I am just now toying with the idea of starting to run.. I like the idea of the couch to 5k. I had my surgery in September and am down almost 50 pounds at this point. I currently weight 240.. I'm curious as to what weight others were when they started running.

Congrats on your weight loss. You've done a great job. Hope you get some replies because I'm wondering the same thing now. Can you tell me what has helped you the most in getting the weight off?

I was about 210 lb when i started, down from 240 or so when I got banded.

I'm 5ft 10 though, so maybe a bit leaner than such a high weight sounds. However, that was just the stage at which I decided to try, I probably could have done it earlier.

I started out to do the couch to 5k, and I jogged the first jaunt and just really felt I didnt need to stop just then, so I kept going and i ran 3kms. So I had a very easy start.

I was banded at a BMI of 36 and even at that weight, when my daughter was little, I did go out for very vigorous walks (when I was being *good*) with her in the pram, and would do little jogs in there. So I had *some* fitness.

I restricted myself to 3 non consecutive days a week and took it really slow and easy, did a shuffle rather tham a run which was as slow as I could reasonably go without walking and was a slow impact as I could make it. I did that for a few months before I allowed myself to run more and start training for distances, and I managed to avoid injury, in fact in four years now i have never ever had a running injury.

My advice would be to learn to run slow. Most of us have a natural pace but you need to learn to override it and go even slower - so that you dont tire within a hundred metres.

You'll actually find your cardiovascular fitness builds very very fast - thats the easy bit - if you can go slow enough to build the endurance. That might be only 3 miles an hour, but its the jogging motion rather than walking at that speed that's important. Because its building the strength in your body - your bones, muscles and connective tissue that takes longer and that's what's important to allow you to really run. And even if you're only going at 3 miles an hour, if you're jogging that and not walking, you're forcing your body to adapt to the running motion and you will get there.

You can combine that concept with the Couch to 5K program - I'd google that, becuase I believe there's now MP3 downloads that you can do it with - and walk/jog, but the imporant thing is to not run flat out so that you can barely run any distance.

Good luck, take it slow and give your body lots of rest in between, do something totally different on other days.

There's no satisfaction like becoming a "runner". I reckon it was better than losing the weight!

Jacqui, thanks so much for all the information. I did find some podcasts for the couch to 5k. They say to do it three days a week, just like you did.. so that I will do. Right now, I'm just waiting for my new MP3 player to be delivered so that I can download the podcasts and get started.

Up to this point, I've been doing the Leslie Sansone walk at home videos, they give me a pretty good workout themselves.. but I feel that i need a little bit more. I've added Yoga and Kettlebells lately. The Yoga feels good, but the kettlebells kick my ass.

Cutest, I lost 15 pounds on the pre op diet, and then another 10 pounds the week after surgery.. so right from the top, there was 25 pounds gone. The last 25 have taken 2 full months to get off. I am very careful with what I eat. I always eat my Protein first, at every meal (unless I'm having a Fiber rich breakfast). I also really watched my portions, even before i had a fill. I'm not going to lie and say that it has been easy.. but it has been easier with the band than before.

I also do not allow any slider foods in my house, no chips, candies, Cookies, etc.. I am 100% a food addict and if they are here, I will binge on them.

I started running at 350. I can go pretty good on the treadmill for a half mile at a time but the streets are killing my knees and shins.

So, I am going to keep my running to the padded treadmill for now.

The worst part is all of the extra fat bouncing around my gut. It can be painful at times. I have to get some kind of corset.

I run now at 279... I dont run the whole time thought.. i like intervals..

I started running at 350. I can go pretty good on the treadmill for a half mile at a time but the streets are killing my knees and shins.

So, I am going to keep my running to the padded treadmill for now.

The worst part is all of the extra fat bouncing around my gut. It can be painful at times. I have to get some kind of corset.

I was wondering about that.. I guess I'll get a good girdle to help hold everything in place.