[VermontChick]

They always say that you need to pace yourself and realize how much is "too" much. I've been exercising steadily for about a month now, and I'm still not quite making it to the end of the two mile walk on Walk Away the Pounds. When I first started, I couldn't make it to the end of the first mile....my question is...does this seem to be a normal pace? Should I be pushing myself farther? I don't know if it's because I'm lazy or I'm winded, but I'm usually pretty tired after a mile or so...some days I make it past a mile and a half...but today I was really tired after a mile.

I just wonder how far I should push myself...any thoughts?

[ONLY1SPECIALK]

I feel like as long as you are not endangering your health, you should push yourself alittle further. For the longest, I was only completing 40 mins. of the Firm Cardio Step, but today I completed the 1 hour and I am kind of proud of myself. For the majority of that tape, I was keeping up with those skinny Barbies . You may not always complete the 2 miles, but if you keep pushing yourself every now and then one day you will. Just imagine, this time next month you will be moving on to the 3 mile tape

[Angela_aka_Alice]

It's been a long time since I was in danger of overdoing it with exercise, but there WAS a time. And here was how I decided how much was too much. 1. If I was ever so sore that I impeded my ability to continue exercising daily, I would cut back a bit and stay at that level for a week or two, because exercising daily was helping me lose weight. 2. If I had serious pain in knees or ankles, I either slowed down, cut back, or switched to different kinds of exercise, because I live in fear of needing knee surgery.

It's also important, of course, to be having regular physicals. Is your blood pressure normal? If not, how's it doing? One thing that happened to me the last time I lost a lot of weight was that my blood pressure meds had to be adjusted--they were making me tired, because, after I'd lost 50 pounds, my old dose was actually too much.

Just some thoughts.

[VermontChick]

Angela -

Yeah I've learned that I really HAVENT been overdoing it, not until yesterday actually. I did Walk Away the Pounds for Abs, and I seriously thought at one point that my legs were going to buckle...I had no idea how I managed to do it...at one point I had to stop it (just after the mile and a half mark) and fast forward to the cool down cause I was sooooooooo out of breath..like wheezing (which definitely meant i was overdoing it).
I just got some cool Jenny Craig videos in the mail from ebay, I can't wait to use them....I used to use them when I was on Jenny Craig years ago, and they were fairly easy to follow along with.
Also, as far as my blood pressure goes, it's on the low-high side...in other words I have mild hypertension...I've never had a doctor suggest taking anything for it..I wonder if it's because I am so young? But hypertension runs in my family...my mom has it, my grandfather had it, and my aunt does too...neither my aunt nor my grandfather were overweight (just chronic smokers, )

Thanks for the response though...