Runners world article today is about a fat female ultra runner

I agree with both of you. I don't think that many people here are saying she doesn't have the right to feel good about herself. However, there's a big difference between feeling good about yourself and where she's at. If you're putting it out there "look at me, I'm so special" its acceptable to say "No thanks!"

Also, I find it annoying that she's primed to move around in the world thinking that everyone has some sort of opinion on her or statement that they want to make. She's a fat runner. It is understandably somewhat odd. She is bound to encounter some odd reactions just as a mesomorph sumo wrestler would or a short volleyball player. But beyond that initial reaction, most people don't care.

reader1 wrote:

What is happening to our sport ?

http://rw.runnersworld.com/selects/ultra.html

5/10 RW, good effort at trolling, hurts a little though.

Runners World should stop fat shaming by writing stories about people who are trying to lose weight. They should write about people who are happy with their body like this elite athlete.

She ran her marathon in 12:19. That's full six hours longer than it took Mirna to run hers.

Xfit_Idiot_the_Fake_One wrote:

assume wrote:

I hate to say this but I think Crossfit would be better for this woman than running.

^This. (And you shouldn't hate to say that.)

I bet she eats a lot of grains and thinks that's "healthy." She should cut as much carbs as possible, and eat more red meat.

Yes, what she needs is a high-fat, low-carb diet with a high-intensity training program -- and soon, she will be lean and fit.

She should be commended for her effort, but not for her failure to obtain satisfactory results.

I wish people would notice the distinction.

It is an accomplishment for her to run a marathon at her weight, but her body does not care. She is still currently looking at an early death.

The data says you are wrong. As our obese adult population ages, we have more obese old people: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db106.htmfrom the summary:"The overall prevalence of obesity among older adults and the racial and ethnic patterns are similar to estimates previously reported for the entire adult population."

Seriously mate? wrote:

How many morbidly obese 70, 80 and 90 year olds do you see? Virtually none. The cardiovascular system does just not last as long when you are that large regardless of blood cholesterol and glucose levels.

Lrc phd wrote:

Actually it is. There are overweight and obese people who metabolically healtht in that they are not insulin resistant, have healthy blood glucose and cholesterol levels, no hypertension, etc.

Coversely, one of the complications of lipodystrophy (a condition where you don't develop functional fat) is insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Why would you eat fat to lose fat?

Fatyoueatisthefatyouwear wrote:

Why would you eat fat to lose fat?

Did you send this in the 1950's and it just appeared now?

Coffee and a donut wrote:

Your fat neighboor wrote:

I personally enjoy being fat. The farthest I run everyday is to my truck in the driveway. I drive an old large pickup that pollutes the air and thins the ozone layer and irritatates the lungs of runners on the road as i drive past them. I hate people who run on the road. Their should be a law that prohibites runners from using the sidewalks or roads. The reason why it's called a sidewalk is because people are supposed to walk on them not run. Roads are meant for cars and trucks. If people want to run then go to the park or use a treadmill. A lot of Runners are pretty dumb now get a life please

Thank you for your order. It will be $32.26. Please drive to the first window. Do you need condiments with your order?

Shut up!

First off it's awesome that she is doing what she is doing.

I don't believe she can't lose weight though. She probably has tried many times eating different things and failed...

I quit running and when I started back I was about 50 pounds fatter after years away from the sport. The first year back I ran 20-30 miles a week consistency, lifted weights and didn't lose any weight and my body fat percent remained the same. I thought I was eating healthy and really believed I was. Then I started watching my calorie intake and trying for a calorie deficit but didn't eat great. I didn't lose anything. I was super frustrated and thought i couldn't lose weight. Then I stopped focusing on calorie deficit, cut out simple carbs, dairy, gluten and processed sugar. And the weight started following off easily without me limiting food intake. I essentially changed my focus from not eating this and limiting myself to focusing on eating the right things and giving my self freedom to eat right....

