Exercise question - every day?
Some of you may know from the other sub forums that I had a medical situation about 7 weeks ago. As a result I have a need to get in shape quickly. I’m doing well both with diet and walking, and I’ve already lost a considerable amount of weight.
I can’t really do heavy exercises, so I’m pretty much relegated to walking right now. I’ve been doing about 2-2.5 miles each day. Is it bad to do that daily? Is it bad to NOT do it daily? To be honest I’ve lived a life without much intentional exercise so I’m not really sure what I should be doing and what I shouldn’t be doing.
What about jogging, if my cardiologist says it okay for my to jog? Do people jog daily or is that only a few times a week or what? Is there much difference in suggested frequency/cadence between jogging and walking for health reasons?
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Exercise wise I hate jogging but I do so with break days in between. If you're walking or jogging lightly and passing the talk test (have a nice long conversation without being winded), you could do that every day. But give yourself a break anyway. Also if you're just coming off of losing a lot of weight I'd consider doing something more low impact, like swimming vs jogging. At least for right now. There are programs like US Masters swim that take all comers. Walking is good. Hiking is great.
Eventually I'll send you some bodyweight stuff or kettlebell stuff. I think getting flexibility is going to be important going forward, probably more important than starting with barbells.
Walking is a low-impact steady state exercise (LISS). You can do more walking regularly than say, jogging, because it isn't putting significant strain on your muscles.
Jogging is more taxing on your cardio system and on your muscles. As such, you don't want to jog every day - rest days are important for being able to repair your body between runs.
For both exercise types, you could do enough of one to match your calorie output of the other activity, but you'd have to walk more/longer. It might balance out with the LISS nature of walking, which you could do more often. Jogging, however, has the added bonus of boosting your heart health by being more active cardio. They both have good benefits, basically!
If you're planning an exercise regimen, it's good to aim for at least 2 rest days - one can be an "active" rest day if you want (slow walks, yoga, etc), but the other should basically be your couch potato day.
Even if you stick to walking, though, you're going to want to condition upwards to be able to handle the length of walks you're aiming for. If you suddenly start doing daily 5km walks you're going to a. Hate it and b. Have a ton of blisters and sore muscles and feel like shit. Start low and build up.
For jogging, there are plenty of couch to 5km programs out there. I personally liked the Zombies Run 5km app when I was trying to do it, because it had a goofy story and motivated me to go out, but there are plenty of apps and programs out there.
The one caution is to check with your doctor about exercise programming if a medical event is what's driving you to pursue additional exercise, and also if it is a weight issue then seeing a registered dietician may be a good first step to correcting nutrition issues first. A physiotherapist, kinesiologist, or personal trainer can also help you sort our programming (the first two being particularly good for science-based rehab/prehab).
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Thank you, I appreciate that! Bottom line: Walking 2-3 miles every day is OK. Skipping a day if I have to is OK. If I upgrade to jogging, I should probably not do it every day but I could depending on how winded I get. Right?
Diet has definitely helped. I pretty much eat a small menu of things:
Breakfast: Either fruit or a veggie egg white omelette (today I made a 4-egg white omelette with onions and spinach)
Lunch: Salad (typically romaine and/or spinach with grape tomatoes and carrots or some other random healthy things and a low-fat low-carb low-sodium salad)
Dinner: Up to now it's been chicken breast and veggies, mostly, without salt
Sometimes I switch breakfast and lunch a bit.
I need to diversify dinner a little more. Unfortunately I have never liked or eaten fish and every time I go to the grocery and think about getting salmon a part of my mind goes "eww" and I just buy more chicken.
As for cheat/binge days. A binge day usually means eating a fourth chicken tender or eating an extra large helping of veggies. But my weight is still on a decline even with those extra portions, which is what I expect/want. A cheat day typically means I have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch or dinner (or maybe half a sandwich for a snack) on whole grain bread. Or, occasionally, the "healthiest" (i.e. least carb/least sugar) granola bar I can find. Sometimes I'll have a handful of unsalted almonds
The only beverages I drink anymore are water (majority of the time) or a cup of black coffee. On rare occasions, I'll have a cup of unsweetened almond milk, which is only like 30 calories no no sugar.
The diet is a product of me talking to a nutritionist and my PCP who both more or less aligned on the above, and I've been taking to it pretty well. I already feel better in that sense.
I've lost 35+ pounds since early Feb just from diet and walking so I think I'm on the right track, I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything I shouldn't. I also have this thing called the Bullworker, which was a gift from my dad - it basically facilitates isometric-type exercises (not that I fully understand what that means). Cardiologist said it was OK to use, so I've been working my way towards being strong enough to comfortable use that.
The cardiologist said I should avoid lifting heavy weights for now. I dunno, thoughts? I will say that even the occasional grocery store trip is a little rough if I have to carry a lot. I dunno if that's because of my medicine, my general fitness, or something else. I just did an exercise stress test - the technician said it looked good, but I have to wait for the cardiologist to get back to me with his thoughts on the results.
