3.25 miles - on the treadmill without stopping. I started at 6mph but went up to 6.5 after the first mile. And It felt great!
I’ve gotten so much motivation reading other people’s stories and accomplishments on this subreddit so I figured I would share my own in hopes that it motivates someone else. This will probably be a long post 😄
I first started my journey at about 260 pounds back in September 2018 (with my heaviest being ~270 sometime before that). Jogging was the first method of weight loss I jumped to since this had worked for me before. About a decade ago in high school, I went from about 210 to 160 by jogging and eventually joining my school’s cross country team. This method had very quickly melted the fat off me then. But things couldn’t be that simple this time.
My immediate setback was that I couldn’t jog more than 5 minutes without suffering a crippling asthma attack that left me gasping for breath on the verge of passing out. I tried to power through this, but my will could only get me so far.
But I was determined and I figured that an inhaler would be the solution. So I made an appointment at one of those CVS Minute Clinics so I could ask for a prescription. Cost me over $100 for the appointment, but I got some vitals taken which I guess was good considering I hadn’t been to a doctor in years.
So inhaler obtained, I set back to conquer my running goals with new enthusiasm. Which ended up being very short lived. Inhaler worked amazingly for my lungs, but it turns out that I had another hurdle awaiting me. My knees did not like supporting the better part of my body weight crashing down on them repeatedly. By my second inhaler-assisted (short) jog, I had injured my knees to the point where I could hardly walk. I was jogging outside on pavement btw (didn’t really like treadmills at the time).
Yet I was still determined. So after a several day recovery I went back at it. And the cycle continued... for over two months. I would jog 1 or 2 days before injuring my knees. I would then deal with the several day painful recovery, then go right back and try again. Over and over.
If you’re thinking this was pretty stupid - it was. I was making no progress with either loosing weight or jogging (actually getting worse since the repeated injuries were just compiling). So I finally gave up.
Gave up jogging that is. I needed a low-impact cardio solution and a stationary bike seemed like my best bet. I got a membership to a gym near my work and this was the best decision I made. I started going to the gym 3-5 days a week, spending about 30 minutes on the bike messing around on my phone or watching TV. It honestly wasn’t the most strenuous cardio workout but the extra burned calories made a big difference. I went down to 230 over the course of a couple months.
I also started doing some strength training which I also saw amazing progress with in a short time-frame. If you are trying to loose weight - I highly encourage you to do some strength training as well. I was also doing 30-60 pushups a day. I don’t actually know the biology behind this, but I think having the extra fat is very useful for muscle growth. By 230 pounds I was also benching 230 pounds. And even though my weight was still in the obese category, the muscle definition was helping shape my body in a great way.
I ended up moving states in January, which had a negative impact on my weight loss goals. I was getting to know a new roommate, in a new area, and we ate out more than I would have liked. Getting a new gym membership was also not a top priority while I was adjusting. I ended up re-gaining several pounds up to 235 (I was just a bit under 230 when I moved).
Now, I had also left my car with family back in the state I had moved from while I considered the costs of shipping it to me. But this ended up being an opportunity. My new apartment is only about 2 miles away from my work. So instead of paying thousands of dollars to ship my car, I spent $250 on a bicycle.
I started biking everywhere. 25 miles a week just going to and from work, and that’s not including going out to the store, to meet up with people, etc. I’ve gone close to 100 miles in a week several times. This also proved to be a much better cardio workout than a stationary bike at the gym since I had to push myself through environmental situations like hills, wind, catching a green light, getting somewhere on time, etc. My apartment also has a small gym where I would keep up with benching and doing dumbbell curls, and use the stair master (I got the high score on that thing 😂).
March comes around and, while I’m making great progress biking (down to 220), I decide I should try to pickup jogging and/or an actual gym again. So I went for a couple jogs in my neighborhood, and it was a big difference from before. I didn’t need the inhaler anymore and I didn’t injure my knees even after several 1-mile jogs. But I still wasn’t having a great time. I could maybe push myself to go a mile without stopping, but it was hard and I was getting minor shin splints. So I got a gym membership.
Now I’m not a huge fan of the treadmill since I just tend to get bored without the changing scenery of outdoor exercise. But it was much easier on my legs than hitting hard, unmoving pavement. So I stuck with it going 1-2 miles each jog. The bigger gym also offered much more variety for strength training and energized me to push myself more in this aspect.
Fast forward to several days ago and I’m at the gym feeling good. I hop on the treadmill and just let myself relax and regulate my breathing. I hit 2 miles, which is usually my upper limit, but I’m feeling great and push on. As 2 miles gets closer to 3, I realize I’m close to running a 5k and this gives me all the motivation I needed to keep going to 3.25 miles (a little over 5 kilometers).
And I did it! I even felt like I could keep going but I decided I was satisfied going the equivalent of a 5k race for now. Besides being drenched in sweat, I wasn’t even very fatigued when I got off the treadmill. I did my regular weight workouts and left being super thrilled. And just to make sure it wasn’t a one-time fluke, I did another 3+ mile jog yesterday with similar results! Now I’m setting my sights on an actual 10k race.
I hope this helps anyone who may be struggling with some of the stuff I struggled with; or even if you got your own unique roadblocks. Just remember that there is always going to be a way over the top and even if it takes awhile, you can do it!
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