Leg Pain for Obese Beginners

[SunsetRunner]

I've recently made the decision to get healthy due to getting tire of being tired! I'm over 300 LBS and started walking 2 miles a day. I know that's not a lot for most of you, but for someone my size, it is an accomplishment. When I go on these walks, I do a brisk walk to keep my heart rate up, however I am having lower leg pain on the sides of my legs. Does anyone know what this could be and how to fix it so I can continue to do my walks and be able to go longer distances? The pain isn't all the way up my leg, just above my ankles a few inches and just on the sides. I have been wearing Skechers Ultra walking shoes, which are really comfortable with the memory foam goga mat insole, but I don't know what I need to change to help this leg pain to stop. Its been 2 weeks so far and legs still hurt when I go on my walks. I was hoping they would get used to it, but so far no luck! On the bright side, I've lost 11 LBS since beginning my journey to better health! 🙂 Any advice would be greatly appreciated! 🙂 

[Aniiee]

Either slow down or shorten your walk. I know the idea is super frustrating, but being 300 lbs and going from basically 0 to 2 miles (or 3 km as I would call it) in how many minutes? is, yes, an accomplishment, and also a setup for injury and/or failure. Start with half a mile for a week. Add another half mile per week as long as you feel "that was an easy week" every sunday/monday. You're better of taking it slow, instead of heading full speed/distance into an injury that immobilizes you for weeks.

Also, do stretches, especially the one where you angle your foot upward. Heel on the floor, toes against a wall, and press your knee forward gently. I've forgotten what it's called....

[shipo]

@SunsetRunner, there are so many variables here I'm not sure any one answer will be accurate...

Regarding your size and distance, I'd strongly recommend you slow down and cut the distance until the pain is under control.  My thoughts on your situation:

Pain, especially leg pain, can be from many-MANY causes.  Here are but a few:

• Shoes: just because Person "A" has a high quality shoe which works for them in no way guarantees Person "B" will be able to safely walk in those same shoes.  The shoes you're wearing may, or may NOT be correct for you.  There are several ways of figuring out which shoes work best for you, and most of them involve spending some money:
  • Make an appointment with a podiatrist and have your feet and gait analyzed and then ask for a shoe recommendation to fit your needs.
  • Go to a high quality running store (virtually all of them sell a wide range of walking shoes as well) and have one of their on-staff trainers evaluate your gate and foot shape, and then try on literally every shoe in the store which even remotely meets the criteria.
  • Go to an online store, say, https://www.roadrunnersports.com, and look up their fitment guides; then have some pretty good tools there to teach you how to analyze your issues and then match you up with shoes which may well meet your criteria.
• Surface: I've coached lots of beginners, and due to a series of unfortunate events, have been a beginner myself several times in my life.  What I've found is almost universal is, if the beginner starts on dirt or grass, injury is far less likely; personally I prefer irregular trail surfaces as that ensures each stride has a different stress factor for your legs than the next.
• Distance: Yes, you need to start someplace, however, sometimes we tend to start too fast.  Last December, which marked a nearly 4-year period where I had pneumonia, then a badly fractured big toe, then a torn arch tendon, then a broken leg, and finally COVID, I ranked myself as a "beginner", and while I wasn't quite as heavy as you, there are pretty good odds I'm shorter too, so yeah, my BMI was up in the "Morbidly Obese" category.  So, when I got started, a week or so before Christmas, I started working out at a whopping quarter of a mile at a time.  That leads to my next point...
• Frequency: When getting started, especially when getting started, taking at least one rest day between exercise days is paramount; your body needs the rest to recover from the new stresses you're putting on it.  Back to my Christmas 2020 restart, I didn't exercise two consecutive days for over a month, and even then it was only two days in a row.  Looking at my logs, I didn't try three days in a row until a month after that.
• Logging: I have found if you log your exercise, along with observations of pain and stamina and such, you'll get a pretty good idea of A) your progress, and B) what you can work on next.
• LSD: No, not that LSD, this one is called Long Slow Distance.  Instead of speeding up to keep your heart rate "up", keep your speed slow and as you get stronger, extend your distances.  Here's the thing, your cardio/pulmonary and muscular systems develop relatively rapidly, your skeletal, joint, and connective tissue systems develop at a MUCH slower pace.  If you continually keep the pace up near your aerobic thresholds, getting injured is a "When" not "If" proposition.

