How long does it take to improve cardiovascular fitness?

Stick with it. If you do it 3-4 times a week, you will be bounding up to the 20th floor by Christmas.

How old are you, piggie? 🐷

Congrats for making the change!

You know how they say check with your physician before you start an exercise program, OP? Well, if your arteries are clogged because you've eaten crap food and become a fat whore, you are making things worse by forcing blood through clogged arteries with aerobic exercise. You need a calcium CT. It is the best predictor of a cardiovascular event. If you have a zero score, you can do whatever aerobic exercise you want with total abandon. If you have a higher score, you'd better get that remedied first. Keeling over on the stairs is no fun.

I'm 38, r2.

r3 I don't meet any of these criteria:

You have heart disease.

You have type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

You have kidney disease.

You have arthritis.

You're being treated for cancer, or you've recently completed cancer treatment.

You have high blood pressure.

I walk the stairs in my building, as well, OP....if you do it every day, multiple times a day, I'm sure you will make your goal within 30 days...it doesn't take long for your body to react to exercise. Just temper your diet as well, so you make progress on all fronts. Good luck...don't give up.

Thanks r6!

Good for your, OP. Keep it up...

I would say to work on your diet as well. The extra weight is hard on everything, including your knees, etc.

I actually like stairclimbing as an exercise.

I would say: don't walk *down* the stairs - very bad on your knees. (Walking up is the point, though.)

OP on the stairway.

It depends on how overweight you are. If you're just 30lbs overweight it shouldn't take long but if you're considerably heavier than your ideal weight it isn't going to be much easier until you lose a significant portion of that.

I'm about 25 lbs overweight r11

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!

Day 6 and it's getting SLIGHTLY easier

I used to be a medical writer. I once did an article for Mayo that reported climbing stairs instead of taking the elevator or escalator is the best cardio. Just always choose stairs whenever you can. Doesn’t have to be for hours at a time to get the benefits. Ever since I wrote it, I always take the stairs.

r15 it's helpful for me because it doesn't require any planning and it's goal-oriented (accessing my office is crucial). I can work it into my day and have no excuses for not doing it. Going to the gym requires effort and some days I can't find the time/motivation.

Good luck...you fat whore!

[quote] I once did an article for Mayo

You wrote for mayonnaise?

You'll be dead by the 7th floor.

r19 MARY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still alive, and while going up 10+ floors is still very difficult, it doesn't seem impossible like it did only a couple of weeks ago.

woohoo OP...another couple of weeks and you'll be sprinting. Those extra 25 lbs will be gone and you'll be back to being steaming hot. Stay with it!

Exercise doesn't make anyone thinner--it's almost all about completely changing your diet

In my experience, it helps me maintain my weight even if my diet is crap, r23

Yes, exercise is mainly for maintenance, not losing weight.

There are far more calories in every bite than you will lose by exercising.

Starve yourself 3 days of a week but drink lotsa water. Take sildenafil and theophylline every day - they help improve global cardiac function and reduces dyspnea in chronic obstructive lung disease.

I know that just taking the stairs won't make me lose weight; however, I'm hoping that improving my physical fitness will motivate me to eat better

Anything you do to improve your diet and get you in the habit of exercising is going to improve your cardiovascular fitness and just your overall health. The keys are to make whatever changes sensible and sustainable. If the only vegetables you can stand are green beans and carrots and the only exercise you enjoy is a walk around the block, try making them daily habits. If you get tired of them, try alternative vegetables and forms of exercise. Easy does it.

I walk up 20 flights of stairs three times a day!

I'm not finding the actual ascent getting easier (or if it is, I haven't noticed because I'm still huffing and puffing). But the time it takes my heart rate to return to normal is lessening.

Hey OP...hows the routine? Feeling better?

Yes, r31, although I came down with a nasty cold Thursday (not COVID, already tested negative) and I took a break for a couple of days.

[quote]My ultimate goal is to take the stairs up all 20 floors

Why, is there a bakery on the 20th floor?

Thanks r33! No, it's just the principle of it for me.

