Fat or just tired?

I forgot to add I am a 38 yearold female. 5'7" 141. My weight was about 136 before. I would love to get down to 130 but my body seems to boycott anything under 134.

Why is this on letsrun, did you used to run competitively or something? You need to run more. I suggest getting mileage up to 50 miles a week. Of course you'll gain weight if you barely exercise. Some people walk 20 miles a week just in the course of doing their jobs and are fat. Why would you be any different.

I think that all of your problems are coming from your breaks from running. There is no reason to take 2 weeks off after an event as short as a half marathon. A few days is more like it. Last year, I ran my first half-marathon and the next day, my coach made me run a fartlek. It wasn’t optimal, but I ended up PRing in the two mile 4 days later. Of course you are going to get slower and lose conditioning when you take time off and eat too much. Just run!

You and I are pretty similar in age and height (my weight fluctuates but is around yours), and I run a bit faster than you.

Adding mileage and doing workouts will give you the most improvement. Not necessarily 50 mpw but make 30-40 a goal in the new year.

However, you may need a break from working out before getting into a new plan. This last summer I was spent from a busy job and some illness so dialed back some of the working out, but was determined to get back into and felt much better from the break.

Honestly, at the recreational level I don’t think weight matters that much. When I was faster and finished on the podium at local races I was bigger than the the others, but I knew health-wise I was fine. There’s a lot of eating disorders among these mommy instarunners.

Most importantly, just remember that this is supposed to be fun. Otherwise, why do it?

I must add that the alcohol isn’t doing you favors. Not just the calories but also the general depressive effect. I mostly abstain and feel much better.

Thank you.

Somebody mentioned taking a lot of breaks. I actually took two weeks off after this last half marathon because I had not really taken any time off in a year and a half. And to the first person, I thought I was pretty clear that I had just started running in the last year-and-a-half. My mileage is low but my cross-training is pretty intense, I do cardio HIIT training on the stair mill, row and lift weights.

I did manage 2 miles in 14:23 today. Not my best, but not as bad as I thought.

I obviously was totally aware that eating junk and drinking red wine and cutting back on my mileage was going to result in weight gain. I can only surmise that a couple of the pounds earlier on in my stress induced unhealthy few months were actually fueling my weight lifting, which is a fairly new edition. Because I did manage to take 18 seconds off per mile on the same 10k course I did last year.

Yep. I guess it's just time to go back to my salads, cut back on the vino, and increase my mileage again. My left hip was bothering me so it was nice to be able to give it the time to heal.

I do also think sometimes with the HIIT training I need space it out with my longer runs a bit better.

I had a death in the family, a major change in my job, and my mother had major heart surgery. Plus being a woman I have to run the same safe routes over and over again and I was starting to get a bit bored. I am looking forward to ditching my GPS watch and just going out and running in the snow.

I will look to increase to 30+ miles per week. Thanks for the advice! It's just a few pounds I need to shave too. No worries about me turning anorexic. My body boycotts being a few under what it likes as much as it does over. I seem to have a very fine line that it likes.

My best advice is consistency is your friend both in running and in life.

Even getting out there and doing 2-3 miles a day sets an amazing intention. I often times saw better fitness gains when I was running 3-4 miles every day vs. some sporadic running with a few heroic efforts in between.

It also helps you from a nutrition / diet perspective. If you know that you have a run tomorrow, you're less likely to indulge in unhealthy foods/activities.

So yeah, I would say that taking the break was probably your problem. Within a few weeks I would imagine that the few extra pounds will come off and you'll go back to your former level of fitness.

Do you notice any new cellular (5G), or cellular wi-fi repeaters added

to telephone poles, near your house?

I think, the energy depletion is due to digital device smog interrupting

the bodies metabolism.

On the other hand, start picking up the pace for about 100 yards then

rest, you need to bring up a sweat within your health parameters.

Good luck.

lol this is such a hobby-jogger thread

How fast can you run 400m? If you can’t run under 1:30 then it possible that you may need to build top end speed and speed endurance to get faster in longer distance. If I were you I would focus on 5k and get down to 20-21 minutes then it would be fairly easy for you to dip under 1:40 in the half.

Also you arent fat, your weight is not the problem. Lack of aerobic conditioning is the problem and once you add more miles and/or get faster your weight will self regulate. The only numbers you should focus on are your running numbers, not numbers on the scale.

