HI ALL, I GOT BANDED ONLY FOUR WEEKS AGO, AND AM NOT INTENDING ON ANY EXERCISE YET BUT WALKING. BUT I WANTED TO KNOW IF ANYONE OUT THERE HAS BEGAN A BEGINNER'S RUNNING PROGRAM. I KNOW IT'S SOUNDS A BIT MUCH. BUT I ATTEMPTED ONE LAST SUMMER, I DID THE WALK A MINUTE, RUN A MINUTE THING LAST SUMMER FOR ABOUT 10 WEEKS, I DIDN'T NOTICE ANY WEIGHT LOSS ONLY INCHES, BUT IT WAS SUCH A RUSH.

I KNOW MOST PEOPLE ARE GOING TO SAY YOU HAVE TO WALK BEFORE YOU CAN RUN, BUT I DON'T WANT TO. I WANT TO LEARN TO BECOME A RUNNER, IF THERE IS SUCH A THING. I LOVED IT! WHATEVER IT WAS DOING TO ME, IT MADE ME FEEL REALLY GOOD AND I HAD A SMALL SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT. ANYONE OUT THERE START RUNNING? IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE A RUNNER OVERWEIGHT? I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN TO RUN FOR LIKE 30 MINUTES STRAIGHT.:faint:

I'm a bit like you, impatient to get to the good stuff. I hate walking, I have no patience for it. I mean I enjoy it as an activity but not as an exercise. I was very frustrated because I had a bad ankle, so I really had to force myself to take it easy with less weightbearing stuff.

So prior to getting my band I went back the gym and started working out really hard on the elliptical. I used my cardio coach (www.cardiocoach.com) volumes on my MP3 - its interval training and they make those long boring minutes on stationary equipment fly by, great music and they have you working in really intense bursts alternated with recoveries. For the first time in my life I was enjoying the elliptical almost as much as running on the treadmill (not that I'd been able to do more than a minute or two interspersed with walking for years). Anyhow I kept at it, using bike and elliptical, 3 or 4 times a week, 40 minutes. And I had my surgery and was down about 14kg when I decided I was really going to have to bite the bullet and get some walking in simply to get enough exercise - I was really struggling to maintain 3-4 times a week at the gym, it was dwindling to 1-2. So I went out one night and I thought "I'll just try a little bit of jogging since my ankle feels so much better". I expected to go a few minutes and have to walk, I was amazed that I ran 3.5km that night. I was hooked from then on, I made myself do it only twice a week since I was afraid of injuring my ankle again, but it never happened and pretty soon I was running 4 times a week, then I bought a treadmill and since then my mileage and speed has really increased. I've done two fun runs as well and finished quite respectably in the middle of the pack.

I really believe in the benefits of running, there's nothing like it for the exhilaration and positive outlook it provides you and all the long held theories about low intensity exercise for fat loss are now being disproven as they've discovered that more intense activity provides a far greater "afterburn" - in increased calorie usage for hours after, something walking doesn not achieve. And basic math provides you with the rest, walking may burn more percentage fat than running, but if you run for the same time you walk you'll burn many many more calories and much more fat overall. If you can get to a spot where you can exercise that hard, over time your heart rate stays way more stable (mind doesnt budge over 150 when I run now) anyway and you drop into that maximum fat burning range anyway, but can burn way more calories doing it than you can walking.

And as a 20kg overweight person, I can easily now run for 50 minutes so that old argument that you cant run for as long as you can walk doesnt hold Water either. I dont have any longer than about an hour in my day to exercise so I like to make the very most of it.

If you have a look at www.coolrunning.com you'll find the couch to 5K program designed for beginners, that's a good way to start.

Very best of luck, its an awesomely worthwhile goal to have.

How exciting to find two people with my same interest. I will be banded next week in Tijuana, Mexico. I, too, Have been on cool running and as a matter of fact entered a half marathon two months ago. It was exciting, however, my weight prevents me from excelling. I am about 80 pounds over weight and still completed the half marathon under the allotted time frame. How exciting. Anyway, after the band, I hope to excell and run the distance instead of walking.