puberty weight gain in girls

Likely your running will be done after you go through puberty if none of your family are runners.

why? what do you mean “done”? i have some relatives that are slow runners who go out for fun, but none of them ran races in high school.

It could be a potential culprit depending on the intensity by which you were training. In addition to underfueling as a major factor delaying puberty, some argue that the very high impact forces involved in gymnastic movements can negatively affect the growth plates. This in turn can stunt muscularsketal growth, another component of puberty. Are you significantly shorter than the rest of your family?

i trained 20 hours a week, but it started to decline in covid a lot and i quit in february 2021. i’m actually not that short for not having grown yet, at 5’4, and i’ve always been tall, like i said earlier. i haven’t had a growth spurt and like i also said it’s been 100% confirmed i have not started puberty at all, so im just tall. i guess my answer is no, i’m not really, especially for not having grown at all. my mom is about 5’7, dad 6’3, brothers 6’2. but do you know how i could speed up to the start puberty? i’ve been waiting literally FOREVER and it is so annoying.

genuinely confused where this narrative that puberty makes you fat and slow comes from....when I grew taller and got my period, I literally looked leaner and more athletic than ever before. People don't just suddenly become 'fat' and lose all their muscle because they go through puberty.

Women put fat on in their rear and breasts after puberty.

hopkinsmedicine.org

Normal Breast Development and Changes

Breast development happens in certain stages during a woman's life: first before birth, and again at puberty and later during the childbearing years. Changes also happen to the breasts during menstruation and when a woman rea...

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This is a bogus claim and has no stats or research to back it up. Please stop sharing lies

There's certainly no reason to become fat and slow after puberty, but it's an inescapable fact that nearly all post-pubescent women grow breasts which are additional weight you have to drag around and make absolutely no positive contribution to your running.

Seems like nobody agrees with your point of view. I do.
I am a professional runner, i am not a woman but i have to stay light year round.
I train a lot, i don't eat much, i weigh 155lbs at 6'1.
It's actually very hard but being at the top was never easy. Good luck.

Ok, but she’s not a professional runner. She’s a teenager. Her body isn’t done growing and developing yet. huge difference. These years are the most important years in determining her bone strength for the rest of her life. Dieting now serves no purpose and will only harm her now and even more so down the road.

It’s also important to remember that while being light is sometimes an advantage, one shouldn’t stay at race weight year round. That leads to injury, burnout, or illness. And high schoolers shouldn’t be thinking about that anyway. Her goal should be to set her body up for success a decade from now instead of choosing short term success and to look a certain way. Some of the most successful pros were the ones who didn’t take high school too seriously, ate well, and let their training gradually shape their body over years of hard training instead of calorie restriction doing that for them.
Female distance runners should have consistent periods. If not, that is clear sign the body is sending to you that you’re not taking in enough energy for what you are putting it through. Also, just because your parents or siblings are not runners doesn’t mean that puberty will somehow make you not one either. No one knows exactly how puberty will impact them. But being patient, nourishing your body, and training at a reasonable level during those years is the best way to find long term success. A lot gain a few pounds. A lot lose it after a few years. A lot just gain muscle. You just don’t know but fighting it does you no favors.

thank you!! this was so helpful :)) i appreciate you and everyone else who responded with good info. does anyone know how to start puberty (if that’s even possible)?? i also think i’m gonna go to the doctor again soon, to see what they say now that it’s been even more time.

Every morning before sunrise, sit in the lotus yoga position and repeat the word “pu-ber-ty”, the first syllable on the inhale and the latter two on a long exhale for a total of 123 times, and within 3 months you should start pubertating (but don’t overdo it as that can cause immaculate conception).

Fat acceptance bs

Please do see your doctor again ASAP, and insist on getting a referral to a specialist or specialist practice with expertise specifically in diagnosing - and, if need be, treating - female patients with delayed puberty.

Seeking advice about personal health concerns and problems from random posters on the internet is never a good idea in any event. But LRC especially is a poor place to look for information about health issues affecting females. Because most of the posters here are not just guys, but many are guys know very, very little about female biology, development and health. There are many sites and forums that are dedicated to health issues, and many that are about female heath issues in particular - including issues related to exercise.

In the meantime, please don't equate female puberty with "getting fat and slow." Many of the sex hormones that girls begin making at puberty play vitally important roles in the development and maintenance of female muscle and connective tissue, in healthy female skeletal development, and in building female bone density.

During and after puberty, girls and women do put on an extra padding of fat - aka the adipose layer - all over, and most of us also gain noticeable fat in certain places like our breasts and buttocks. But lots of girls and women aren't fat overall. Nor do we automatically and necessarily slow down or lose sports performance during and after puberty for physical developmental reasons.

I have a hunch that in your previous experience doing gymnastics when you were younger, you might have picked up some very negative and inaccurate ideas about female puberty and its consequences. Now those negative, inaccurate ideas are at risk of being reinforced and added to by ideas that are widespread amongst males - and many females too, unfortunately - in the male-dominated running community. Even in this day and age, many in running and most other sports regard male bodies as the human norm and the human ideal.

OP, please ignore the replies saying your running will be “done” after puberty. Oh please. If that was the case, there would be no such thing as elite level women. Look, you will put on weight and essentially have to “get used to” a “new” body. You may or may not slow down, and if you do it will be temporary so long as you’re patient, eat well and enough ALL the time, and yes some strength training can’t hurt. I used to coach HS girls and it was always sad and disappointing to see how many of our fast freshmen girls gave up running later because they slowed down a little bit when they grew and didn’t have the patience to ride out their temporary performance downturn (which doesn’t happen to everyone btw). If you do get a bit slower, recognize that it’s not forever and that if you stick it out then your best times are yet to come.

90% of successful runners have at least 1 parent who runs.

Really good post.

The development and careers of most runners, both casual and serious, both male and female, involve progressions that are often non-linear, and often have setbacks, and it is healthier to accept periods of setbacks, or changes in progression, with equanimity and patience.

The progression for most runners is relatively linear.