Chafing, losing weight, and being on varsity

No.

Mmmm hmmm. Honey. I'm your exact height but I weigh 137 pounds.

Don't sweat the small stuff. (Was that a pun? Oh I don't know).

They call me Fast Ass for a reason.

Almost every female runner I know experiences chafing from time to time (and many deal with it on a daily basis). It's probably related more to the shape of your body than your weight and it sounds like you are at a really healthy weight for your size right now! If you are unsure if you are at a healthy weight, talk to your doctor about it. The shape of your hips changes as you get older and that can lead to chafing for a lot of girls. It's usually worse in the summer when you sweat more.

I would try using body glide before you run and experiment with different brands and styles of shorts until you find one that's a good fit for your body. It may take a little trial and error, but once you find the right gear, you'll be a lot more comfortable!

Good luck with your summer training!

Your body is fine, believe me. Everyone chafes from time to time and don't worry about losing weight. Your weight is completely normal for your height, but I would suggest slowly adding mileage this summer to improve your fitness to make varsity. Please don't fall into the trap of poor body image and calorie restriction, it will only hurt you in the long haul. Believe me, I fell into the trap two seasons ago (sophomore year, I'm going to be a senior this fall) and there was a short term reward (getting faster for a few months in xc) for a long term sacrifice (my entire sophomore track season was gone due to a stress fracture, took me forever to build my fitness back). Focus on fueling your body with nutritious, colorful foods. My injury and disordered eating nightmare taught me that a nourished, strong, healthy body can do so much more (including run faster!) than a weak, frail, starving body can. Respect and love your body for all that it does for you. good luck training for xc this summer, be confident that your training will pay off!

Definitely no need to lose weight. You might naturally lose some weight with increased training, but I wouldn't change your diet (calorie-wise, healthy is good but don't count calories). You're on the slim side so you really don't have weight to lose, though.

Don't fret about the chafing-- I agree with the poster above, you can try body glide. I'm your weight but a little shorter and I occasionally get it, I think it's just a running form thing. It can happen without being overweight, and you definitely aren't overweight

What's your training like now? How fast are you now and what do you need to run to be varsity? I'd focus on your training, not your weight.

Thanks for your reply! My coach has a running plan for me and right now it's at 20 miles a week and builds back up to 35 throughout the summer by the time practices start. This is why I figured he had training down for all of us and I could do additional things to improve my training.

My freshman PR for 5k was 22 minutes which is NOT fast, but I improved so much over the winter and track, running a 12 minute 3200, 5:40 1600, and 2:38 800, which I know are not amazing times but I am only a freshman so I want to improve from here. Last year's XC varsity times ranged from 21:30-19:30 so I have to reduce my time if I want to be good.

Actually the fastest varsity girl ran a 19:10 sorry haha

Awww your username makes me sad. Please don't think of yourself as being fat just because you chafe. Some of the thinnest girls chafe too.

I agree with the posters above. Please don't fret about your weight. Be healthy and think of running as a lifetime sport. Long term always outweighs the short term. If you look at most American women elite distance runners, you'll see that they are lean, but strong and healthy looking. Eat healthy, make sure you get adequate nutrition (the presence or absence of your menstrual cycle is often a good indicator of whether you're getting enough calories), and add mileage wisely.

Good luck in your season!

Every runner chafes.

Don't lose weight.

Invest in body glide

You are honestly not fat. I thought chafing was a problem mostly all runners dealt with regardless of weight? I'm rather thin and I definitely deal with chafing.

A lot of female D1 runners are probably underweight. And some of the weight loss is just from the mileage I'm sure. Eating disorders are not something to mess around with, eat healthy and exercise but don't try to lose weight through restricting calories.

I'm sure not all D1 girls have issues, but probably a significant chunk of them have eating disorders or are underweight/don't get periods anymore. And it seems to me that many female athletes with eating disorders will have one amazing season where they have the low weight but aren't feeling the malnutrition, and then they proceed to crash and burn from that point on. So some of those D1 girls could be on their way to crashing.

OP: In my opinion, your track times indicate around mid 19s for 5k, so I would basically just keep doing what you're doing.

Using BMI, OP is at a healthy weight between 103 and 138 lbs. But BMI is flawed and designed for adults. Assuming OP is 15 years old, the lowest she should weigh is 93lbs, and that would make her very thin.

https://nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/calculator.aspx

Don't worry about weight affecting your performance so long as you're a healthy weight. If you were nearly overweight then maybe it would help to lose a little, but since you're much closer to underweight you don't really have any to lose.

I will slightly amend what others have said. Overall, thread seems to be on rhe right track, though.

