Prior to weight loss surgery, I could barely walk 5 minutes without stopping from the pain. I think the last time I actually tried jogging was with my mum when I was about 17, so like 11 years ago! And back then it was this Couch to 5k app so you would walk for a few mins, and then jog for 30 seconds and boy did that almost kill me off!

Anyway, I was in the gym today on my lunch break, and I always do 20 mins of cardio on the treadmill after my weights workout. I do 5 minutes at a 12 incline, and then lower it by 4 every 5 mins, and increase the speed (hopefully that makes sense). So during the last 5 mins of cardio, the gym was empty, not a soul apart from me, so I decided to do something I was too scared to do with others there.

I put the speed up so that I was jogging...full-blown jogging. At first I just expected my lungs to give out like they would previously, but they didn't...I was breathing fine, I was not in pain, and I realised I can do this!

I did the last 5 minutes at that pace, and I left with only a little bit of a sweat on, and no pain in my legs or lungs. I just called my dad to tell him because I think this is perhaps the first time in this journey I have felt like I love my body, and I love what it is capable of.

My NSV, that I didn't even know was on my NSV list ❤️

HELL YES!!!! thats HUGE!!! great job!

11 minutes ago, AmberFL said:

HELL YES!!!! thats HUGE!!! great job!

Thank you!!!

YESSSS!!!! I'm so happy for you!

There is NOTHING like that feeling of having a capable body. All the walking at incline you've been doing really paid off for you so far. Next thing you know, you might get bitten by the running bug like i have and be training for a 5k, 10k or more!

Remember, the vast majority of people that have lost weight and successfully kept it off for long periods of time are very active.

You are amazing!!!! Thank you for sharing.

4 hours ago, SpartanMaker said:

YESSSS!!!! I'm so happy for you!

There is NOTHING like that feeling of having a capable body. All the walking at incline you've been doing really paid off for you so far. Next thing you know, you might get bitten by the running bug like i have and be training for a 5k, 10k or more!

Remember, the vast majority of people that have lost weight and successfully kept it off for long periods of time are very active.

Thank you so much!!

It's such an insane feeling!! Even when I was at my lightest when I was 20, I didn't feel this capable! I genuinely never thought I'd enjoy running ? but I'm gonna add that last 5 minutes of my cardio to be a jog each time now! And I've signed up for actual classes at the gym too just to see how I can progress!

How have you progressed with the running bug? What do you do? Such an inspiration!

I keep reminding myself of that and I think at the moment exercising is the only hobby I have, and I'm okay with that ?

Edited January 20, 20251 yr by Bypass2Freedom

2 hours ago, learn2cook said:

You are amazing!!!! Thank you for sharing.

Thank you lovely!

2 hours ago, Bypass2Freedom said:

Thank you so much!!

It's such an insane feeling!! Even when I was at my lightest when I was 20, I didn't feel this capable! I genuinely never thought I'd enjoy running ? but I'm gonna add that last 5 minutes of my cardio to be a jog each time now! And I've signed up for actual classes at the gym too just to see how I can progress!

How have you progressed with the running bug? What do you do? Such an inspiration!

I keep reminding myself of that and I think at the moment exercising is the only hobby I have, and I'm okay with that ?

You ready for a long story? ?

My exercise history is definitely one of extremes. I was very athletic in High School (Secondary School). I played football (American), was on the swim team, and ran track and cross country (not all of those every year). Afterward I spent time in the US Army where running was the norm, so I ran quite a bit. My recollection is that I was running roughly 30 miles a week at that time, so actually a lot more than the minimum required. Unfortunately I was badly injured while I was in the service and was barely able to even walk for a long, long time.

Once I mostly recovered from that, I got heavily into powerlifting for almost a decade. I had convinced myself that due to bad knees I shouldn't run anymore, so instead i just focused on the strength training as well as a tiny bit of cardio on the elliptical. Unfortunately, I tore up my back in a workplace accident, so from that point on, no more heavy lifting for me. This was really the beginning of my descent into inactivity and severe weight gain. The heavier I got, the less I was able to even move, until using a cane or walker had become the norm.

In addition, during this time I ended up having multiple surgeries, including 5 different shoulder surgeries, multiple knee surgeries culminating in a total knee replacement, and even open heart surgery for a bad heart valve.

Fast forward a lot and about 9 months after my bypass surgery, I was walking and backpacking pretty consistently. A bit like you, I decided mostly on a on a whim to just try jogging a bit. It was more to see if I could even do it than anything else. You have to understand with my health history, lots of my doctors would say I shouldn't run. I say I'm going to do whatever I need to do to keep myself healthy because I suspect at some point, I'll need both a revision to the knee replacement and a new heart valve. My ability to survive those surgeries at an advanced age is going to be highly dependent on my overall health.

