, does that get easier? I Hate that gasping for air feeling as I'm running.

Edited by KH on Monday 24th January 13:56

I get into a rhythm when I'm running/jogging/staggering, which is usually 3 strides breathing in and 2 strides out. That said, if I'm running outside and have things to look at I find that my breathing pretty much takes care of itself.

As you get fitter yes, your breathing will get easier: you'll be able to finish a certain run in less time, or with fewer stops, or less tired - or all three.

[ShadownINja]

Just keep doing it, KH. Your physiology will change as your body thinks, "ste! The owner's started doing this daft running thing!" It will become easier.

[Carrot]

ShadownINja said:

Just keep doing it, KH. Your physiology will change as your body thinks, "ste! The owner's started doing this daft running thing!" It will become easier.

Sums it up for me!

[Stevenj214]

KH said:

UPDATE:

I'm not fishing for praise but feel a duty to report back.

Running Shoes now on board - great tip. Thanks.

10 min jog at Old Lady speed = gasping for breath after one minute which improved slightly, thighs burning, mouth bone dry,eyes watering. Legs literally gave way when I stopped and ached liked crazy.

5 mins rest. Breathing recovered after 2 mins.

10 min jog back. Not gasping for breath but couldn't talk. Legs like hot pokers.


Breathing all over the place. Any tips?

Not looking forward to tomorrow.

How about trying 1 min jog, 1 min walk, 1 min walk, 1 min jog for a total of 15minutes one way. Have your 5 min break. Then do the same on the way back.

All you have to do is find your current level, then you can build on it.

[KH]

Thanks chaps.
Steven, I like the sound of that.

[mrh1275]

buy a jump rope

buy a heavy punch bag

then try this

jump rope :1 min then rest 30 seconds repeat for 20 mins
alternate days : do the same thing but punch the heavy bag

this is all you need !

but you must train with high intensity

Edited by mrh1275 on Wednesday 26th January 23:36

also get a chin up bar

can you do pull ups ?

if not just try 1 with your knees on a chair,and work your way up to doing sets of 10-12

Edited by mrh1275 on Wednesday 26th January 23:38

[Vladikar]

One thing I feel the need to mention is that although you seem to be doing a great job on the new start.

You need to make sure that when you are jogging/running that you are not exerting yourself to a point where you are gasping after 3 minutes. You will burn more fat and drop the bad weight if you stay in the aerobic 'fat burning zone'.



General information:

Aerobic - Exercise with oxygen
Anaerobic - Exercise without readily availabe oxygen (gasping and pushing limits hard).

I would encourage jogging for extended periods of time (as opposed to the suggested 15-20 mins run) whereby you are gasping but could run faster. E.g about 75% max ~

The reason being is because in this zone your fat stores will be used up and it will drop off. When you become more comfortable with running and eventually it becomes easier, then up the ante a little.

I would have a quick look at this brief explanation and I would recommend looking up 'fat burning zone exercise'.

http://www.weightlossforall.com/aerobic.htm

Hope this helps buddy, I don't mean to try and piss on everyones pillows here but there is a generalisation out there that if you run to a point of collapse, you burn most fat which is incorrect.

Good luck!

[deckster]

Vladikar said:

You need to make sure that when you are jogging/running that you are not exerting yourself to a point where you are gasping after 3 minutes. You will burn more fat and drop the bad weight if you stay in the aerobic 'fat burning zone'.

Can. Of. Worms. Current thinking doesn't agree with you, and neither does the page you linked to if you actually read it.

At the end of the day it's just calories in vs calories out, and whether you burn fat directly during exercise, or later on as you've raised your metabolism and also need to replace the carbs that you burnt during high-impact exercise, isn't important. Interval training is generally accepted as the best compromise between expending energy quickly, and being able to keep it up for long enough to burn enough - from that point of view, the previous recommendation to run a minute, walk a minute is spot on. Added to which is the very real, practical and psychological issue of doing 30 minutes interval training vs an hour of lower impact to burn the same number of calories. I know which I'd rather do.

[davido140]

deckster said:

Vladikar said:

You need to make sure that when you are jogging/running that you are not exerting yourself to a point where you are gasping after 3 minutes. You will burn more fat and drop the bad weight if you stay in the aerobic 'fat burning zone'.

Can. Of. Worms. Current thinking doesn't agree with you, and neither does the page you linked to if you actually read it.

At the end of the day it's just calories in vs calories out, and whether you burn fat directly during exercise, or later on as you've raised your metabolism and also need to replace the carbs that you burnt during high-impact exercise, isn't important. Interval training is generally accepted as the best compromise between expending energy quickly, and being able to keep it up for long enough to burn enough - from that point of view, the previous recommendation to run a minute, walk a minute is spot on. Added to which is the very real, practical and psychological issue of doing 30 minutes interval training vs an hour of lower impact to burn the same number of calories. I know which I'd rather do.

I've been alternating the last couple of weeks (back in training after a 6 month beer and pie break).

2 days a week of intervals in the gym, and 2-3 runs a week (2 short 1 long) and normal jogging pace.

Seems to work brilliantly, feeling fantastic after only a few weeks and although I hadnt hit rock bottom I can definitely feel my fitness coming back and noticing a few lbs dropping off the waist already.

I was told recently that when interval training, at the end of a session, if you're not gasping for breath, nearing your peak heart rate (rough guide 220 minus your age, although it differs a bit depending on how lardy/fit you might be) and feeling like you might be sick, you're not doing it right!

Of course, if you go to a leisurely, not particularly hard-core gym like mine and are gasping away on the cross trainer and then throw up in the bin you do get some funny looks! (havent chucked up in gym yet, although came close once!)

Edited by davido140 on Thursday 27th January 11:54