Chris Christie on His Weight: 'If It Were Easy, I'd Already Have It Fixed'

[PDH]

Time isn't really as tight as it seems to be. 20 minutes after work in front of the TV or computer vs 20 minutes on a bike or jogging...even 20 minutes walking helps.  It is rarely the "lack of time" it is the "forcing oneself to actually do it" that is the problem.  A crappy bike on a roller time in the garage is better than the sitting there exhausted time.

It is odd how active people have less weight problems overall.

[CountDeMoney]

From the Couch to a 5K in 9 weeks.

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Hardest part is getting off the couch.

[merithyn]

It only takes 30-45 minutes to run 5 miles. The vast majority of people easily have that much spare time. And most people have teh ability to do it, even if it would take them a month or two before they coudl manage it.

Yeah, not me. I run 5 mph, and only for a short amount of time (2 minutes tops). I can't imagine at any point in my life being able to run 5 miles in 30-45 minutes. In an hour? Possibly, at some point.

By the way, I started the Couch to 5k a month ago, so a month or two is very ambitious for this kind of pace daily. Maybe six months... maybe.

[CountDeMoney]

By the way, I started the Couch to 5k a month ago, so a month or two is very ambitious for this kind of pace daily. Maybe six months... maybe.

Yeah, I was ramping it up last summer, but at least the pace helped to diagnose my adrenal disorder. 

[merithyn]

Time isn't really as tight as it seems to be. 20 minutes after work in front of the TV or computer vs 20 minutes on a bike or jogging...even 20 minutes walking helps.  It is rarely the "lack of time" it is the "forcing oneself to actually do it" that is the problem.  A crappy bike on a roller time in the garage is better than the sitting there exhausted time.

It is odd how active people have less weight problems overall.

Absolutely agree. Hell, even doing simple things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, getting off the bus a few stops earlier, parking at the back of the lot, etc., can make huge changes.

Three months ago I started walking home from work to get a good 3-mile walk in every day. I loved it. Then, a month ago, I joined a gym so that I could incorporate some weight training into my routine. (Plus, by then, the walking just wasn't enough anymore; I'd gotten too used to it. Hence the Couch to 5k, too.) Now, I manage to find 2 hours a day to exercise, which has really only cut into my computer/TV time. I'm still getting everything done that I did before AND I feel better than I've felt in years.

It wasn't hard for me because I was tired of being sick and tired, but it took me almost 15 years to get to that point. I really don't know what the change was that caused it, but I'm glad that it did. I'm not a hell of a lot lighter than I was three months ago (only down 7 pounds), but I FEEL better.

[Gups]

It only takes 30-45 minutes to run 5 miles. The vast majority of people easily have that much spare time. And most people have teh ability to do it, even if it would take them a month or two before they coudl manage it.

Yeah, not me. I run 5 mph, and only for a short amount of time (2 minutes tops). I can't imagine at any point in my life being able to run 5 miles in 30-45 minutes. In an hour? Possibly, at some point.

By the way, I started the Couch to 5k a month ago, so a month or two is very ambitious for this kind of pace daily. Maybe six months... maybe.

OK everyone is different but really you can only run 5mph for 2 minutes after training for a month? I know nothing about your training programme but it sounds a bit ineffective to me.

[merithyn]

OK everyone is different but really you can only run 5mph for 2 minutes after training for a month? I know nothing about your training programme but it sounds a bit ineffective to me.

Check out the Couch to 5k program. Two minutes AT A TIME. I do a run/walk interval that lasts 20 minutes with a 5 minutes warm up and 5 minute cool down. And the title kind of gives it away: COUCH to 5k. If you are horribly out of shape and overweight/obese, expecting to run 5 miles in 30-40 minutes within a month or two is ridiculous.

[sbr]

I haven't run 5 miles in 20 years.

[merithyn]

I haven't run 5 miles in 20 years.

But in a month you could do it in 30 minutes!  

[CountDeMoney]

I haven't run 5 miles in 20 years.

Me neither.  My days of keeping up with 17 year old Dazzling Urbanite slingers that could actually change direction in mid-air are long since gone, not that I kept up for very long in the first place. 

SHIT GET BACK TO THE CAR GET BACK TO THE FUCKING CAR

[alfred russel]

I think 5 miles in 30 minutes is aggressive.

But, as a personal example, when I first started running I couldn't go more than 2 minutes at any speed. I was badly out of shape. This isn't what the experts would recommend, but I started by just running as slow as possible as far as possible each day. In the beginning, that was 2 minutes--then I would go home. But I would go a house or two further each day, until I got to a mile. Once I got up to 2 miles, I could add distance at will (the limiting factor was I didn't want to add too much too quickly to avoid injury). I was at 5 miles in about 6 weeks.

There was a program NOVA did on couch potatoes to the Boston Marathon in 9 months. There were a few injuries and not everyone in the program made the marathon. But most were able to do it. Not all the times were good, but one of the guys that skipped a bunch of the training programs finished in under 4 hours (they said he won the genetic lottery, and it turns out he was a member of the Bush family  ).

[CountDeMoney]

(they said he won the genetic lottery, and it turns out he was a member of the Bush family  ).

So they were right.

[Gups]

It only takes 30-45 minutes to run 5 miles. The vast majority of people easily have that much spare time. And most people have teh ability to do it, even if it would take them a month or two before they coudl manage it.

Yeah, not me. I run 5 mph, and only for a short amount of time (2 minutes tops). I can't imagine at any point in my life being able to run 5 miles in 30-45 minutes. In an hour? Possibly, at some point.

By the way, I started the Couch to 5k a month ago, so a month or two is very ambitious for this kind of pace daily. Maybe six months... maybe.

I just checked the couch to 5K programme. The expected period is 9 weeks. That's 5km, but if you can do 5km you can do 5 miles. And you are expected to do it in 30 mins.

[alfred russel]

I just checked the couch to 5K programme. The expected period is 9 weeks. That's 5km, but if you can do 5km you can do 5 miles. And you are expected to do it in 30 mins.

I don't think 5 miles is unrealistic in 9 weeks, but 30 minutes is really moving. A 5k in 30 minutes is a bit under 10 min/mile. 5 miles in 30 minutes is 6 min / mile.

For a point of comparison, I can run 5 miles in 45 minutes without any great difficulty. But I know at my current fitness level I can't run a single mile under 6:45 no matter how hard I push. I recently met a guy that just got a track college scholarship to Wyoming with a 10k time of 38 minutes, and that is just over 6 min / mile.

[merithyn]

I just checked the couch to 5K programme. The expected period is 9 weeks. That's 5km, but if you can do 5km you can do 5 miles. And you are expected to do it in 30 mins.

5k is only three miles, not five. So, three miles in 30 minutes? Eventually, sure. Probably by the end of this month, if I continue to follow my app. Five miles in 30 minutes? Even five miles in 45 minutes? Yeah, not likely. Especially not in nine weeks. And even if I could, would I want to do that every day? I doubt it. I don't enjoy running that much.

The point is that your assertion that people just running 5 miles a day, every day, would fix all weight problems is ridiculous. Running isn't for everyone, and even some runners will never achieve that goal. It works for you, and that's awesome. My point in this entire thread is that every person is an individual, and as such, it requires an individual process for each one. There is no blanket system that will work with or for everyone. Even calories out/calories in has to be tweaked to find the right numbers for the individual. It is a process of refinement.