A family member of mine worked her ass off and didn't lose weight. Stopped exercise but cut out gluten and dairy without exercise and slimmed up like crazy.

My hunch is that there is something in her diet that is hindering her weight loss. She possibly has an alergy or intolerance to the food she is putting in her body.

My guess is that if she cut out processed foods, sugars, gluten and dairy the weight would come off. Vegan may help too... I live in the app mountains near her area and especially in the area she is from in rural ga people are way behind on the times. Awesome people but often very ignorant in certain areas. I live in a rural area and I am friends with fat people and their perception of healthy foods and fitness is highly skewed. And that is why they are stuck where they are. That's why I was stuck too! If it was just a matter of effort more people would be successful. It's more a matter of knowledge and the application of it.

Kudos to her for running and inspiring others but the truth is she can lose weight. She just hasn't figured out how yet... Keep inspiring others but please don't perpetuate lies that could become a hindrance to others in their journey. Just admit you tried really hard and done the best you can to this point but haven't figured out how to lose weight....yet

Our food system is f**** up and like many things has been hijacked by corporate greed. As a result of people's selfish ambition and agendas a lot of our food is highly tainted and marketed to us as healthy when in reality it's hard for our body to recognize the food and causing us to go into emergency mode and fatten up. (I know you may say that there are people who crappy and are skinny and I agree but there are a variety of reasons and it's very dynamic and not easily identified and understood). Our perception as a society as a whole is a combination of indoctrination via marketing of foods. Like myself and every other person our perception has been skewed by years and years of garbage we are taught unfortunately. We all need to change the way we think including myself. Some of us have better perspective in different areas than others...

Sorry for the rant

Sorry for the rant

It's awesome that you've found what works for you and your family member did too. That's the most important thing with weight loss and health. There are so many authoritarian sources out there that are flat wrong for me.

I'm 5'8, ~143 lbs, 5K in the 17s, and don't think I could run or even fast-walk an ultramarathon. At some point on these log treks you start needing to burn fat once you're out of glycogen. Having 100 extra could be helpful, compared to a skinny reasonably fit person trying the same thing.

Though better yet would be high overall fitness and training specifically for it.

For all we know this woman will outlive all of us. We don't know very much about longevity/mortality yet.

Power to her.

ScottEvil wrote:

I'm 5'8, ~143 lbs, 5K in the 17s, and don't think I could run or even fast-walk an ultramarathon. At some point on these log treks you start needing to burn fat once you're out of glycogen. Having 100 extra could be helpful, compared to a skinny reasonably fit person trying the same thing.

Though better yet would be high overall fitness and training specifically for it.

For all we know this woman will outlive all of us. We don't know very much about longevity/mortality yet.

Power to her.

You burn ~100 calories per mile, a lb of fat gives you ~3500 calories, or 35 miles. If you're super duper lean, you have about 10%, or 14 lbs of bodyfat. You'll be starting to get in trouble if you get below about half of that, so you can lose maybe 7 lbs of fat before getting in trouble.

So if you go into an ultra in a fasted state and eat absolutely nothing during it, you'll be running out of usable body fat when you get over about 200 miles.

So, for a skinny person like you, I'd suggest you eat something if you're going to run an ultra over 200 miles.

Lrc phd wrote:

The data says you are wrong. As our obese adult population ages, we have more obese old people:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db106.htm

from the summary:

"The overall prevalence of obesity among older adults and the racial and ethnic patterns are similar to estimates previously reported for the entire adult population."

Seriously mate? wrote:

How many morbidly obese 70, 80 and 90 year olds do you see? Virtually none. The cardiovascular system does just not last as long when you are that large regardless of blood cholesterol and glucose levels.

There's a difference between obese and morbidly obese. The study seems to only apply to "obese"?

I thrilled she is out running. Good for her. And she is doing quite a bit. I love her enthusiasm! I think she is delightful.

I would enjoy her going for a run with her.