Thank you! I think a lot of my response to tyrannus addresses your suggestions, too. I appreciate that.
Good point about stepping it up incrementally.
I'm contemplating not taking a long walk today because honestly I'm tired today and being a weekend (I work 9-5) I kinda want to just watch TV or play Elden Ring or read a book.
I have the dietician/nutritionist and I think I'm doing well. I'm motivated to eat right. I cut all the junk out of my diet. Zero tolerance for myself. No soda, no fatty foods, no table salt, no table sugar, barely any added sugars in anything, etc.
My apple watch helps. I did a little over 10,000 steps yesterday which was a new milestone. I may do it today too, I dunno. Will see how I feel after lunch.
If you're doing more than a mile at a time I have to say, invest in good shoes. If you're in a decent sized city there is probably a running store that can measure your feet and gait and set you up with proper footwear and socks. It makes such a huge difference over longer distances, you'll come back from a long walk feeling refreshed and good, instead of with achy sore feet.
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Thanks, my sneakers are a few years old now. I probably could do for a fresh, new pair. Thanks for the suggestion.
I decided I'm going to take a walk today since I have to go out to get a few things from the store anyway, but just a light walk. Like 1.5 miles (~30 minutes). Pretty much a casual walk. I'll get back to proper distance walking tomorrow or Monday.
This is really all "long term" stuff. It's not especially relevant to you right now. It's just something to keep in mind for the future.
Many people can eventually get to the point where they can run 5k or cycle 30k or walk 10k or whatever every day and not be remotely in need of a rest day. That sort of workout is well within the range of what a healthy, in shape, able bodied human being who has built up to it can do pretty casually. To be clear though, I'm saying that a person can build up to being able to run/cycle/walk that distance daily, but definitely not saying that they can do that while putting in an effort to break any personal speed records. And it's totally OK to not have any interest in getting into that level of fitness. It's a lot of work if you don't enjoy it. Again, it's the sort of thing that needs to be built up to over a period of time, and rushing into it would likely cause injury.
It took me a year from when I started running to get to the point where a 5k was a casual thing I could just do every day. Back in my twenties, I used to cycle to work on a daily basis while I was obese, and that was 20k a day on the bike. I inadvertently worked my way into it slowly every year by only going on the bike on nice days in the late winter and early spring, before slowly transitioning to five days a week by mid to late spring.
Also, good shoes are a must. Old or bad shoes cause injuries and lead to more blisters.
Thank you!
My shoes are good despite being a few years old.
That’s said, any particular recommendations?
I like the look and idea of the “slip on sneakers” that I keep getting ads for on Facebook.
Best bet for shoes is to go to a store that specializes in running/jogging and try multiple pairs. It took me about 8 different pairs before I found something that fit and was comfortable. Some places can do gait analysis to help you pick out the right shoes as well.
Thanks!
I just got a couple of Indian clubs, 600 grams (1.2 lbs) each. It's pretty fun doing mobility stuff with them!
This guy makes it look effortless:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zYI2ji81rc
...but I'm more at this stage right now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2c2KNs4npk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3QGqDWyQXU
Some of those exercise might be a bit too knee/back intensive if you have knee/back injuries, but overall you're getting a full body workout without a lot of investment in gear.
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You're on 6 different medications, so before you endeavor anything very challenging, go over your preliminary exercise plan (the one sentence summary) with your cardiologist or PCP
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
They also should be referring you to a PT that specializes in designing programs like this to help you understand what's possible. As my dad just went through this with a stent etc. - Get a fitness band/apple watch and use some level of the heart rate zones to help guide you a bit on too hard/too easy. For now - what you're doing every day sounds about right to set a baseline level of fitness.
When people discuss things like rest days, it's often in the context of things like polarized training - https://www.trainerroad.com/blog/polarized-training-for-cyclists-what-it-is-and-how-to-try-it/
Basically modern thinking is that instead of doing moderate effort more often, you want a few very hard days a week with the rest on the easy side. I know I've been getting some real value out of controlling my heart rate on daily trainer rides, then doing higher effort outdoors or weekend rides. That said - whatever a PT designed program coordinated with your doctors recommends supercedes what you may hear from us.
Also, if you're working hard on weight reduction right now, cycling or swimming may be better as they'll be a lot easier on your knees than running or jogging. If you do run or jog, try to find dirt paths to reduce load on your joints.
Oh man a well mulched path is such a joy to exercise on. That being said, even asphalt is softer than concrete.
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35 pounds since February?! That's fucking great! Eight pounds a month or two pounds a week is a great and sustainable pace.
You've clearly established healthy habits, just keep doing what you're doing. You're kicking ass. Keep at it.
Actually, I haven't posted here in awhile, but I went from 306 to 229.8 since Jan 29th. Soooo...more like 70-76ish lbs (not sure how much my relative clothing differences impact the numbers here).
And thanks
Classic thread.
A bit of roid rage perhaps? A fun read
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eECjjLNAOd4