Am I doing more harm than good here? (Jogging/Stairs)
 

Hey everyone! I weigh 277 as of this morning. Three months ago I started eating better and trying to be more active. My bf and I have a split level home, so we decided to have a little competition to see who could log the most stair climbs in a month. On most days I did only about 15. I also walk at least 20 minutes on the treadmill most days, with intermittent jogging. At least once or twice a week I walk(mostly)/jog 3 miles. I also have two kids who frequently require carrying/lifting and both weight about 35-40 lbs. I'm only 25, but my knees and have started to become pretty uncomfortable. Particularly my knees in the last few months. They feel hot and they literally creak/crack/pop when I do squats or jog. Anyone else experience this? Ideas? Are there specific exercises I should do to improve my knees?

In my experience, jogging is the hardest exercise on my knees. I try to do a lot of lower impact exercises like the elliptical, arc trainer, and bike to protect my knees. Maybe cut out the jogging until your knees start to recover? I would alternate between different walking speeds and inclines to get the interval training feel. From what I have read, I think that experts tend to disagree on whether overweight people should run...some say that it is too hard on the knees and other joints, and others say it is a great way to become leaner.

Maybe a trip to the doctor is a good idea to make sure you are not ruining your knees. I know that, whenever I add jogging, it is pretty hard on my body though, and when I take a break from it, my knees tend to recover

Walking has always been easiest on my knees. The good news is that once you lose a little more weight your knees will feel much better. Even at 270 my knees felt way better than at 280!

I can't guess at what is causing your knee pain, but I can share my situation. I am on my 2nd bout of runner's knee (patellofemoral pain syndrome) and am currently in physical therapy for it. My situation has been caused most likely by weak hips. My PT plan is weight training to strengthen my hips (I've been working on strengthening my other leg muscles since my first round of runners knee, I guess my hips were just slower to develop).

I'm still running about 20 miles a week, but my PT says no stair climbing exercise. Obviously, I walk up and down stairs...but just not a concentrated exercise effort of stair climbing. He says it puts more strain on my knees vs. running. In fact, shortly before my runners knee symptoms came back this time, I was doing a stair climbing group exercise event once a week. My PT is wondering if this activity was the thing that brought my problem back.

If you can see an orthopedic doctor about your knees I'm sure you'd get some great advice! My PTs have said that women are more prone to knee issues because of our wider hips. Means your thigh bones come to your knee at more of an angle vs. men. And knee problems often stem from an issue further up the body...like hips, quads, glutes, etc.

Best of luck to you! :)

Thanks everyone! I think I will mostly walk briskly at a variable speed now, as suggested. At least for a while, as I REALLY want to start C25K eventually!

straightahead: thank you for the reply, the running sure does feel hard on my body as well. I think I just may talk to the doc about it when I go again.

unlikely rebound: I do get fearful at times that it might actually be my hips, as my mom just underwent her second hip replacement at 56, and it seems like many knee issues originate in the joints above/below them! I hope yours are starting to improve!

Thanks for the hope IanG, I'm happy to know it gets better as the weight comes off more!