Anyway, back to running. I was so shocked at how well and relatively pain-free the running went, that I decided to start training for a 5k. From there it's just snowballed and I've now done around 20 or so different races between 5ks, 10ks and Half Marathons. I'm not super fast (I am 60 afterall), but I am still pretty competitive in my local races, at least for my age.

I'm also lucky that I'm now retired. This means I have the time to train appropriately. I typically run 4 to 5 days a week and average between 25 and 35 miles a week. I'll probably ramp that up in 2025 because I'm targeting a fall marathon and I'd like to be around 50-60 miles a week at peak fitness before the race. At this point running is my passion, but I do still strength train twice a week to keep what strength I do still have.

As an aside, I'm strongly considering becoming a Certified Personal Trainer. Not really because I needed the knowledge, or because I expect to work in the industry (I am happily retired after all). My real goal is to help others where I can on their journey to fitness. I feel I can better relate to those that are struggling than a lot of CPTs that have always been fit. I also at least want those I work with to know I do have some knowledge of the subject (even though I've frankly probably forgotten more about training than a lot of CPTs even know).

I'm really glad you're going to keep after it. You might surprise yourself in terms of what your capable of!

@SpartanMaker what an amazing journey! I actually loved reading all of that!

I can completely understand you wanting to keep pushing with your fitness for the future-you! That is something that definitely weighs heavy on my mind!

I really love the idea of you being a personal trainer with your background - it would give you these approachable edge that I feel some other PT's lack. Also if you offered online training that would be even better!

22 minutes ago, Bypass2Freedom said:

I can completely understand you wanting to keep pushing with your fitness for the future-you! That is something that definitely weighs heavy on my mind!

I think it's fantastic you're thinking about this now. Unfortunately a lot of people don't really think about that until it's too late. My goal is not only to increase my lifespan, but possibly even more importantly, my healthspan. By that I mean I want to remain healthy and capable as long as I can.

Changing topics a bit, as you continue jogging, I wanted you to be aware of something that not a lot of people realize. This is a bit of an oversimplification, but you can break up the parts of your body that are involved in running performance into two big buckets:

• The first is your cardiovascular system. We're talking about heart, arteries, veins & capillaries, as well as the intracellular components that deliver oxygen and glucose to your muscles. Interestingly, this system tends to improve faster than the next system.
• The second is your musculoskeletal system. Obviously we're talking about your muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments. All of these will improve over time, but tend to be a bit slower to get stronger.

I mention this because not understanding how these components react is probably the top reason new runners hurt themselves. As they start running, they find they're able to run farther/faster fairly soon as their cardiovascular system improves. Unfortunately, their musculoskeletal system (especially their bones, tendons and ligaments), aren't quite ready for the extra stress. In short, take your time pushing farther and faster and make sure to take an occasional deload week, just like you would for your strength training.

@SpartanMaker Thank you for explaining that

I think what I will do is similar to what I have done with my incline walking - I will introduce the jogging in the last 5 minutes of every cardio workout, and then gradually increase the incline/speed over a longer period of time, just to make sure I am going at a pace that my body can handle!

So just wanted to pop in and give you my short experience. I never ran, until 6months ago, I started out with walking outside, then stair master, then walking on incline a little faster to a short jog. I too would jog for 2-3min at a time then walk for a min and continue that pattern for about 15min. Now I can run 3.5miles on my lunch break and it takes me about 30-32min to do so. I started really slow but running really helped with my body composition, my mind is more focused and overall has really helped my moods too. I also lift weights 4 days a week so that has helped. My only thing I noticed with all the working out is that I eat more LOL however when I was only eating 1200-1500 calories I was not building the muscle I wanted, and not looking how I wanted. So if you start eating more remember its the working out and your muscles is burning off all that fast!

Now that I am not able to work out how I like due to PS I am slowly dying LOL but soon enough i'll be back to it. Enjoy this journey its so fun!

6 minutes ago, AmberFL said:

So just wanted to pop in and give you my short experience. I never ran, until 6months ago, I started out with walking outside, then stair master, then walking on incline a little faster to a short jog. I too would jog for 2-3min at a time then walk for a min and continue that pattern for about 15min. Now I can run 3.5miles on my lunch break and it takes me about 30-32min to do so. I started really slow but running really helped with my body composition, my mind is more focused and overall has really helped my moods too. I also lift weights 4 days a week so that has helped. My only thing I noticed with all the working out is that I eat more LOL however when I was only eating 1200-1500 calories I was not building the muscle I wanted, and not looking how I wanted. So if you start eating more remember its the working out and your muscles is burning off all that fast!