Ironic wrote:

Recently some family emergencies created a lot of stress for me and I upped my red wine intake and ate whatever I wanted for a few months and put on 5-6 lbs.

Why?

I mean I appreciate that this is a Runners World post but what exactly is the correlation between a specific induced stress and eating like a pig for a FEW months?

Some of the comments here are great and some of them are totally worthless. Like the hobby joggers? didn't I make it clear that I'm a recreational jogger by saying I've only been doing this for 18 months? Lol. I got very sick a couple of years ago and it was a long drawn-out process to get a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease. Taking up running made me feel like at least I wasn't dying and it was a stress reliever. I started out doing a couple of miles at a 9 or 10 minute pace. So when I started placing locally in divisions I was both shocked and thrilled. I had no idea I had the capacity to break an 8 minute mile for over 6 miles. My diagnosis often leads to nausea and abdominal pain and dizziness and I still get out there and run on those days.

As far as the pigging out goes, maybe that was a bit overdramatic on my part. But there was a lot of out-of-town travel and no access to be able to cook and I have food intolerances so I was limited in what I could eat and I did eat a lot of processed foods.

But even that comment misses the mark. Being why do I have such a reduction in ability suddenly? That was the main question of the post and I appreciate all of you who offered valuable comments.

I think a couple pounds aside, much of which was there when I was setting my 10K PR. So the folks who point to reduction in training ( which was needed at the time) and the need to increase mileage are probably on par. I don't know what my 400 meters are because I've never tried that before. The shortest distance I've ever tried is a mile and unfortunately I'm only just able to break 7 minutes at this point. I have done a number of 6:15-6:25 400m intervals but those are usually in the middle of a longer distance like three or four miles just to plug them in somewhere, so I'm already pretty fatigued at that point So maybe I'll introduce some track work in the spring.

I work full-time and have a child that I share custody with so unfortunately on the mornings that I have him I am unable to run because I need to be home with him. So that's why I do a lot of cross-training those days.

I will focus on some speed work and see if I can also slowly increase my base miles.

Ironic wrote:

I got very sick a couple of years ago and it was a long drawn-out process to get a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease.

Have your B-12 and D3 levels checked. Depletion of either can cause exercise intolerance. Eating like crap can contribute to either. Most Americans are D-deficient anyway, but if stress and not running kept you indoors over the summer, you could be *severely* deficient. Cue in extreme exercise intolerance.

Some of you are so arrogant and condescending, and should drop the hobbyjogger nonsense because there are lots of faster people in this board who could lob the same criticisms at you.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like there've been some pretty serious stressors in your life recently. If running relaxes you, carve out time for it and let your partner/family know that it's not negotiable. If it's stressing you out, just run when you can fit it in. Beating yourself up over 5lbs weight gain is silly, but I would certainly be careful around alcohol during difficult periods.

Also, echoing what someone else said, volume isn't the only way to fitness: intervals and fast tempo runs are great bang for your buck when you have limited time.

I too have an autoimmune disease (hashimotos) which is accompanied by bouts of fibromyalgia. You are way tougher than these people calling you a hobbyjogger, even if they do run 6 minute minute miles instead of 8 minute miles most of them REALLY wouldn’t have the mental strength to train with an autoimmune, chronic pain or fatigue related disease. Not to mention us with autoimmune have to eat 100% healthy 100% of the time just to see slight improvements in our running because our bodies have so much inflammation to deal with otherwise. We keep at it, they wouldn’t. I used to be fast, it’s easy to gut out 6:xx minute miles for an hour long tempo then binge on peanut butter bagels after when you’re conpletely healthy. But sticking to an autoimmune protocol, eating the right things for your body (which isn’t always enjoyable or feasible) to go out an run 8-9 minute miles is pure mental strength. You are an inspiration and I see wha you do, many people on this board wouldn’t. Taking a functional approach to an autoimmune disease is something most people dont have the strength or patience for, not only that but it sometimes adds to the accumulating fatigue. Girl, I see you. I am also a female, I used to run sub 60 for the 400m and 18:15 for a 5k so I was FAST by healthy standards, now I have an autoimmune disease to manage - my times are more like 70 for the 400 and 22-23 for the 5k. If you want my honest opinion, you are FAST considering your circumstances- do not listen to the narcissistic trolls of letsrun because they know nothing. 95% of people dont even get out of bed with autoimmune, let alone push through the fatigue enough to train just as hard as an athlete relative to their condition.

