Am I Too Overweight To Run? I Am 14 Stone And My Knees Hurt When I Run. What Else Could I Do?

You need to change your diet a bit and do some regular, gentle exercise. If you are overweight, a great exercise to start with is swimming. When you are swimming, the water supports your body weight, so there is much less strain on your joints. Swimming doesn't burn many calories at first, but it makes your muscles stronger. Walking is also a great way to start losing a bit of weight. You will quickly find that walking up hills is very tough! You can make walking more effective by wearing ankle weights.

As for for food, there are four simple rules. (Yes, the are RULES!) Eat proper meals instead of meals and snacks, choose low calorie foods, drink plenty of water and avoid certain foods completely. Three proper meals a day, bulked out with lots of fruit and vegetables, and about a litre* of water a day should be around 2500 calories. Keep eating like that and doing gentle exercise every other day, and soon you will start losing weight and will be able to start running. It's very hard for the first couple of weeks, but get much easier. After a while, you won't feel like you are missing any foods and you won't feel like your exercising. (* Some people will be shocked that I said 1 litre, and not 2 or 3. If you are not getting lots of water from your food, you aren't eating enough fruit and veg. That simple!)

If your knees hurt when you run, it would be better to do some leg strengthening exercise before you try again. At this stage, a good daily walk  is probably safer than running, and if you walk just fast enough to raise your heart rate a little, and slightly speed up your breathing, it will start to strengthen your leg muscles after a couple of weeks. A pedometer is a good idea, and fun to use because you soon find you are wanting to walk more in order to get more "points"! You can find some advice here on how to increase your walking levels.

After a few weeks of this, you might like to go to a gym and ask for a fitness program - most places will give you an individual one. As you have had problems with weight and knee pains, it would be best to check with your doctor before you do this. Once at the the gym, you can strengthen your muscles further with treadmill exercises etc - the instructors can advise.

You should actually eat 5-6 small meals a day rather than 3 big ones. This keeps your metabolism boosted all day long and your blood sugar even so you don't have the highs & lows and will also help curb cravings. Make sure you include lean protein and complex carbs (fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, pasta, etc) in every meal. Avoid the obvious sugary and fatty foods, and try to stick with FRESH foods rather than processed or packaged foods.

Walking is the first step to running. I agree with the first post that you should start there first! You don't want to have to quit your new exercise program before you've had a chance to begin due to injury! Gradually increase your walking distance and speed until you can COMFORTABLY walk 5 miles at a pace of 12 minutes a mile (or 8 kilometers in an hour).

When you can do that try running/walking combo at a ratio of 2:1 - Run 2 minutes/walk 1 minute for 30 minutes 3x per week. Increase your run ratio every week 4:1, 8:1, etc. (or at a rate that you can maintain)

When you can COMFORTABLY run for 30 minutes straight, continue to walk to warm up / cool down - but at that point you can start working on bettering your distance and speed in running.

Also, and this is just as important! You need to be fitted for a proper pair of shoes - even for just walking! The right shoes will help prevent injury and help correct potential causes such as overpronation, underpronation, etc., as well as offering added stability and support while your carrying the extra weight. A good running shop will have you bring in your old shoes so they can examine the wear pattern, and will likely put you on a treadmill to further understand your gait.

Good luck and welcome to the world of running! You can do it, keep it up!

Try swimming,or try jogging in a pool,takes all the pressure of your knees