Headaches

[Deleted User]

fiona aleksoska wrote (see)

im only jogwalking for 30min everyday tho coz iv just started. i dont think this is strenuous enough to have to take rest days. i was only soar the first couple of days when i started, now im fine, i dont wake up stiff or anything. so i think im doing ok, if i was doing too much i would feel it the next day wouldnt i?

also iv been doing this for over 2 weeks now and im not loosing weight, although i do feel my jeans being a bit looser. are my scales deceiving me??

Fi, if you've only been doing this a couple of weeks then rest days are pretty important - one or two days a week should be enough.

About the weight, this is a tricky one.  Try measuring your waist, hips, thighs and arms and take measurements every week or so - that should show you some results as your jeans are fitting better.  I've been running for about 6 months now and even though I look like I've lost about 2 stone, I've actually only lost about 11lb!  Ian's right, muscle is heavier than fat so you'll be burning fat whilst building muscle, so your weight won't necessarily drop that much, especially if you've not much to lose.

A friend who had about 5 stone to lose has lost 4 of those stones in 2 years.  The point is that if you've got a lot of fat to lose, running should see you lose that fairly quickly, but if you're not very overweight then the actual lbs lost won't be as dramatic, but you'll still see and feel huge benefits.

I also found that lifting weights in the gym has helped to tone me up slightly quicker, but again, the scales have stayed annoyingly static!

Keep with it, the results will be worth it in the long run.

Regards headaches, I found that I was getting headaches and was tensing my shoulders when doing challenging runs.  Try to relax your shoulders and more blood can then pass through to your brain, which should ease or minimise the headaches.  Tension headaches are caused by tension in the shoulders and back of the neck restricting blood flow, massaging the shoulders helps with this, and trying to keep them relaxed helps prevent them.  A good neck stretch in all directions should help if you feel it coming on, along of course with all the helpful nutritional advice here in this thread.

And when you're running, try not to clench the fists tightly, and try not to swing them up too high - up to the ribcage should be plenty high enough.

Hope this helps...