Too fat to run now

Don't know where to start. Some of you know me some of you don't. I am a 50 (soon to be 51 year old) very over weight female who used to run 40 miles a week and could run a 4.30 marathon 1.50 half marathon and this was only about 4 years ago. Now I am 6 stone overweight, got a sore knee and get out of breath walking up the stairs. I did the GNR last year in a PW of 3.30 and the Loch Ness in a PW of 1hr16. Most of these were walked.

I would really love to get back to running and have even entered a couple of races later this year but all off a sudden I have developed a complex that I am too fat to run. Too fat to get out that door. Too fat to exercise. And believe it or not too fat to diet.

This will seem mad to you all. I have lost all confidence. I think I am too old, too fat, too slow to do anything and the more I think this way the less I do.

The village I live in is too small to run/walk any distance in winter as no lights. Am out at work long hours.

Not sure where to go from here. Can't help feeling its too late to start again. Will never regain slim figure (doctor told me I will never see 10st again) will never see a 4.30 marathon again, never climb a munro again (last one I did about killed me).

Is there anyone out there that has recovered from where I am now? If so is there hope out there. Maybe I am just at the wrong time of life!!!!!

I ran for 16 years and loved every minute so where has it gone wrong?

speedy , Not sure if I have any weight behind my coments ( forgive the pun ) but my girlfriend started running a few years ago to loose weight and now it has got to the stage where she kicks my ass at runs !! she has lost 6/7 stone ( iknow I ought to know exactly ) and although I am perhaps one of lifes chauvenistic pigs she is top shelf in my admiration steaks. another thing springs to mind and that is a good friend and training partner once said to me as I was going through a really bad patch and was thinking of throwing in the towel in " remember how you felt when you were running well " ! he has long since given up running and now I have bettered his great ( we thought at the time ) half marathon time by ten mins. All I can suggest is that you FIND time to run / cross train through the winter and above all realise one thing ....it is never . never to late to feel good about yourself !!!!!
Look after yourself and just think about what THEY will say about the new you come the summer .

Hello SpeedyG

I am where you are now, but probably around two stone overweight now, different reasons though

I am 49, have been ill with chronic bowel disease for the last six months, unable at first to run due to illness, then lack of desire to return to fitness crept in, now I need the motivation

I've started walking this last week, and have no intention of sitting in an armchair waiting for the next 7 lbs to creep onto my hips

So come out here, and join me in my quest to return to fitness, little by little

DDP

I am a very overweight 52 year old who is learning to run for the first time - and wish I had done it sooner.

I've been plodding for about 18 months now and am doing FLM in April.

I'll never be fast, but the plodding is helping with the weight loss and is giving me more confidence in myself in many ways.

With the support of many people on here I am sure you can do it too!

You may never be as fast as you were - but you are in a new age group, so you can have a new set of PBs to enjoy!

I am sure once you get out there and buy yourself a new pair of shoes you will rememebr why you loved it. You don't need to be slim and sylph-like to get the feel-good hit of running.

comnena djoin us!

beanz

ps I was 5½ stone overweight when I started - now 3 and falling.

Speedy G - you are SO NOT too old/fat/unfit or anything else for that matter.

Maybe by focusing on your past achievements you're giving yourself just too big a task to take on at once. In your shoes (lol!) I'd concentrate on small targets - a 10 minute run 3 times a week or whatever you feel is achievable. Build it up slowly from there - add more minutes on when you feel able. Follow one of the beginner walk/run schedules if that feels better.

I think if you really want to run, you'll find a way around the practical problems - join a club/gym, find someone to run with you, run in the morning or at lunchtime, buy a treadie ......

As for the doctor telling you you'll never see 10 stone again - well, I'd fire him. He should be encouraging you not sending you away with that kind of message. If you start running again, you need to work on your nutrition for running - I wouldn't call it a diet though - they're temporary and don't usually have a lasting effect. There's loads of good stuff on this site and people who can help too.

FWIW I turned 50 2 days ago. I only started running 3 years ago when I was 4 stones overweight. I'm not overweight anymore - I'm down to 55kg, weight is stable but body fat % is still coming down.

I'd also say that the people who get my complete respect in the gym or on the roads are the ones I see who are not in the most perfect shape but who are getting off their backsides and doing something about it. Go for it - you KNOW you can do it.

((((Speedy G)))))

Your not really too fat or too old, I think you are suffering from lack of confidence or a dive in self esteem. If you can get running again it will help you to feel better about yourself.

