Is it unhealthy to aim towards sub 120 pounds at 5' 8.5"

Hard to tell what is the right weight for someone else, but 125 is already on the thin side for your height even for a distance runner. I am your height and my weight in college ranged from 132 as a freshman to 140 as a senior when I ran my PRs. I am middle aged now and race at or just over 145. I am all arms and legs, but I have an unusually broad (but not muscular) torso and that ends up making me weigh a little more than some other distance runners my size,.

Were I in your position, I would definitely try to avoid losing any more weight, and would intentionally make sure I was getting in enough calories to offset the extra miles.

Ultimately though, assuming no eating disorder or intentional efforts to control your weight.at your age letting hunger and energy levels guide your diet and letting the weight end up where it ends up as long as your body composition stays right (ie, you don't start getting soft) and your performance does not deteriorate.

Yes. It's unhealthy. Your body regulates its weight as needed. Train, eat well, and eat often enjoying the meals, and get plenty of rest. Your body knows what to do from there.

I have some concerns about you going from 75->90mpw in 7 months and keeping your speed and remaining injury free. That's another thread.

Is it beneficial in terms of race time to be 5 lbs less? Probably not.

I assume you are a man.

Is it unhealthy? Probably. Read on.....

You need to ensure that your body is receiving enough calories and nutrients to support your athletic activities. If you are not, which I suspect you might not be given your "clean diet" and high activity lifestyle, you can go into what is called "energy deficit" which means you body will begin feeding on itself for nutrients leading to weakening of your muscles and bones.

Female Athlete Triad Syndrome is an example of energy deficit and physicians are now calling FAT Energy Deficit Syndrome because men in dance and distance running are starting to show similar traits.

You should see a dietician who specializes in athletes if you are a serious runner and considering your low body weight.

Milk and eggs are very important to runners and I assume you are consuming neither. Correct?

High doses of calcium and D3 are excellent for women and men.

It's unhealthy to aim for it but fine if it happens naturally with mileage increase.

You really should be eating fat and a lot of it too.

Allow me to introduce myself wrote:

I do eat a very clean diet (mostly high carb low fat).

High carb low fat is not clean! That's why you are so scrawny.

You need to eat more fat, especially red meat, to be a real athlete.

Yes it's unhealthy. You won't make it to marathons post-college if you keep this up. You say you want advice, but likely you won't take it. Just speaking from experience.

Sure there are outliers who are naturally this thin, but these people don't typically "aim" to lose more weight or obsess over eating clean. They eat a lot and have high metabolisms.

txRUNNERgirl, you are absolutely wrong, that I won't take advice. Let me clear up a couple things, first, the word "aim" was probably a bad one to pick for how I really feel about it, what I meant is is it fine if it occurs naturally? I realize that this is significantly different from what the original post indicates.

Let me describe my "clean diet"

Many fresh fruits and veggies, plenty of fruit juice, a couple of slices of pizza a day, plenty of pasta, a few cookies, more salads, dates, and other nuts like almonds. I think I consume about 3200 calories/day.

I also take a multi vitamin and occasionally an iron or calcium supplement .

I should verify that all of my goals are 100% race oriented, I want to run as fast as possible, I don't much care, if I'm 115lbs or 140lbs, I just wanted to know if losing too much wait is something I should be careful to avoid.

pop_pop!_v2.2.1 wrote:

I have some concerns about you going from 75->90mpw in 7 months and keeping your speed and remaining injury free. That's another thread.

That doesn't seem like a lot to me. That's like 2 more miles per month. Im not saying youre wrong as i am a novice and I assume you know more than me. id like to hear more on why you say that.

Allow me to introduce myself wrote:

Let me describe my "clean diet"

Many fresh fruits and veggies, plenty of fruit juice, a couple of slices of pizza a day, plenty of pasta, a few cookies, more salads, dates, and other nuts like almonds. I think I consume about 3200 calories/day.

I also take a multi vitamin and occasionally an iron or calcium supplement .

Fruit juice is not clean. Limit that to one small glass a day. Cut your cookies. Pizza and pasta are questionable. They are both "refined carbs." There are better ways to get carbs. Your diet seems to be low in protein. Do you eat eggs, poultry or fish?

Don't take any supplements unless they are absolutely necessary. Get all the vitamins, calcium and iron from real food.

Yes

Eat a cheeseburger once in a while

eggs sometimes, I dont like the taste of fish.

Brandon Moen was 5'11" and 120 when he was arrested. I just re-read that article about his arrest.

Granted, he was on meth big time, but still...

Allow me to introduce myself wrote:

I'm 5 foot 8 and a half inches, I currently run 75mpw (average) on doubles and I weigh 125 (after a 4 or 5 mile am run, where I usually weigh myself). I will be averaging 90mpw in about 7 months, by that time, would it be normal for me to be 118-120lbs?

Some extra info:

I do eat a very clean diet (mostly high carb low fat), and I probably have about another inch to grow according to the doctor. I do about 2 hard workouts per week. I am a sophomore in college, and my PRs are 14:40 and 31:0x.

I plan to do marathons post college, so any advice in that direction would also be great.

It is too difficult to tell whether or not that weight is unhealthy for you by description alone. A picture or two would help us out.

Height and weight of Olympic 10k men:

10k men

Mo Farah 5'9" 128

Paul Kipngetich Tanui 5'6" 104

Tamarit Tolat 5'11" 130

Yigrem Demelash 5'6" 106

Galen Rupp 5'11" 134

Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei ? ?

Bedan Karoki Muchiri 5'6" 143

Zersenay Tadese 5'3" 119

Allow me to introduce myself wrote:

I'm 5 foot 8 and a half inches, I currently run 75mpw (average) on doubles and I weigh 125 (after a 4 or 5 mile am run, where I usually weigh myself). I will be averaging 90mpw in about 7 months, by that time, would it be normal for me to be 118-120lbs?

Some extra info:

I do eat a very clean diet (mostly high carb low fat), and I probably have about another inch to grow according to the doctor. I do about 2 hard workouts per week. I am a sophomore in college, and my PRs are 14:40 and 31:0x.

I plan to do marathons post college, so any advice in that direction would also be great.

It's not unhealthy... until it is very unhealthy. It's a fine line (and different for everyone). But if you do get too thin and then get sick/injured, it is a long road to recovery. Do yourself a big favor and hold on to an extra few pounds.

twink boi the real 1 wrote:

[quote]Allow me to introduce myself wrote:

It is too difficult to tell whether or not that weight is unhealthy for you by description alone. A picture or two would help us out.

Naked so we can really see your bone structure. We wouldn't want to make any suggestions until we see the full monty. Also, try to smile in them. I don't want to feel weird when I am looking at them.

+100 Let's see some pics!!!

Naked Please wrote:

twink boi the real 1 wrote:

[quote]Allow me to introduce myself wrote:

It is too difficult to tell whether or not that weight is unhealthy for you by description alone. A picture or two would help us out.

Naked so we can really see your bone structure. We wouldn't want to make any suggestions until we see the full monty. Also, try to smile in them. I don't want to feel weird when I am looking at them.

Trackbot! Vdot 14:40 5000m