I'm starting to run up every third flight of stairs during my ascent ... makes it faster but I get more winded (obviously)

I agree that for your overall health it really is true that you are what you eat. If you aren't regularly eating vegetables start doing so, knocking on 40 is a perfect time to start being more serious about your health. Get rid of the sugar.

Download the pacer app. It will let you keep track of how many steps you are getting in each day.

OP, how do you know you don't have heart disease?

If you're male and average height I can't believe you're making such a fuss over of a 25 lb gain. That's pretty easy to lose and anything that gets you moving will help your cardio.

38 is pretty young to die from drama queen-itis.

Best of luck.

Your heart will never get better, that's what a heart doctor once told me, but you can stabilize it for a few more years. If your heart is deteriorating then your kidneys will die out soon. The sad, final days befall you.

I am OP's supervisor. He was found DEAD on the stairwell of the 14th floor Friday. Thoughts and Prayers are welcome. We are meeting at our local Pizza Hut for a memorial lunch two weeks from Tuesday. Ginny from accounting has her baby shower there this Tuesday so we had to delay it.

You bitches are relentless!

I am rooting for you, OP!!!

That's right, R37, once the heart cells die off, e.g., from a heart attack, they don't regenerate. The point of heart bypass surgeries and other heart related procedures, medication, etc., is to restore proper channels of blood to the heart to PREVENT heart attacks.

I was able to get from floor 1 to floor 20 this morning without stopping. For some reason, it got easier when I hit floor 15 -- maybe it was the adrenaline.

OP that has happened to me a few times. I use a stepper at home, and I usually try to get about 45-60 minutes on it. Now, around the 25 minute mark, I get tired, legs start to ache and I want to quit. But I power through it and suddenly I'm doing the rest feeling stronger and even energized. Just remember to go at a reasonable pace neither too fast or too slow. And as you get close to your goal, start the slow down/cool down process. Do not stop abruptly.

Thanks r43!

OP here! I fell off the stairs, er, wagon, over winter. But this summer I FINALLY started going to the gym again and really focusing on cardio.

I am happy to report I can climb all 20 stories now and not pass out, nor am I seriously winded like I was a year ago.

Congrats OP.

Thanks r46.

I've also lost weight (maybe 15 lbs) since spring, which has made the ascent easier as well.

Interesting. I live on the 4th floor, work on the 8th. I take the stairs at home every single day. One day a few months ago, I decided to take the stairs at work for fun. I was out of breath by the 6th, huffing and puffing by the 8th. Couldn't believe my body's reaction to a few extra flights.

Well done OP, how did you lose the weight?

Eating ... significantly less and working out almost every day, r49. I alternated cardio and lifting.

I was really eating terribly in 2021.

You'll have to post a sexy shirtless pic x

Lol r51 ... not there yet

I tried to rejuvenate by walking. Helped with a transition but ultimately not effective for significant improvement. Started on elliptical and built up to 2 miles. The shifted to treadmill. In 6 months, dramatic improvement - back to where I was 15 years ago after 10 years of abandoning all health efforts.

Good for you r53!

I'm able to run for almost 15 minutes without stopping now -- which is a VAST improvement. But I long for my early 20s, when I could run five or seven miles, no problem.

r53 you inspire me

well done OP!!! i remember this thread from way back when.

as a former obese fatty turned athlete/gym rat myself i’ve always found the mantra: if it is uncomfortable/slightly painful it means it’s working. NOT super uncomfortable or super painful, to be clear; the sweet spot when working out is that feeling of vague yet ultimately tolerable discomfort.

Good philosophy, r56

OP Do you still sweat when you eat?

One point, inspired by R3. If anyone is thinking to emulate OP, please make sure your nearby colleagues know you have started taking the stairs, so if something does go wrong and you don't show up at your desk, people know to check the stairwell. And take your phone with you.

R59 Well if that bit of advice doesn’t put OP off then nothing will lol

LOL, it sounds like OP has settled into it and is doing fine. But someone reading might have more undiagnosed issues than OP.