Now that I am not able to work out how I like due to PS I am slowly dying LOL but soon enough i'll be back to it. Enjoy this journey its so fun!

Thank you for sharing your experience! What a journey that has been! And to be honest, you would need to be eating more to balance out the amount of calories you use when you exercise!

Amazing achievement though - really inspiring.

How did you find the Stairmaster? I really want to try it but I am terrified haha

18 minutes ago, Bypass2Freedom said:

Thank you for sharing your experience! What a journey that has been! And to be honest, you would need to be eating more to balance out the amount of calories you use when you exercise!

Amazing achievement though - really inspiring.

How did you find the Stairmaster? I really want to try it but I am terrified haha

girl my first time on the stairmaster I barely made it 5min and not even going fast LOL I told myself that every other day I would add 1 min. Its one hellova cardio workout! Now I can do 30 min no problem at level 12. Took a couple of months to get there though! Try it! and who cares if you last only 2min! not a lot of people tackle the stair master because well its hard

1 hour ago, AmberFL said:

So just wanted to pop in and give you my short experience. I never ran, until 6months ago, I started out with walking outside, then stair master, then walking on incline a little faster to a short jog. I too would jog for 2-3min at a time then walk for a min and continue that pattern for about 15min. Now I can run 3.5miles on my lunch break and it takes me about 30-32min to do so. I started really slow but running really helped with my body composition, my mind is more focused and overall has really helped my moods too. I also lift weights 4 days a week so that has helped. My only thing I noticed with all the working out is that I eat more LOL however when I was only eating 1200-1500 calories I was not building the muscle I wanted, and not looking how I wanted. So if you start eating more remember its the working out and your muscles is burning off all that fast!

Now that I am not able to work out how I like due to PS I am slowly dying LOL but soon enough i'll be back to it. Enjoy this journey its so fun!

You are killing it! Your point about calories is really on point as well.

I recommend any bariatric surgery patient read up on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). The simple explanation is that if you work out a lot, you need to eat more. If you don't, then you are a lot more likely to start having a hard time with things like fatigue, various injuries, getting sick a lot, lack of concentration and depression. At its worst, you can get really sick, leading to heart issues and worse. My personal experience is that women tend to struggle with this more, though anyone can be impacted.

Some people here might think it doesn't affect them because they don't consider themselves athletes, but if you are working out multiple days a week, it is a risk, especially considering how hard it can be for us to get more calories in. Over time, you'll hopefully learn where your personal limits are. For example, I've found that right now I can maintain my weight reasonably well up to about 30 miles a week, but beyond that I lose weight whether I want to or not.

9 minutes ago, SpartanMaker said:

You are killing it! Your point about calories is really on point as well.

I recommend any bariatric surgery patient read up on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). The simple explanation is that if you work out a lot, you need to eat more. If you don't, then you are a lot more likely to start having a hard time with things like fatigue, various injuries, getting sick a lot, lack of concentration and depression. At its worst, you can get really sick, leading to heart issues and worse. My personal experience is that women tend to struggle with this more, though anyone can be impacted.

Some people here might think it doesn't affect them because they don't consider themselves athletes, but if you are working out multiple days a week, it is a risk, especially considering how hard it can be for us to get more calories in. Over time, you'll hopefully learn where your personal limits are. For example, I've found that right now I can maintain my weight reasonably well up to about 30 miles a week, but beyond that I lose weight whether I want to or not.

Thank you! I have to agree, I noticed when I was making myself eat less, I cannot even work out well, I am lifting lighter or running slower because I am lethargic and fatigued. I do have to admit I am on the straight struggle bus with not being able to work out. I feel like I am eating too much however I am not eating near the calories I was. I do think it has to do with the dietician from my program shaming me into how much I was eating at my 6m appt. She told me that I needed to stick to 800 calories max, 100g protein, 140g carbs and 40g fat. I told her that is just not possible with sustaining my activity. She got into my head and I have been avoiding my 1yr check up for this reason because now I eat even more but I weigh 25lbs less.

I wanna be you when I grow up! I was running 15ish miles a week and that was insane to me but 30miles? wow!!! how do you break that up? I would love to do a mini marathon though I am very intimated. I ran 5miles at once ONE time. The next day I couldn't move hahah