[BamaDan]

I started walking again when I weighed 315 pounds. That was 2 months ago and I've only lost 10 pounds. I had terrible pain in my legs too, but I have bad arthritis. A cortisone shot helped the pain in my lower legs and back but after a week or so it wore off. I started out walking 20 minutes once a day and built up. 20 minutes twice a day, 30 minutes twice a day and now most days I try to do at least 45 minutes 3 times a day. I managed to get 30,000 steps and 11 or 12 miles in one day but it was tough. I'm not able to work because of health problems. I can manage to walk 10 miles sometimes but I have to split it up. When I walked 30,000 steps I did 45 minutes and rested for 2 or 3 hours. Took me all day. I still have bad pain in my legs and feet. New shoes helped but the pain is still unbearable sometimes. Everybody says it will get better when you lose weight. I hope so. I see people that can go jog for an hour and easily get 4 miles in. I couldn't run if a bear was after me. I walk with a cane most of the time. My goal weight is to eventually get back down to 240 like I was in my early 20's. That's still overweight but not morbidly obese like I am now. I want to get down to 200 by my 50.th birthday if I can. That's only a year and a half away. I might not get there but I wanna get as close as I can. Good luck with the walking. Don't overdo it though.

[shipo]

@SunsetRunner, kind of as an epilogue to the above post, since I started this workout plan on 23-Dec-2020, I've traversed 637 miles and lost between 35 and 40 pounds, even with keeping my pace nice and slow.  Yeah, I still have another 20+ pounds to go, and it is always the last 20 pounds which takes the longest, but I'm confident I'll get there by the end of the summer.  🙂

[PastorSean]

I am smidge over 400 and was going to start off with walking as an exercise. I walk at work every since I have to move around the office often. Well, my weight combined with my flat feet have caused considerable foot pain/ankle pain. So far I have been nursing it for a week and it is setting me back. I understand your frustration. Keep pushing though and make adjustments where needed. You can do this!

[dorisKu]

I personally have 4-6 pairs of walking shoes and alternate between walking everyday.  Four years ago, I had similar pain your describing and it felt like fire below the knee at time and eventually progressed to hip area. I finally went to see a Back & Neck doctor... they discovered bulged discs x 2, old lumbar fractures that had scar tissue around/ near the spinal cord. Ultimately spinal surgery was the only answer, I'm fine now.

[DavideFitbit]

I have leg pain as well, but it's because of the hernias I have on my lower back 😔. 

I noticed I had more pain last year if I tried to walk too much right from the beginning. What I did is that I started with a small step goal and I increased it a little bit every month, like a couple thousand steps. This helped my legs to get used to the amount of exercise and now I don't feel any pain. 

[BASILCHIVES]

you have undertaken a journey with a lot of enthusiasm, congratulations to you.   When I first started walking my dog I had awful pains on the sides of my shins, it was too much too soon.  I do go to a reputable sports store and buy my walking shoes there, but let me tell you that walking on pavement is the worst thing for me, I have 2 bad knees and it can be very painful. If I am walking a trail on grass, dirt or gravel I am able to do a lot more,  So go to a store and let them recommend a good shoe for your size and activity, and try to walk off pavement.   You might need to shorten your walks to 4 half mile jaunts spread out until your body gets used to it, Good luck.

