Too much too soon?

[GreenPlum]

OK, Going to lay it all out there - I'm 45, 5ft 4in and 20 stone. Gulp!
Background - I've always been overweight and tend to yo-yo having tried every diet going. I've never really been that good at sustaining regular exercise.
Time is limited because I care for my dad full time and I only have a window of two hours when he snoozes in the morning. Money is limited too and then there's coronavirus. Dad is shielding so my whole family is effectively too, to keep him safe.
Here's the thing - I'm currently well motivated and my goal is 15,000 steps a day. I can only hit that with a dedicated five mile walk that I do in two hours. From my house I've got two circular routes. One is really hilly and the other is flat.
I've done one or other of them every day for the last six days. I'm fucking knackered by the end of it but dead chuffed. However, my feet are killing me. (The tops, not the bottoms) I recover from the fatigue quickly. My leg muscles (front of calf mostly) are a bit sore but totally within normal range, but the tops of my feet and around the front of my ankles really hurt.

Am I just too heavy? Am I walking wrong? Am I walking too far? Is every day too much? Any thoughts?

you're doing a lot in a short space of time. Give yourself a couple of rest days to recover. Its a big jump from doing nothing to 15000 steps, maybe try building up gradually. And what shoes are you wearing? Maybe they are not supportive enough for the distance you are walking

Thanks. I'm wearing really good Karrimor walking boots. I wore my Asics trainers one day but it was no better.

Be careful! I started walking at the beginning of lockdown and got really into it - i was doing up to 7 miles a day sometimes. I'm not overweight but I wanted to get fitter and I hadn't been doing any exercise really, so I thought walking was a good way to start, without causing any injuries. I had proper running shoes so all good there.

After 3 weeks I felt a twinge of pain in my heel so I eased off and rested for a few days, then tried a few shorter walks, but sadly the damage was done. I had Plantar Fasciitis and I haven't been able to walk at all (for exercise) since April. Sometimes I've barely been able to even walk around my house, the pain has been so bad.

I would cut right back on the distance / steps you are doing. Start by doing a week of say 1.5 miles, then gradually increase the distance on week two etc. Good luck!

Rest days are as important as exercise days. Muscles need to recover. Well done for doing all those miles

Ah ok then! Thank you so much! I just see and hear about so many people doing 15,000 steps a day and figured if it's just walking, rather than running or weights etc. then I should be able to too.

It's bloody tough and I figure it's cos I'm so damn heavy! I didn't know whether I just need to suck it up or whether I was doing too much. Thankfully I haven't done any serious damage.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply with sound advice. I'll take it on board and drop down a bit and build it up more gradually. Obvious really!

@Allthebears

Be careful! I started walking at the beginning of lockdown and got really into it - i was doing up to 7 miles a day sometimes. I'm not overweight but I wanted to get fitter and I hadn't been doing any exercise really, so I thought walking was a good way to start, without causing any injuries. I had proper running shoes so all good there.

After 3 weeks I felt a twinge of pain in my heel so I eased off and rested for a few days, then tried a few shorter walks, but sadly the damage was done. I had Plantar Fasciitis and I haven't been able to walk at all (for exercise) since April. Sometimes I've barely been able to even walk around my house, the pain has been so bad.

I would cut right back on the distance / steps you are doing. Start by doing a week of say 1.5 miles, then gradually increase the distance on week two etc. Good luck!

That sounds awful. I hope it gets better soon.

Can you do some beginner HIIT workouts on YouTube while your dad sleeps. That way there be less pressure just on your ankles and you'd use other muscles. There are a lot of low impact workouts on YouTube
Or you could try yoga,

It might be good to take rest days or maybe if you don't want to lose momentum do some arm exercises when you are resting your feet. Or how about stretching and yoga, there are youtube videos with different exercises for all abilities. Careful to not do damage, if you are in pain rest up.

Good idea! I'll have a look. Thank you so much!

Echoing all the posts about starting more gently...

Your muscles and tendons etc take around 12 weeks to develop and adapt to new stresses, so start of more gently, don't increase activity too quickly.

New runners are told to build up to 30 mins of continual jogging say 3 times per week over 8-10 weeks... then not to increase by more than 10% week on week.

So this would be a good guide for you and walking ... every other day for 30 mins to begin with, then build slowly to your 15,000 steps.

Yoga and stretching can be done very gently and will work well alongside walking to develop strength.

It's always tempting to push hard but you'll get there eventually and hopefully without pain!

Thank you so much. It's all obvious really, I just got carried away. All advice very gratefully received and taken on board!

I'm also 5'4 and lockdown put me to 14.8st, which is the heaviest I have ever been.
I've been completely miserable and kept telling myself I was going to do something about it for weeks, I tried several different YouTube videos that I just got bored of or I just found far too challenging, until I found the 7 minute workout. There are several different videos and different intensity's. I do one first thing in the morning, and another at lunch, as well as a short walk in the evening, I have so far lost 2.5 inches from my waist and am down to 13.12st and feel so much better for it. Because it's short bursts it's over with quickly. Good luck... it is hard but it will be worth it