I’m going to assume that you are using the machine’s heart rate monitor. Likely that’s your issue. The “target heart rate” isn’t a universal value that applies to everyone, it’s actually proportional to your specific resting heart rate which that machine doesn’t know. The machine are set to the 50th percentile for each height and weight generalities. If you fall outside that middle and are to one end or the other the monitor is not of much use to you. If you are constantly below your “target” heart rate even while stressing yourself I’m guessing you simply have a lower target than most other people which is fine.
The solution is to get a personal heart rate monitor (the ones that you fit around your torso) and follow it’s instructions to find your resting heart rate and find what your true target range is.
Also, if you’re new to the treadmill thing- double knot your shoe laces so that they can’t come untied and then you can’t step on them at a brisk pace and go hurling out into the isle at warp factor 12. Just trust me on this one.
Lumpy:
I would recommend not jogging until you get your weight down. If you want to exercise, do low impact exercises.
It should be kept in mind that permanent weight loss is primarily achieved by permanently changing your diet (not exercise). So your goal right now should be to permanently change your diet.
I would suggest that diet alone probably won’t do much at all. For myself, at any rate, I’ve been trying to lose weight, and although I’m not eating right (or righter, actually), I’ve found that without exercise the weight simply does not come off. A combination of the two is what works.
Do you have cable TV? Digital? With OnDemand? In the Sports & Fitness section there are some great workouts. Look in the Specialty Workouts section for some in-place walking vidoes. I try to find two of those and play them back to back. It’s low impact, you don’t need to be a 20-year-old surfer dude to survive them, and they’re easy and fun. And once you get a feel for them, you can make up your own routines as you watch TV instead.
And I usually sweat like a corrupt CEO on 60 Minutes when I do them.
Bad advice. Studies have shown that diet alone can make a person lose all the weight they want. While exercise can help, the *primary * mechanism for permanently losing weight is through a permanent change in diet.
Any doctor I’ve ever heard says that exercise is essential-you may lose weight, but you won’t necessarily being in good shape, or very healthy. Diet alone won’t build good muscle tone and keep you fit.
If you’re obese, and you lose weight via dieting alone, then (all else being equal) you will be healthier.
And I’m not saying not to exercise. Quite the contrary… cardiovascular exercise is *extremely * good for you. (I run 5 days a week.) But if you’re obese, then simply losing weight is *also * good for you. And my original point was that permanently weight loss is *primarily * achieved by permanently modifying the diet.
If you’re obese, yeah. But you need to burn calories some way, and I would think that it would be more pleasant to exercise and be able to enjoy a reasonable diet rather than by starving yourself.
Do you have an actual heart rate monitor? Or are you using those touch things on the treadmill? (one of those is fairly unreliable) Even then, heart rate monitor training completely failed for me (though I was measuring accurately while everything was getting worse).
Lumpy, it sounds like you really don’t like jogging, much less want to. So don’t. Running and jogging are not the only kinds of exercise out there. Find something you actually like doing and do that. Try walking, the elliptical trainer, stair climbing, swimming, cycling, a sport or two, weights, whatever until you find something you enjoy enough to keep going back to it. If I’m reading it wrong, and you really do want to run, you’re just getting winded fast - that happens. Slow down, alternate between walking and running, go to the cool running site to get some tips. In the long (and short) runs , diet is going to be far, far, far more important than exercise. But exercise is a place to start.
Lumpy, I’m 5’9" and 235, so my BMI is fairly close to yours. (In fairness, I have a stocky, muscular frame and would be 185 or 190 even if I were very trim.) Because of my sheer weight, my shins, arches and knees dislike jogging. Let me share my cardio secret with you:
elliptical.
I discovered it last year and love it. It allows me to get my heart rate up and work up a good sweat, while having almost no hard impact on my joints. I used to have to stop jogging after a mile or so, just because my shins hurt so bad. Now, I can do 2.5 or 3 miles on an elliptical. Virtually all gyms have them, or there are reasonably affordable home units.
I do luuuuuurve my elliptical.
As far as running goes, buddy–if I can jog, anyone can jog . It took me months to be able to jog (translation: shuffle) more than a block at a time… but I took it slowly, walking briskly and speeding up the shuffle when I felt like I could, slowing back to a brisk walk after a few steps or half a block or a minute or ten minutes or whatever my body would let me do. At first I’d walk five minutes, jog (shuffle) one, walk a few minutes, jog a minute or two, and so on.
Now I shuffle a couple miles a couple times a week when the weather’s accomodating
Former fatty here who’s lost 75 pounds so far this year. Several folks here have focussed on joint pain, but there’s another problem to consider: skin chafing.
When I first started working out, my chubby thighs rubbed together something fierce. I used to get abraded, bleeding patches on my inner thighs. It was bad. I could barely walk sometimes because the chafing was so painful. In fact, after one vigorous workout, my inner thighs were so raw that I called in sick the next day (and I never call in sick.) There was also a lot of friction where my upper arms rubbed against my trunk.
I solved the problem by using skin lubricants designed to alleviate chafing. If the OP or anyone else is having this problem, let me know and I’ll recommend some products.
. It took me months to be able to jog (translation: shuffle) more than a block at a time… but I took it slowly, walking briskly and speeding up the shuffle when I felt like I could, slowing back to a brisk walk after a few steps or half a block or a minute or ten minutes or whatever my body would let me do. At first I’d walk five minutes, jog (shuffle) one, walk a few minutes, jog a minute or two, and so on.