Am I on the right track?

[ccaCoty]

Hi all, I'm an 18 year old, 5'9'' and was around 178 pounds a week ago. After not doing much exercise at all and not watching what I eat, not liking the size of my gut etc, a few days ago I decided I was going to lose about 15-20 pounds. My BMI sits at around 26, therefore being overweight. It should be noted I have quite a lot of muscle in my upper body.

Anyway, I started running on Tuesday for the first time in ages, and have now been running each day with my dog for around half an hour walking him after for another half hour, also walking later on for around 15-20 minutes. Unfortunately, going from nothing to much more has caused the muscles in my legs to get really worn out. They ache and it's hard to walk down the stairs or get up, the pain is in my thigh and I researched this as overuse. The same pain has developed in my lower leg.

I initially thought eating next to nothing would be a good idea, but ruled this out yesterday when someone told me it was only a very short term solution and dangerous in the long run. So I've started a new eating pattern, where I have shredded wheat and black coffee in the morning, maybe pasta and some kind of salad with grapefruit, melon and grapes for lunch and dinner is never anything set if you will.

A problem (more physiological than anything) is that I've become a little obsessed with measuring my weight. It measured 179 pounds just over a week ago, and after my first run (two days ago) decreased to 173. This really encouraged me, but it went up to 176 by the day's end. Yesterday after my run it measured 172.5, going back to 176 at the end of the day. After my run today, I weighed 171.5 pounds, but was really angered as it went up to 178 a couple of hours after. I figured it was just because I'd eaten, but it showed how obsessive I'm getting over weight measurments.

Like I said, I want to get down to about 162 pounds, so am I on the right track to achieve that fairly quickly? I'll have to cut down on running to maybe 4-5 times a week but I'll continue to walk everyday.

Overall, is my new lifestyle healthy? I know the way I eat is a lot better, but I'm worried about this muscle pain I've been getting.
_________________________
Answer 40 simple questions and receive a personalized online method of weight loss of 5-7 kg per month.
Your Personalized Diet Plan in 15 Minutes

[sweetgloss]

Hi there

Im sorry but I think you have go a little easier on yourself, start a little more gradually and build up your exercise over a few weeks - automatically going from no/little exercise to running daily cannot be good for you... no wonder your really sore..

PLEASE put your scales away - I so know where you are coming from, I became obsessive myself a few months ago when losing weight, checking my weight anywhere from 2 - 10 times a day. Not healthy I can tell you that right now. Because your weight fluxuates (sp?) so much in a day everytime you see yourself go up a little in weight it disheartens you and you are more likely to fail...
Weigh yourself once a week and keep track of your weight loss, the other thing you can do is take your measurments every month and you can see your progress that way.

Good luck to you sweetheart! Put those scales away!!

[krysalyss]

Hey there. It is easy to go full on at the beginning and then you get injured or you plateau and lose motivation.
My advice to you is to find a sport that you really enjoy (maybe jogging is it?). For example I play soccer once a week and train once a week. On game night I run for 90 mins but hardly even notice. The days that I jog (to help my soccer game) I count almost every step because for me it is really boring. So find something you really like and team sports are great because you have to go for the rest of the team.
You also need to mix up your sports so it isn't all full on but some are recovery. The day after a big game or jog I do a pilates video which really helps build strength and the muscles to recover. Your muscle pain could be just a reaction to use (e.g. lactic acid) or it could be over use or it could be injury. When you decide on which different forms of exercise you are going to do you need to look at how to warm up and down properly and which muscle you should work to strengthen. If you can afford a physiotherapist then I think you should see one, if you can't do a bit of research on the internet but check the sites you get info from for credibility.

Your eating sounds fine but if you aren't sure how much you should be eating then go to the calorieking website and build a profile there to count - it is free - and you can probably eat more than you think you can while still losing weight.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your journey.