Anyway I think you should make it your primary goal to get closer to 6 in the mile. Keep your milage around the same, add lots of easy running at 9:30-10 minute pace but dont kill yourself with loads of miles at this time, just get some stress free easy refreshing miles in for base, add some pick ups at a faster pace at the end of the runs- do this for a few weeks. Add a weekly tempo.

After getting comfortable with base: Practice running 400-1000m intervals with 1 minute rest at 6-7 minute pace. You may have to build up to doing this as stressing your body out too soon with an autoimmune disease is a recipe for disaster. Start with 6-8 repeats (800m) with 1 minute rest at 7:30 pace and work your way down to 7 pace. Once you get comfortable with 7 pace, build up to doing 1200m repeats at 7 pace, and then mile. This should take a couple of months. Eventually, 7 minute mile pace should feel easy. Try some 200s at 6 flat pace once a week for speed formation.

You aredoing very well.

And also having a B vitamin and D vitamin check is certainly not a bad idea with an autoimmune disease. In fact if I were you I would get a genetic test to find out weather or not you actually PROCESS and ABSORB these vitamins as this can cause the fatigue (blood tests only test surum levels whereas having a functional check with check your methylation- a MAJOR root cause of food sensitivities, fatigue and autoimmune - read up about MTHFR). I would see a functional doctor instead of a conventional doctor for this if you have the money.

Thank you!!!

A couple of times in the last year I've had iron infusions and B12 injections. We think I'm where I should be now but ferritin becomes elevated as an acute response to inflammation in the body. Go figure. So for those runners out there who think that your iron stores are in check, you may or may not be getting a false reading depending on how much inflammation you have! D however has been low in the past and I don't think I've been keeping a close eye on that recently so it probably wouldn't hurt to get that checked.

I will say I have never done enough easy miles. I cannot leave my young son alone in the morning and don't have a treadmill at home. So on the days I have him I can't run so I try to make the days that I can run as quality as I can. I usually do one 2-3 mile faster run, one 5-6 mile tempo run, and and one 10 to 13 mile long run-only slightly slower then my half marathon race pace. Then I typically have a 45 minute very intense session on the stair mill, and then 15 minutes on a rowing machine after. Twice a week I would do weights. The last month I have changed this up considerably because my hip was bothering me after my last half, so I used the Cybex Arc Trainer, stairmill and rower and cut back on running. And now that's where I'm finding myself barely completing three or four mile runs. And I'm gasping for breath the whole time, its awful.

I may be able to squeeze in one more run each week though on Sundays. In April, my son will be 8 years old and he will have access to anywhere he wants to go in the YMCA. Currently he's only allowed in the childcare room while I'm working out and it's closed on Sundays. I considered trying doubles for about a half a second until I realized that sure, running twice a day would be great if I didn't have to log those 9 hours of work and commute time in between runs. I want to look forward to it, not dread it.

Thank you for sharing your story and your support! I always feel a special connection to my fellow autoimmune folks. My dad has Hashimotos. My brother and I both have celiac, and my half-sister has multiple sclerosis. I'm actually not done with my medical workup at this point either, unfortunately. It was like one day I was completely fine and then bam! For the last 3 years of my life I felt ill or unwell in some fashion every single day. But you start to get used to it, it becomes your new baseline.

Putting down the wine and processed foods! I'm keeping the coffee though.

Autoimmune issues go hand-in-hand with high carb and polyunsaturated fat intake, combined with overly intense bots of exercise. Reduce the carbs and oils, start a fasting window each day of at least 13-14 hours, and start eating more high-omega 3 fish and fatty cuts of meat, pastured eggs and pastured dairy fat. Eliminate sugar, grains and legumes entirely. Limit fruit and nuts. Eat as much salt as your taste dictates, don't restrict! Each day pick a goal: 1) fasting window 2) no grains, 3) more fish, etc.. Keep track of your changes and progress of symptoms. A diet log is as important as a training log here.

Your symptoms will melt away in weeks and you will switch to ketogenic, fat-burning mode which will enhance your cognitive and immune function. A myriad of inflammtion issues will abtate. This is a classic downward spiral associated with high-carb-based diet combined with elevated cardio fitness ("hurried and harried"), and it is unsustainable once it kicks in, which is in your 30s for most of us. A few anomalies can push longer if they already have high training volume, but you are not one of those, I certainly wasn't.

Good luck and keep evolving yourself!