1. Don't worry about your weight, but do pay attention to what you put in your body. Eat "clean". Grilled chicken, not fried chicken. Whole wheat/multigrain > white bread. Water down your sports drinks. Stuff like that.

2. Body Glide sucks. Find some Monistat Anti Chafing Powder Gel. Exponentially better.

Good luck. Run hard, rest harder.

I will slightly amend what others have said. Overall, thread seems to be on rhe right track, though.

1. Don't worry about your weight, but do pay attention to what you put in your body. Eat "clean". Grilled chicken, not fried chicken. Whole wheat/multigrain > white bread. Water down your sports drinks. Stuff like that.

2. Body Glide sucks. Find some Monistat Anti Chafing Powder Gel. Exponentially better.

Good luck. Run hard, rest harder.

Overall pretty good advice, thankfully only one obvious jerk/troll so far.

Chafing may be due to equipment/perspiration. Don't overthink it. I used to chafe even when I was leanest, but it was always during the summer.

I agree that eating healthy is a good thing, but for goodness sake, make sure you eat enough. It is such a slippery slope for girls from eating healthy to not eating enough. The rule I tell all my runners: if you are hungry, eat healthy food, and never feel bad about that.

Lastly, and I know that in today's society this is so hard, but I would advice you to have process goals, not outcome goals, when it comes to your body. Have goals like "eat healthy" and "get enough recovery time" not to hit a certain weight or inches. Your body is still growing and changes and it is simply not fair to put pressure on yourself to hit numbers.

Take care of yourself. Eat lots of healthy food. Hit those miles. Get enough sleep and recovery.

Good luck!

After reading the original post I was very afraid the trolls would be out in force.

My two cents: the advice above is the truth. If you end up reading a bunch of conflicting advice going the other way later today, IGNORE IT! The responses before me are correct except for one. Your body weight is fine for your height. I would honestly classify you and quite thin.

Furthermore, going on a calorie restricted diet and upping your mileage from 20 to 35/week for the first time this summer is a recipe for disaster. You would be very likely to get injured, your energy would be super low, and your motivation will probably suffer. Eat healthy and clean nutrition dense food but make sure you are getting enough calories to support the extra stress on your body.

I am a longtime high school girl coach.

NO, you do need to lose weight, as a matter of fact i would look at your current diet as a way to make you faster.

If you are building up mileage at that small frame you need to be strong.

How much do you eat a day 2500-3200 calories a day? You need them if you want to keep getting better.

Are you getting in enough red meat? Is your ferritin level at least 50-60? If you dont know what your ferritin level is get it checked NOW.

You made good progression over track season from xc so you have a good chance to make the next jump with progression in volume.

Trust your coach, but you need to eat enough. If you are not eating enough you will not recover and you WILL break down.

Your body will find its set point, that is not an issue. Dont worry about weight.

I almost never post on here, but this piqued my interest and this needs to be said. There is some good stuff here but also a lot of it is garbage.

A few weeks ago I was a D1 runner (before the season ended). For what it's worth, I scored at my power-5 conference meet this year. To that person that said D1 runners don't chafe, I can tell you they absolutely do. Yes, even the women experience chafing.

I can tell you with complete surety that chafing doesn't mean you're overweight. With that height and weight you ARE NOT overweight at all. I'm a male with a BMI really similar to yours, and I chafe sometimes too. It happens on random days for random reasons like wet shorts from rain or humidity, simply running for a long time, or having your shorts at a slightly wrong angle (twisted to one direction). If you are chafing, it is NOT because you are overweight. Please don't aim to change your body type. You are a healthy weight (or even closer to underweight) for a distance runner.

To repeat, chafing does not mean you're overweight. I have a BMI of 19.1 (and I have skinny legs) and I chafe on long runs, or even on 6-10 mile runs if my shorts are damp. And sometimes I chafe for what seems to be no reason at all.

I wish you the best in your season! Focus on staying healthy and eating a lot of healthy food. If you're training a lot, you need lots of food.

Chafing has nothing to do with your weight. Put on your shorts weirdly when only half awake - chafing. Run in shorts that have been run in a few times - chafing. The weather - chafing.

At your age, your BMI should never go below 20. Only when you are fully developed would you drop down lower specifically for a goal race, and then you recover back to a healthy weight.

Low weight == misery. Please don't do that to yourself.

thejeff wrote:

I will slightly amend what others have said. Overall, thread seems to be on rhe right track, though.

1. Don't worry about your weight, but do pay attention to what you put in your body. Eat "clean". Grilled chicken, not fried chicken. Whole wheat/multigrain > white bread. Water down your sports drinks. Stuff like that.

2. Body Glide sucks. Find some Monistat Anti Chafing Powder Gel. Exponentially better.

Good luck. Run hard, rest harder.

What did fried chicken ever do to you?