I think you need to start with a run/walk program to get you up and going again. If you want to stay within street lit areas could you run/walk a circuit through your village and repeat it x number of times so that you stay within well lit areas? What about a running club? Or what about a lunchtime run with a workmate?

Don't feel bad - most peeps feel too something (old, fat stupid whatever) at some point in their lives. Try to focus on the benefits running gave you when you did it. Or maybe everytime you run put 50p in a jar and save up to treat yourself to something nice?

Why not join in one of ther beginners threads - I know you're not a beginner but these threads can be very encouraging and supportive to peeps of all abilities.

Good luck Speedy, let us know how you get on x

Speedy
You speak as though you're the only one who's ever been in the same situation. Thousands of middle aged people, probably most of them never having run before and therefore not having your advantage, have had the same problem to one degree or another and have done something about it.

If I was your coach I'd ask you to do two things. The first would be to create a 1000 calorie deficiency each day and that's easy, just cut the carbs. The second would be to build 30 minutes into your daily schedule when you exercise, preferably a power walk to start with but turning that into a slow walk/jog sequence after 3 or 4 weeks.

I think the best way to find the 30 minutes is to get up 40 minutes earlier in the morning, put on training kit and get out. No diversions or side tracking. It also has the advantage of no-one being around early morning. If you can't do that, then make sure you've got your kit with you at work so that you can take advantage of any spare 1/2 hour.

There's certainly no physical reason why you can't exercise and as someone has already said, us runners have nothing but admiration for those who are starting out. If non-runners aren't impressed does it actually matter? S*d 'em.

Try the 'Mature' thread on General. Loads of friendly people who range from starters to V60/65s running faster than people half their age. It's not just a running thread. There's general support, chat and banter. We keep a racing calendar so you can race with people you know and we get to socials so that we can meet up.
JJ

Speedy--as you know there is loads of good advice on diet an exercise on here, and you probably dont need telling about it anyway



I will sya just one thing

yes you have it a bit harder to go out and run, given your circumstances
BUT



If you WANT to, REALLY
want to, youll work round it


thats the 640000 dollar question
Do you want to?


Se you at lochaber
Ruth xxxxxxxx

Hi Speedy. You left me for dead at Brighton two years ago, even though you are a bigger lady than me!

I just know you can do it again.

Sassie xx

Speedy.G I would agree with plodding hippo. At the moment you are looking for excuses not to run.

I always say that if you really want to, you'll find time and the place to do it. The question is thus do you really want to run? Do you really want to do something about your situation? You know it's a long hard road are you willing to put effort into it? I'm sure somewhere in you, you want all these things. I would say, stop make excuses and start planning and then start moving.

Speedy G, everybody has given you good advice, so all I will add is I started with the run/walk bit, and I would also agree that getting out in the morning is great!

I have found that although I looked a bit daft when I started out, people in my village got used to seeing me out, and now say hello, and ask how I'm getting on and are supportive of me.

The most difficult step is the one out your front door, after that you will be fine!

I am sending you all the support that I can, and look foreward to hearing your progress. The poeple on the threads have given me great confidence and I know you will get the same support too.

Bon Courage!

Is there some medical reason why your doctor told you you'd never see 10 stone again? Can't think of one, myself.

Anyway - you don't need to be 10 st to run. You know that. You also know that you're not too old or too fat to do anything.

The dark/working long hours/loss of confidence thing are all excuses - you know that, too.

As you've already seen, there are LOTS of people who have been there, and come through it. Some of us have lost less weight than you want to, some more. But all of here have done it - it took five years and countless false starts for me. The key thing was finding these forums, and using the support I found here. It's never-ending, no matter what your achievements, no matter how bad your down-times.

You will find the same - you know that, too, coz you're a forumite of *old*. C'mon. It's Sunday. Go an' have a shuffle.

((((Speedy.G!))))


:o)

Good morning folks. Thank you all for responding to my thread. Everything you all say is so right and actualy sitting down and reading it makes so much sense. I do lack confidence big style. Home life is not too great at the moment and I guess that is another excuse not to run, diet etc. I am propably just feeling sorry for myself.

I don't go out in the morning as I get up ay 6am and have to leave for work by 7am and I do not fancy getting up at 5am. I have gone out in the evening round the village but have had some really nasty comments from the kids around here and that is really off putting.

