Right now I weigh about 165 (5'11"), would I see significant improvement if I were more like 130? If so, how do you drop 35 pounds in a healthy manner?
Right now I weigh about 165 (5'11"), would I see significant improvement if I were more like 130? If so, how do you drop 35 pounds in a healthy manner?
Bump
pros tend to have 18 or 19 bmis so if you want to actually compete shoot for that.
You're never, ever going to weigh 130 lbs so don't bother imagining.
Speaker of Hard Truths wrote:
You're never, ever going to weigh 130 lbs so don't bother imagining.
I'm 6'3" and went from 189 to 147 at my fittest. It can happen.
Speaker of Hard Truths wrote:
You're never, ever going to weigh 130 lbs so don't bother imagining.
Why not? I ran a 2:32 debut and that was without any effort toward diet, just eating whatever I wanted. If I wanted to get serious about it (I want to) I could. I'm not some hobby jogging scrub chasing a BQ.
Sub Elite Marathoner wrote:
Right now I weigh about 165 (5'11"), would I see significant improvement if I were more like 130? If so, how do you drop 35 pounds in a healthy manner?
"How much should a competitive marathoner weigh?" Probably very light, i.e., a flyweight - if you don’t want to be all beat-up in your older years. A lot of depends on your height, of course. I've seen taller runners (>5-11) from the 135 - 145 lb range handle the stresses pretty well of regular marathoning over the years.
Don’t get fooled: trying to be competitive and run fast marathons year after year at a heavier weight to height ratio will just knock the snot out of you when get older (I'm not talking about the heavier runner who runs 1 or 2 marathoners and crosses it off his bucket list, competing only in shorter races onward). Many of us heavier runners who ran marathoners in our younger years are now all broken down in our middle-age and left for the trash heap. 😕 Avid marathoning is best for the lighter flyweights...if you want longevity in your running.
So how do I lose unnecessary weight in a healthy manner? Just eat less crap and let the 100 mile weeks work their magic?
I'd ask "feldman"....he says he went from "189 to 147." And sometimes eating completely healthy and running high mileage isn’t enough based on your body type & genetics.
The BMI generally ranges from 18.5-Low 21's in Marathoners. There are definitely good marathoners that are underweight, but the majority are above 18.5. There are also many marathoners up to 23 in the BMI scale, but most are lower.
The only thing I would say is that you really should not be aiming for weight; You should generally just be trying to get lean. There are some people that will tell even muscular people to drop below a BMI of 19, but don't be fooled. If you really are skinny enough to have excess fat on you with a reasonable BMI, then you can consider dropping your weight. But if not, you're making a mistake.
Remember that the two greatest distance runners of all time (Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele) both have BMIs over 20; Haile's being 20.4 and Bekele's being 21.1.
Though for people already reasonably lean, strength training to get that extra bit of leanness gives you a good edge, and in reality doesn't make most people that much heavier.
feldman wrote:
Speaker of Hard Truths wrote:You're never, ever going to weigh 130 lbs so don't bother imagining.
I'm 6'3" and went from 189 to 147 at my fittest. It can happen.
Thank you for writing that. I will never want to run a marathon but I hate reading that someone cannot do that or that a 10 minute 2 mile is slow!
I agree with much of what 'don't be fooled' wrote. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that both Geb and Kenny are short (Geb especially); both shortness and tallness can distort BMI, while OP is neither tall nor short.
One surprising this is that you'll find that elite distance runners (5k and up) tend to have similar body weights regardless of height. Both Geb and Ken are listed at around 120. Tergat, who is significantly taller (5'11 ish) only weighed about 10 pounds more when mid-career (when still on the track).
As for the OP, I think the thing to do is to lose weight relatively slowly, just by cutting out calories generally, throughout the daily routine. See if you can get to 150 and then hold it there for awhile. Dieting might make you a bit tired, so if you can lose 15 and then stabilize, you'll get a sense of if it worked for you. From there, you can start considering losing more, keeping in mind what 'don't be fooled' wrote about primarily striving to be lean.
If OP is already past his mid 20s, then I agree that 130 is possibly unrealistic/unhealthy.
