5 miles a day to start?

**Kiki** · 05-06-2006, 05:44 PM

I'm new here and went to a doctor yesterday. He wants me to do 10,000 steps or 5 miles a day. Is this normal or is it a little too extreme to start out with? I'm 33 at 203 lbs. and 5'3". He says I need to walk in the morning and also in the evening. I agree with this. I normally don't exercise at all and I know I need to get moving but I don't want to overdo it. Any thoughts or opinions on this?

Kiki

amandads · 05-06-2006, 10:46 PM

Well, he's the doctor LOL But from experience, not used to doing ANYTHING at all, well I would say do what you can. As long as you are doing SOMETHING that is more than you normally would, you are getting that exercise you need. If you can do the 5 miles, then by all means do it. But if you can't, do what you can would be my advice.

**allheart** · 05-08-2006, 11:01 AM

:eek: :eek: :eek: I may not be a doctor but that is ridiculous. You need to start out small and work up to it. It does not take long. I did it that way when I started out. You will burn up calories w/walking. I also have Body by Jake that I love. My doctor had me on 2 different anti-depresants and both made me gain so much weight ! I never weighed more than 120lbs. except when I was pregnant. I have been struggling for almost a yr. now to lose it. I have 17lbs. to go. They seem to be the most stubborn. I am also on a low-carb diet 30gr.per day or less. I only began the diet about 3 months ago. I wish you luck and I sure would not start out at 5 mi. Your Doc must be ornery. :P :-(

jrichmus · 05-08-2006, 12:50 PM

He isn't telling you to hike 5 miles. What he wants you to do is get a pedometer that shows how many steps you are taking. You should wear it all day, and check to see how many steps you take in a day while wearing it. Then see what you can do to increase the number to 10,000. Like, parking the car farther away from the store, taking a short walk at lunch time, and stuff like that. He just doesn't want you sitting while you're watching tv, if that's something that is a problem for you. You can get a pedometer that does what you need pretty inexpensively-why not try it so you can tell him that you did. If it doesn't work for you, then tell him! Seriously, if you are a busy mom, you may already be doing this-if you work at a desk all day, I'm not sure what you can do...

Julie

**Kiki** · 05-08-2006, 01:52 PM

Thanks Allheart. I agree 5 miles is too much at first.

Jrichmus, I got a peodmeter ($3.99) at Walmart. I'm only doing about 2.0 miles a day so far.

**Kiki** · 05-08-2006, 01:58 PM

Saturday - What a different day. I started off with a light breakfast and all my medicines washed down with 2 glasses of water. I then when for a walk for 1.5 miles. Not bad at all for someone who sits on her butt all day. I had to force myself to eat something for lunch. About 3 p.m. I started to feel weird after trying out a new aerobics tape "Billy Blanks Boot Camp". Lots more water. I felt sick to my stomach so I grabbed a snack of strawberries. The rest of the day I was pretty much worthless. I lost all the energy I had started out with. I think that I overdid it which doens't suprise me. Realized I had only had 600 calories!!!! My body was in major shock, but nice to know that I don't have to eat as much as I did.

1st day down and I'm off to a good start.

foxylady · 06-15-2006, 04:41 AM

I agree with the others - do what you can!
When I started in December 2005 I weighed 280lbs. I began walking about 2 miles a day maxing out at 3.5 on the treadmill. 2-3 months later I was walking 5-8 miles a day and began adding in some jogging. Now, 6 months later I'm able to jog those 5-8 miles between at a 8:34 - 10:00 minute mile. Not bad! And I've lost 91 lbs!
Do what ever it is you're comfortable doing and get moving, even if its just marching in place! Every little thing helps and before you know it you'll feel great, have tons of enegry, and best of all- you'll be shrinking!!! You've just gotta do it!

**Ian Robertson** · 09-30-2006, 05:42 AM

You'd be suprised by the level of inept advice given by a lot of physicians. Personally, my advice would be start with the 2 miles a day and maybe every 3-4 weeks tack on another 0.5 of a mile. Exercise is not cut and dried, if so the personal training industry would not exist. I've found that many variables of exercise are largely determined by trial and error. If someone has a herniated disc, then I have to find which exercises are appropriate and then find what their range of motion is for those exercises so that discomfort is not felt. However, I could have another client come in with the same herniated disc and they might be responsive to a totally different set of exercises and their range of motion could be better or worse than the other. So, remember that we are all different, so I would experiment. You want to work yourself, but don't push the envelope off the table, maybe try 3 miles a day see how that feels and see if that is maintainable, but gradually up the mileage.