[the4as]

I have had several spinal surgeries and a partial spinal cord injury.  My last surgery was the beginning of April this year.  Prior to surgery, I was barely walking.  When I first started, I was over zealous, partly because it had been so long since I was able to walk.  I set my step goal at 1,000 steps per day.  It took several weeks but I made it.  Then I bumped it up to 1,200 steps per day because that was the highest point I had reached.  I was just about to bump it up again, but I started Physical Therapy in a Therapeutic Pool, which has set me back.  However, I don't wear my fitbit in the pool, so that time and steps are not counted.  The remainder of the day of therapy (which is in the morning) and the next day, I struggle to be active, some days even the morphine and oxycodone don't touch the pain.  My pain is in my low back, hips and knees mostly.  Can a person lower their step goal?  And if you do, what happens to all the other days that I beat the higher goals?  My neurosurgeon reassured me to go slow and steady and be patient, that complete healing can take up to six months to a year. But good thing is that I have lost 24 pounds since surgery on my back in April, mostly because I can move and walk.  I want to keep going.  Thank you for any input or advice.

[DavideFitbit]

Thank you for sharing your experiences with this, @BASILCHIVES @the4as. 😃

There is a comforting feeling knowing what other people have done to deal with similar difficult situations in their lives. 

[the4as]

Thank you.  I agree it is comforting to know that I am not the only one.  It is also helpful to read others' ideas and suggestions and what has helped/worked for them. 

[SunsetRunner]

@SunsetRunner Well done! My adivice to you is

1) Take it easy. Maybe walk less and/or slower each time, but try to walk something everyday or 6 days a week. This takes time, it could be several months, to get into the daily routine and see results. The body needs time to adjust it self to the new efforts without getting problems. Most common, sometimes serious, are in the ankles and knees. But also muscle pains, more in the beginning. Keep hydrated. One of those isotonic (?) drinks used by athletes during and after exercise can help a lot with leg muscle pains. They quickly give back to the body the ions lost by sweating.

2) Speak to your doctor or farmacist. A magnesium supplent helps a lot with muscle pains and cramps. See if you may need also supplements for the knees and ankles, based on glucosamine and chondroitin, to avoid serious ankle and knee problems in the future. I am over 60 and, after years walking and cycling, one of my knees just stopped me from doing this exercises - strong pain due to damaged cartilage. After starting taking a glucosamine and chondroitin supplement, it took me more than a year to walk again without limping. But now everything is ok again.

Good walks!

[DavideFitbit]

Yes, definitely @the4as! 😀 

[jamiefulen]

Congrats @SunsetRunner! Starting any exercise program is hard.  Keeping it going is even harder.  Make sure you give yourself a big pat on the back for your perseverance.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned that I feel is very important is STRETCHING.  When we stay inactive for a long time then jump back into an exercise program we have to work with our muscles and ligaments to keep them stretched and supple in order to prevent tightness and injury.  Something as simple as ankle flexion (moving the ankle left and right, up and down) after a walk can help keep the lower leg area.  You will also want to pay attention to your hip area as well as misaligned hips can and will cause all kinds of issues with knees and legs.

Good luck and keep moving!

[DavideFitbit]

Stretching is something many people don't pay attention to @jamiefulen , but it has a tremendous impact on the body. I tore a muscle last year because of lack of stretching before the workouts, so I learned this the hard way. 😅

[MichaelAdamski]

You are absolutely right!

[ValentinRodgers]

It doesn’t matter how much you do, but how often you do something. Being consistent is the most effective way to reach your goal. When I was to lose my extra weight (I was 300lbs), I began walking too. Soon it turned out that walking is way more effective than running. If I had begun running with my weight, I’d have destroyed my knees and other joints. After 2 months of walking daily, I lost about 50 lbs. Then I decided to go to a physiotherapy clinic to ask for help. Their physiotherapist prescribed me to do some exercises. So, eventually, I lost 152 lbs. Actually, according to my analysis, I’ve also seen a dietologist who has prescribed me a special diet. All in all, I think that dieting is 70% of successful weight loss. What do you think about it?