Is there such thing as a plus-sized athlete?

Throwers are big guys

To answer your question, no, athletes only come in one size. 5'10" 148 lbs. (of course this precludes every football, basketball, hockey player..........).

There is not.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=9571441

So we only define "athlete" by amount of body fat now? Has anyone told Charles Barkley he was not an athlete his entire career?

Yes. His name is Kenenisa Bekele.

Pre-pandemic, there were two ladies at my gym who would work out together almost every day. They basically did some sort of different HIIT/strength workout every day. They would really go after it for about an hour. They were clearly in good physical shape as many women would not be able to even get through the workouts they were doing. But both women were "plus size".

With some women, it is very difficult to really get lean especially after child birth. Hormones get screwed up and it is very hard to drop weight, even with lots of exercise.

On the other hand, I do see a lot of people who do lots of marathons, tris and even Ironman tris and never get lean. I think they just get to an equilibrium point where their calorie intake lines up perfectly with their training load. The weight keeps them training and racing at relatively low effort level. It is very difficult for them to break through in their training because the weight makes in hard on their joints to run fast and they get injured frequently if they push their training. So, they find a very safe effort level that does not push them to drop weight.

Her marathon was over 7 hours I’m sorry but that’s not running

Of course, there is. Look at this elite athlete.

https://danceswithfat.org/

LetsGetIt wrote:

Her marathon was over 7 hours I’m sorry but that’s not running

Yeah... sorry but just no.

Thing is, I could see an overweight person slogging out a 4 hour 'thon if they put in some work. 7 hours? Come on, you wouldn't even be allowed to finish most marathons.

NFL O-linemen come to mind. A lot of those guys are great athletes. but it's actually crazy when you consider how big they are. You'll see some of those guys go back to more reasonable sizes after they retire, because it's part of their job to put on an unnatural amount of weight during their playing careers.

Lol. Y'all just jealous you can't get no bbw love. Smh.

These are all good arguments, but most ignore the fact that she participates in endurance events. Ragen aside, 8 hours for a marathon is pushing athletic ability. There’s plenty of stories from people who just walk and cut their calories to achieve dramatic weight loss results. Upon further investigation, it seems snell is getting bigger. She’s either being dishonest about her training or about finishing the distance. You can run all the marathons you want. That’s great. But don’t tell people you’re training when your pace is slower than walking.

[quote]im serious wrote:

https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20866030/what-happened-after-fat-shaming-nyc-marathon/

If someone called me a “fat ass” it would just make me work harder.

I'm with you on this. Many years ago, my wife was joking and called me "Blubber Belly." It influenced me to get back in shape and I am now 85 # less than I was then now 6'1" & 165 lbs).

If people are truly putting in the miles, or truly working out as hard as your describe the women’s at your gym, and they are still overweight then it is their diet. You can workout crazy hard but if your diet is crap are still going to be overweight. Many of these people are in complete denial regarding how bad their diet is. You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.

Ummm...ever heard of Michael Carter's daughter, Michelle? I think she is the current American record holder in shot.

LetsGetIt wrote:

Her marathon was over 7 hours I’m sorry but that’s not running

If that is true, I agree.

Not a big fan of the fact that everybody thinks that they have to "run" a marathon.

And no, running a 5 hour plus Marathon is not really running unless you are 80 years old.

Obese people probably should not run, cycling is probably a lot better for their overburdened knees.

Calories in vs. calories out.

Once you’re post teens it’s very easy to out eat exercise. Unless you have a rare super metabolism.

So many people work hard in the gym, so they think they can reward themselves with a milkshake. The problem is that milkshake is 2-3 times more calories then they just burned.

Kudos to her for at least exercising. Now the goal should be a clean diet.

Ever heard of Matt MF London?? There ya go...

This is a very strange thing to care about. In a general sense, if you are active in a sport, practicing it multiple times a week and competing from time to time, you are an athlete. You may well be an athlete at a low level of performance, but so what? I don't care to read about it, but it certainly doesn't bother me that she is called an athlete.