ccaCoty wrote:

Anyway, I started running on Tuesday for the first time in ages, and
have now been running each day with my dog for around half an hour
walking him after for another half hour, also walking later on for
around 15-20 minutes. Unfortunately, going from nothing to much more has
caused the muscles in my legs to get really worn out. They ache and it's
hard to walk down the stairs or get up, the pain is in my thigh and I
researched this as overuse. The same pain has developed in my lower
leg.

Run every other day until your legs don't hurt. Be cautioned that
humans in good shape can out run dogs. If your dog is having trouble
keeping up with you it's time to taper back on the pace. Ah, to be in
good enough shape to have such a problem - I remember doing that when I
was in shape for the high school soccer team. But feel free to consider
it a goal to outrun your dog. It's definitely a sign that you are in
good enough shape to be on the varsity soccer team!

A problem (more physiological than anything) is that I've become a
little obsessed with measuring my weight. It measured 179 pounds just
over a week ago, and after my first run (two days ago) decreased to 173.
This really encouraged me, but it went up to 176 by the day's end.
Yesterday after my run it measured 172.5, going back to 176 at the end
of the day. After my run today, I weighed 171.5 pounds, but was really
angered as it went up to 178 a couple of hours after. I figured it was
just because I'd eaten, but it showed how obsessive I'm getting over
weight measurments.

There is only one reason to weigh yourself more than once per day - To
drive yourself bats. It is impossible for the weights within a day to
have any useful data at all so the only possible benefit is to figure
out how inaccurate your scale is. You're not using the scale that way.

The only excuse for using the scale more than once per week is to enter
the numbers in a spreadsheet that calculates the trend of your progress
over the previous month. You're not using the scale that way.

The reality of fat loss is something no dieter in history has ever
liked - The time scale for fat loss is month to month. But disliking a
fact does not magically turn it into fiction. No dieters have ever
liked it but there it is. Because of water retention bounce, scale
inaccuracy, body cycles, you name it no time scale shorter than a month
is able to give consistent data on fat loss.

How often should you really step on the scale? If you will feel bad by
stepping on the scale then you're on the scale too often. It's that
simple. By the time folks are on maintenance it's common to step on the
scale daily to tell if you have drifted out of range. Before getting to
that point it is mandatory to reach an emotional peace with the
unchangable fact that water retention swings happen and to get used to
what size they are. Mine is 6 pounds - Any change less than 6 pounds
means zero change in my stored fat.

Like I said, I want to get down to about 162 pounds, so am I on the
right track to achieve that fairly quickly?

Rushing is breaking. There's never been a dieter in history happy with
that fact, either. But there is a direct correlation between how fast
the weight was lost and the chances of gaining it back again. We can
get into all sorts of speculations of why that happens but the important
thing to notice is that it does happen. Uniformly folks who keep it off
5+ years down the line they did not lose it faster than 4 per month.

Overall, is my new lifestyle healthy?

Get off the scale until you can handle it. Never step on the scale
twice in the same day again - The only reason is you bought a new scale
and you want to see how inaccurate it is. Until you are comfortable
with once per week stay off it completely.

Other than that you do not mention portion sizes for your food so there
is only one way to make a guess - The fact that you are asking says you
think you are not eating correctly. So that's my guess. I think you
have cut your food to the point you're not willing to say how little
you're eating and that's why you did not list amounts or calorie counts.
There's no way to tell if my guess is correct but that's what the
evidence suggests as likely.