RW: What ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’ Gets Wrong About Running While Fat

I appreciate how some running races, like triathlon, have categories called "Clydesdale" and "Athena" for the heavier athletes.

greg, what would really help would be limiting the sugary and calorific ready-made foods and drinks from entering your house and bringing your lunch and flavored but unsweetened drinks (or black coffee or tea) to work, because when they're in the refrigerator, they are a constant temptation but when you have to work even to make anything to eat, you're going to avoid a lot of the disastrous snacking and desserts and sodas.

This entire fat running concept is stupid. I’ve been 170 lbs, then rolled up to 325, and now down to 215. Running at 325 isn’t happening. You will get hurt, no matter how confident you are of your body. You will get hurt at 250 lbs. I’m running 17 miles per week now at 215 and it’s all I can do. Any more and you will get hurt. It’s dangerous telling people it’s ok to run while fat. Losing weight is hard. Get used to it

I think she looks cute. Any guy would be lucky to have her. When I saw the title I first thought it was going to be about Brittany Spears.

zxcvxzcv wrote:

If you burn 1000 calories or more per hour of running, then you will be hard pressed not to lose weight on 12-14 hours per week of running (about 100 miles per week). I think that many who exercise while obese don't exercise close to the amount they need to really lose a lot of weight, and part of the reason is that they have limited physical mobility. But adding a mile or two a week is manageable for most and would result in a lot of weight loss if they also cut down on added sugars.

It is impossible to run 12 hours a week being fat, but when fat even 3 or 4 hours a week will work at first. A good sign that it is time to up mileage is that weight loss plateaus.

Look at a photo of a crowd from the 1950s. There is NOBODY with a bmi over 30. Genetics is about propensity, but you are fat because you eat too much.

Pessysquad wrote:

This entire fat running concept is stupid. I’ve been 170 lbs, then rolled up to 325, and now down to 215. Running at 325 isn’t happening. You will get hurt, no matter how confident you are of your body. You will get hurt at 250 lbs. I’m running 17 miles per week now at 215 and it’s all I can do. Any more and you will get hurt. It’s dangerous telling people it’s ok to run while fat. Losing weight is hard. Get used to it

That seems obvious, but there's actually no evidence of that. In fact, in some studies, overweight runners were less likely to be injured.

lol this lady is literally mad that a fictional character lost weight....

you know you've really lost it when a fat movie character losing weight is a bad thing to you.

down south wrote:

Look at a photo of a crowd from the 1950s. There is NOBODY with a bmi over 30. Genetics is about propensity, but you are fat because you eat too much.

This is obviously true, but it misses what a lot of people here are talking about. We're increasingly learning that there's a difference between avoiding obesity and recovering from obesity. A healthy lifestyle from a young age will prevent you from being obese, barring some kind of incredibly rare condition. But for people who have been obese as adults for the long term, it appears that there is more going on and simply adapting the habits that would have prevented obesity is insufficient to reverse it over the long term.

Banana Bread wrote:

Coffee Bacon wrote:

+2..

I think about this a lot, as it is the case in ultra running..I love the sport, I really do, it's fascinating, but there are a lot of profiles out there in present day that state how they're new to running, and within a year or 2, they're doing 100-200 milers. I don't get it. I really don't. It's like the farther they run, it validates to the outsiders how determined they are. Social media influence is a big part of this trend. I just ask..will you still be running a decade from now?

+3

Can I join the coffee club?

+4 LOL! only if you bring some back up espresso in case the coffee gets cold

YMMV wrote:

I can't wait until the "acceptance" movement encompasses alcoholics, meth addicts, kleptomaniacs and pedophiles (well, the latter is already in place for some). They should all get together for a five hour marathon pacing group, drinking, shooting up, stealing and groping the entire way, while "...looking for a loved one in the crowd".

Spot on.

My resting HR is in the mid 30s. My 1RM squat (as a female) is 245lbs. I know I'm not fitter, I just meant that being overweight (5'11, 195lb, BMI 27), all other things being equal, I'd get 40 secs per mile faster losing those 20lbs to get into the normal BMI range, and those other runners even thinner than that are starting from that advantage.

I am around 140 lbs and run 100 mpw. I literally have to eat butter 5 x a day to maintain any weight.

The 'author' is probably talking about the hardships of running a marathon at 20mpw like the average pretend runner.

Anyone running 50 mpw will loose weight light water (and not water weight). It is known.

Btw I'm currently around 135 lbs because again it's almost impossible to eat butter 5 x a day.

I eat tons and tons. The fat people of the world would be jealous.

Letsrunners World wrote:

Why would anyone here have any interest in the Runners World take on anything? Oh yeah…

Exactly.. end of thread