I am overweight and I want to start running, what should I do?

Question

I am 18, 5'4, 200lbs. I am away at college and I want to lose weight. What should I do to get started (like how far should I run, for how long, etc.)
I already walk about 1-2 miles a day without getting out of breath so I think I can skip the walking stage and just start to jog or run. I also workout because I am on 2 sport teams in college but we don't do that much running just suicides if we do anything.

Answer 1

Try this
week 1 - walk 30 min.
week 2 - jog 1 min, walk 4 min repeat 6 times
week 3 - jog 2 min, walk 4 min repeat 5 times
week 4 - jog 3 min, walk 3 min repeat 5 times
continue increasing the time jogging each week until you can jog for the whole 30 min

Answer 2

Personally I suggest you drop a little weight before you start a running program, because your knees and ankles may sufffer. But I'll meet you halfway.

First, Change your lifestyle and do this forever. Drink lots of water. Exercise (walk) or swim an hour every day except 1 then do stretching and upper body toning. Eat fruits & vegetables.

No alcohol
no bread
no burgers
No candy
No chips
no corn
no fried foods
No pasta
No pizza
No potatoes
No sodas
No sugar

Continue to walk as you do now, just increase the time to a full hour. The reason is that your body starts to burn fat after about 30 minutes of exercise.

After a week of diet and walking an hour each day, inject 1 minute of jogging every 10 minutes of walking. Increase the minutes gradually and carefully.

Listen to your body and don't let injury creep up on you.

Good Luck

Answer 3

Take it slow on the first week... There's no rush in trimming down your weight. Look, runners who look like chicken or startlingly slim take years to earn that body... Just do it. don't ask when or how. You gotta follow what ya think. the process is long... It is not just physical endurance but also the resolve of your attitude. You have to take the risk... You won't lose anything except your weight. You must also consider the genes and your metabolism to define your goal.

You see, all of them advice you to walk, then jog then run, then run farther... That's it. You need nothing except a pair of shoes, yourself, and your balls to face it. But when you get accustommed in running the distance and fell in love with it... Well, every good runner must listen not only to their minds but their body as well. START NOW... You have a long way to go.

Answer 4

I lost most of my weight by dancing. (about 3 hours a day) It was tiring but worth it. After I have lost a significant amount of weight, I started to power walk. Now I'm joining a track team. I suggest you jog in the park for about an hour or 2 and try not to stop too often. I still dance though, besides, it's fun :)

Answer 5

Your best bet would probably be to run for spefici time periods rather than for mileage. Start with 10 or 15 minutes and move up in 5-10 minute increments as you are ready. Don't push it too hard and hurt yourself. be smart about it.

There is also no shame in doing a run/walk to extend your time periods. If you need to walk some in between, try to set it up with specified times such as 5 minutes run, 2 minutes walk or something that you can handle.

Good luck!

Answer 6

There's a 10-week schedule below to start running, but you may be able to skip to week 2 or 3 from the sounds of it. No matter what schedule you adopt, make gradual changes and improvements...don't try to do too much too soon. This can lead to burn-out, injury, or frustration. One of the best ways I use to keep me motivated is to sign up for a race. If you work at it, you should be able to do a 5k in 2-3 months from now. I'd sign up for one...that'll keep you going and you'll be in that much better shape come summer time. Best of luck!

- Mike

Answer 7

If you are all ready walking that far, then start to "speed walk" that far, or at least half-way, do that until you are used to it, the start to jog that distance, when you are used to that, start running. THEN, when you are used to that..., start running farther amounts. Get up to about five or ten miles a day and that should be more than enough. Best of luck to you!

Answer 8

Well, If you are over weight than its likely that you are ;
1] out of shape
or
2] have low metabolism

Or possibly both.
Running alone is only half the battle... To get in shape to run you need to be in shape all around.
Seriously, Start off walking. You can hurt your self if you dont ease into it. It's like taking a fish out of warm water and throwing it into an ice box.

Answer 9

start the morning with taking 5 minute jogs. if you feel like you can run longer, run longer. keep on doing it daily, and don't treat yourself to fatty food right after you run! eat healthy food everyday to get energy (maybe have a banana ready when you're running)

Answer 10

not all overweight people don't run slow so get that out of your head overweight people run fast to but if you don't want to run track isn't all about running its called track & field you can maybe do shot put