It is the weight gain that has frightened me. I was reasonably slim until 4 years ago when hit by cellulitis which I have had 4 times now accompanied once by a dvt and I think this was my excuse not to run and probably feel sorry for myself. So yes it is all a mental thing. I think I feel foolish because I used to run well and think I will be laughed at now. I used to run with a local running club and really enjoyed it but 4 years ago moved house and they are too far away now. There is another club nearby but they are all good runners and there is no way I could keep up with them. The last club I ran with catered for starters and was really could. In those days I took my turn in staying with the beginners to encourage them.

I do want to run again and I do want to be slimmer. I don't have anyone to run with and no one to talk to about it except on here as I have no friends (never have had so that is not something new) and that is why it was so good this morning to open up the computer and find all your messages of encouragement.

The weather is awful today but I am going to get out there and make a start. I am going to print off this page and everytime I get downhearted I am going to read what you have all said to me for motivation.

Now I have more access to the computer it will be easier to come on the forums and chat with folks.

Thank you all for taking time to listen to me and it is great to see that so many of you have overcome similar problems. There is hope for me. It may be that I have a mid life crisis making me feel I can't do it but with encouragement like you have all given here then I can do it.

Good girl.
Go for it.

Btw, s*d the kids as well. They don't matter.
JJ

Did you watch the fortunes of last year's FLM RW beginners? I think it was Kerry (?). You can.

There are issues here. One is, you were once much better at it. The second is the fear of sniggerers.

Going back and starting at a much lower point than you left a sport, or any skill, is one of the very Hard things in life.

Facing the sniggerers also takes more courage than most folks realize. But standing tall in the presence of sniggerers is actually a terrific sensation. Go ahead, snigger. But I have my trainers on, and I am doing something about it, and some day you may be fat and fifty and I'll be fit and seventy and laughing at you. Practice it in the mirror before you leave. Get used to it, and it feels great!

My equivalent is coming last in races. The feeling "yeah, think what you like, but I did it" always puts me on top of a wave. Every time I find a reason not to run, and don't run because of it, I feel Seriously low.


Give yourself heaps of credit for attempting it. In terms of brownie points, you getting out the door in trainers for 30 minutes counts 10 times what the speedy boys and girls achieve on a 22 mile run.

Sign up for the marathon, say you are going to do it even if you crawl or roll it, and you are going to be hugely proud of that finisher's medal.

Go for it girl!

(I'm 52, not getting any younger, and have the distinction that until October this year, my pb in a half marathon was also one in which I came last in! I am improving.)

PS. Post on training, or whichever thread you choose. On training for example, though I have sometimes been by far the slowest peep on it, even the fastest have made much of my triumphs and pulled me out of the muck on my down days.

That is, post each day what you have done.

Wow speedy you've done a lot of good ploddin. That good plodder aint left you -it is you -though a little hidden right now.
You know that you can return and how much caution you have to take at present. Too fat to diet -eh? Well I am glad of that! You only have to eat well and healthily and work on your self esteem, then. Dieting will pull you up and drag you down later - so stick with the self esteem stuff and start your first few steps to re-capturing the speedy you once were. Oh yeh - too old - my ar%se!!:O)

Hoose XX

Hi all. Thanks everyone.
Stickless thanks for your words. You are so right. It is the starting back at a much lower point that I left at and it makes you feel foolish.

But Hey I went out today in all this wind and rain. Managed 3 miles albeit probably 75% of it was walked. Did not wear a watch because I did not want to know how long it took me. The time doesn't matter at the moment. I can walk for miles its just the breaking into a jog that is hard. In November I walked the 10 miles to visit my daughter just because it was a lovely day. Had to get a lift back mind you.

Have entered a marathon although I know I will be last and yes Stickless I will be crawling it by the end by Hey I AM going to do it.

Don't get me wrong I know everyone of you have your own struggles and not every day is easy for you and I admire each and every one who gets out there and does it. I suppose I am just in the doldrums and I need to snap out of it.

So approaching 51 is not all bad I suppose and if I look positively I could have 20 years of running left in me or is that being a bit optomistic!!

And yes Stickless I will post on training. I should go back to keeping a diary. I have years of them telling me what I used to do. So that is another good idea.

Off to have a healthy dinner now. Home cooked no fat veggie soup, then chicken and veggies. Healthy lifestyle here I come.

Hey well done Speedy G, that's ace!! And so what if 75% was walked - walking is good exercise too and you did it, you got out there and I can testify that the weather in Fife was indeed c@rp today!!

Good idea not wearing a watch. For you at the mo getting out there is what's important!!

Well done!!