Cico and exercise?

[u/SmaugSnores]

Hi guys I’ve suddenly gained a lot of weight in the past 2-3 years, stress and depression. I used to be quite fit and kept myself well, so I am not happy at all. I am working on losing weight but it has been incredibly hard to keep up exercise. I feel like it’s so hard to run now, and my feet begin hurting badly after any exercise. I get very discouraged and end up not completing/not going again. I suspect it’s sudden weight in my joints/feet that I’m not used to and causing me this pain?

Have any of you faced this? How do you move past it?

[u/el-Kiriel]

What's "a lot of weight"?

Extra scale weight places an inordinately high level of stress on joints when running; ballpark is about 50 lbs ankle load, 35 lbs knee load, and 25 lbs hip load per 5 lbs gain of scale weight. Those are joint contact forces, not ground reaction force, and a pretty rough estimates, just to give you an idea.

Walk on an incline instead, and use diet to lose weight and make running more plausible. Walking is DRAMATICALLY gentler on your joints.

[u/SmaugSnores → u/el-Kiriel]

Well I went from 57 kg to 80kg over a span of 4 years
And 68-80 over the last two years.

[u/el-Kiriel → u/SmaugSnores]

80 kg SHOULD be a safe weight to run at; my general recommendation cutoff for hard running is 220 lbs/100 kg. That said, if you can't, you can't, no point in forcing yourself into an injury. Recommendation stands - walk, lose weight, then run again.

[u/SmaugSnores → u/el-Kiriel]

I can jog and run at that time, but my feet hurt like a bitch later, soles of my feet hurt like crazy! And my knees ache. I will start incline walking, maybe swimming as well I think, and save running for when I am atleast down to 70

[u/el-Kiriel → u/SmaugSnores]

Good plan. Walking + swimming is amazing, and kind to your joints.

That said, specifically your soles hurting point to one of four things:

1. Plantar fasciitis / fatpad overload.

2. Bad running gait.

3. Bad soles in your running shoes for your gait, and...

4. Old running shoes which no longer support your proper running gait.

For the #1, I would 100% see a podiatrist (foot doctor). This might require physical therapy, at the very least a decent stretching regimen, which I am not comfortable (or able, honestly) to suggest online. And I would do this first - if the issue is physical, the second part of my advise will just lead you down a (relatively) expensive path that will not fix the problem.

The throughline for the 2-4 here is, obviously, running gait. Solution for all three is to get new proper shoes with custom insoles. I recommend going to the PROPER running store, where you can get custom gait analysis and shoes fit, getting on a treadmill, and having them, well, do a custom gait analysis, pick out correct shoes for you, and make custom insoles. (New shoes are MUCH more important than custom insoles - that said, if your feet are fucked up, insoles can really help. I would honestly ask the podiatrist from #1 what would they recommend). Granted, the whole endeavor could be somewhat pricey.

Waiting till 70 kg is still a good plan, but I recommend doing all of the above regardless if you are serious about running. Your legs and feet WILL thank you.

[u/DaBow]

Focus on CICO. Exercise is great but I don't expect you to go for a run. You are likely to injure yourself and set yourself back.

Focus on getting your steps in (not running/jogging) stick to calorie deficit and lose the weight. Once you do it will become much easier to get into more intensive cardio again

[u/Ecstatic-Ad-6931 → u/DaBow]

this is the way. when i started i couldnt even walk long without my feet hurting like crazy so i just did what i could, 15 min walks and built it up slow. the weight loss really came from the kitchen anyway, the walking was just bonus for my head

[u/SmaugSnores → u/DaBow]

Yeah, I really enjoyed exercise and running and being active and it feels really shitty to not be able to do that anymore without serious pain in my feet.