A Beaten Old Runner wrote:
I'd ask "feldman"....he says he went from "189 to 147." And sometimes eating completely healthy and running high mileage isn’t enough based on your body type & genetics.
Correct, we're not all destined to have BMI's of 18 while still being healthy. For me it was several years of consistent mileage and yes, pretty healthy eating. I say pretty healthy because I wasn't being paid to run so beer and the occasional fast food run were not going to be eliminated. But if I don't have at least one salad a day I feel off. Oh, and portion control. Just because you ran 20 miles doesn't mean you need to go out and eat 3 plates of pasta. Watch is percent of carbs in your diet in general. I would never advocate going carb free as a distance runner (I know those that do) but 32ounces of gatorade just because you're thirsty? Totally stupid.
Sub Elite Marathoner wrote:
So how do I lose unnecessary weight in a healthy manner? Just eat less crap and let the 100 mile weeks work their magic?
Limit or stop consuming animal products, sugar and junk food.
I did my best marathoning, including an OTQ, at a BMI of 17-18, but I am a very small framed female and I looked like hell at that BMI. I'm now around 19.5 and look much healthier. There's more to life than running, and you may want to consider whether you want to look like a concentration camp survivor just to get faster.
amkelley wrote:
I did my best marathoning, including an OTQ, at a BMI of 17-18, but I am a very small framed female and I looked like hell at that BMI. I'm now around 19.5 and look much healthier. There's more to life than running, and you may want to consider whether you want to look like a concentration camp survivor just to get faster.
pics?
John Utah wrote:
Limit or stop consuming animal products, sugar and junk food.
Are you a Seventh-day Adventist or something? 🤔. Animal proteins that are free of antibiotics, GHs, vaccines, and that are fed an organic diet are healthy...nothing new there.
Have you ever been around someone who is really very thin? When you are actually beside a guy who is 5'11" and 130 pounds, its crazy how physically small they are. When you really look at them, it's not good - narrow shoulders, tiny arms, very little muscle mass - they look frail. To get that thin is not easy and generally does require starvation levels of eating over a prolonged period of time. You could maybe do it over a few years and eat more, but you'd still need to have a pretty strict diet. The easiest way to weigh that amount is to never have let yourself get up to 165 (always stayed a very small person). Getting there now will be tough. And, like getting faster, the lower you go the harder is t is. So losing 35 when you aren't "fat" (going from 165 to 130) is a lot harder than going from 200 to 165. I wouldn't want to do it.
Don't be fooled wrote:
The BMI generally ranges from 18.5-Low 21's in Marathoners. There are definitely good marathoners that are underweight, but the majority are above 18.5. There are also many marathoners up to 23 in the BMI scale, but most are lower.
The only thing I would say is that you really should not be aiming for weight; You should generally just be trying to get lean. There are some people that will tell even muscular people to drop below a BMI of 19, but don't be fooled. If you really are skinny enough to have excess fat on you with a reasonable BMI, then you can consider dropping your weight. But if not, you're making a mistake.
Remember that the two greatest distance runners of all time (Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele) both have BMIs over 20; Haile's being 20.4 and Bekele's being 21.1.
Though for people already reasonably lean, strength training to get that extra bit of leanness gives you a good edge, and in reality doesn't make most people that much heavier.
Are you kidding...Gebrselassie & Bekele are dimuinitive featherweights at 119 & 121 lbs! I was at those weights way back in the 6th grade! 😅
being very thin wrote:
Have you ever been around someone who is really very thin? When you are actually beside a guy who is 5'11" and 130 pounds, its crazy how physically small they are. When you really look at them, it's not good - narrow shoulders, tiny arms, very little muscle mass - they look frail. To get that thin is not easy and generally does require starvation levels of eating over a prolonged period of time. You could maybe do it over a few years and eat more, but you'd still need to have a pretty strict diet. The easiest way to weigh that amount is to never have let yourself get up to 165 (always stayed a very small person). Getting there now will be tough. And, like getting faster, the lower you go the harder is t is. So losing 35 when you aren't "fat" (going from 165 to 130) is a lot harder than going from 200 to 165. I wouldn't want to do it.
And a lot of these elite marathoners are built like college XC girls...really can't tell difference at times. Unless you're an elite making decent money running, why would any man want to go through life built like skin & bones?