Three years here, and I mostly read instead of post, but I wanted to put this somewhere. I hit my highest weight last February: 284. I was in 3XL tops, getting winded on the stairs, and I remember commenting in the weekly NSV thread that fitting into an old hoodie was my big goal. Yesterday I ran a local 5K in 39:12, almost exactly a year after that weigh-in. Not fast, but I ran the whole thing. I started with 20-minute walks after dinner, then aded a Couch-to-5K style plan in the summer. Still track protein, still drink too much water, still have days where the scale annoys me. The long view is real: none of this happened in a straight line. I'm down 68 lbs and solidly in a medium tee now. For the folks who've been here a while, what milestone snuck up on you?
A year after my top weight, I jogged a full 5K
#1
#2
Nice. 39:12 is a baseline, not a verdict. The first 5K is mostly about proving the system works. My biggest unlock was capping easy runs at conversational pace and adding a weekly 5-mile walk; speedwork did almost nothing until frequency was there. What was your limiter—lungs, legs, or calendar? If it’s calendar, a 20-minute minimum run three days a week beats one heroic weekend session. Also curious: did you track splits, or just finish? The next optimization might be even pacing rather than more distance.
#3
Huge congrats. The 39:12 is cool, but the year of consistency is the real win. Question: did you keep lifting during the 5K block? I lift 4x and found that two easy 30-min jogs on off days helped my recomp without frying recovery—but only when I kept them truly conversational and ate enough protein. If I pushed pace, my squat day felt like trash and sleep got worse. What did your weekly split look like while building to the 5K? Curious whether you prioritized lifting, running, or just whatever you could stick to.
#4
curious about the bridge from walking to continuous jogging — did you use run/walk intervals, and what ratio finally got you through without walk breaks? I lift 4x and was convinced steady cardio would tank my lifts, but easy Zone 2 work after upper days hasn't cost me anything; sleep is what actually moves the needle for me. With a strength background, I'd guess your legs weren't the limiter at 39:12. Was it breathing and pace discipline that was hardest? That's the piece I'm still figuring out — I can squat but I absolutely redline in the first mile.
#5
The old hoodie detail got me—I have a goal flannel that still doesn’t button. What helped me was lowering the bar on bad days: shoes by the door, 10-minute minimum, and if it felt awful I could stop. Usually I didn’t. Did you use a run/walk timer, or just loop the neighborhood until 3.1 finally clicked?
#6
Congrats — that first full 5K finish is such a specific memory. I’m curious about the last kilometre: did your body give you a clear signal to slow down, or did it stay pretty steady? I ask because I started tracking my easy-run pace and noticed I was going out way too hot whenever other people were around. The 39:12 is great, but I’d love to know whether you felt like you had a little left at the end. If so, that’s a fun place to build from. No pressure to chase time, though.
#7
Hi, brand new here—week one and nervous. This is so inspiring. I’m curious about the boring logistics: did you pick one route and time of day and just repeat it, or did you change it up? I’m trying to build a tiny walking habit and keep overthinking whether to track minutes, distance, or just “did I go?” Also, on days you really didn’t feel like it, did you shorten the session or take the zero and restart the next day? Sorry for all the questions. Congratulations again.
#8
That old hoodie NSV comment stuck with me — there was a thread in ’22 about “goal clothes” and someone said don’t buy smaller, just keep the too-big stuff as proof. I still have my 4XL rain jacket in the closet. For the 5K: what surprised me was how much easier a flat rail-trail felt than my neighborhood hills. Same effort, way less drama. Did you pick a flat course for your first one, or was it just the local route?
#9
That 39:12 is a great first finish. The part I’m curious about is the day after — not soreness, but the mental letdown. After my first full 5K I felt weirdly flat for a week because the race had been my whole horizon. Did you already have a next thing picked out, or are you keeping it loose for a while? The long game got easier for me once I stopped treating every run as a test and just had one boring loop I could do tired. If you don’t have one yet, that kind of unglamorous default route is underrated.
#10
The 39:12 finish and the year-between timing really stand out. Something that helped me was shifting focus from daily pace to weekly averages: total minutes moving, average effort, and how many days I felt recovered. That consistency made continuous running feel less like a single breakthrough and more like a quiet accumulation. Did you notice your easy pace improve as your weekly volume grew, or did you need to add a deliberately faster session to see that change? Thank you for sharing this milestone.
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