Would you look any different after running 5 miles a day for 20 years?

tgiolt wrote:

Would you look any different after running 5 miles a day for 20 years (assume a rest day here and there to prevent injury)? Aside from more muscular legs would there any difference?

You will look older.

tgiolt wrote:

Would you look any different after running 5 miles a day for 20 years (assume a rest day here and there to prevent injury)? Aside from more muscular legs would there any difference?

You don't need rest days to "prevent injury."

You would still age 20 years regardless of how fit you are. You may be the same weight but will have more wrinkles.

tgiolt wrote:

Would you look any different after running 5 miles a day for 20 years (assume a rest day here and there to prevent injury)? Aside from more muscular legs would there any difference?

You’ll definitely look quite a bit younger and healthier than the average population. A lot younger and healthier.

If you are someone who runs very high mileage with intense workouts very consistently for ~15 years, then your face potentially will look older. That is more like 12 miles a day and not 5.

Depending where you live, the time of day you do your run, and whether or not you where sunscreen, you may have a lot of sun damage on your skin.

You'll definitely look different (probably better) if you are comparing to not running and sitting on the couch.

Doing a more moderate amount of running based on my charts, and supplementing your running with other activities and weight training will get you looking your best (and mentally as well)

Yes, fat. Your metabolism will slow down and you will gain weight (slowly) over the course of twenty years, unless you are a super healthy eater or change your habits as you age. If I still ate like I was twenty and still only ran 5 miles a day over the course of those next 20 years I would probably be weighing in 30 - 40lbs heavier than I am right now.

You would look 19.4 years older.

If I only ran 5 miles a day, I would predict gaining 20 lbs in the 1st year and then slowly not being able to run or enjoy running as much. But depending on your situation and goals, 5 miles a day could help you look and feel better. Everyone is different.

I have an identical twin brother. I run daily for 30 years and he hasnt in a long time. At one point he weighed more than 30 pounds more then I did.

ugh oh wrote:

If I only ran 5 miles a day, I would predict gaining 20 lbs in the 1st year and then slowly not being able to run or enjoy running as much. But depending on your situation and goals, 5 miles a day could help you look and feel better. Everyone is different.

Srsly? Running 5 miles a day is so astronomically much more than your average even slightly-overweight person has done in the last 20 years. People lose weight powerwalking.

Your diet must be intense.

Old is as old does wrote:

Yes, fat. Your metabolism will slow down and you will gain weight (slowly) over the course of twenty years, unless you are a super healthy eater or change your habits as you age. If I still ate like I was twenty and still only ran 5 miles a day over the course of those next 20 years I would probably be weighing in 30 - 40lbs heavier than I am right now.

Maybe for you but not everyone. My weight is unchanged for the last 30 years no matter what I do.

What happens wrote:

You would still age 20 years regardless of how fit you are. You may be the same weight but will have more wrinkles.

Not necessarily. I'm 59 and have no wrinkles, not including small ones around the eyes. Don't smoke, drink, and live a good life...with average genes you can look younger.

No, you would look exactly the same. It's very easy to test this. Just take a photo today. Then run 5 miles a day. And take a photo in 20 years. There will be no difference. The same goes for 40 years and 1000 years. No difference.

But we will all die. Forget about looks.

164 since '89 wrote:

Old is as old does wrote:

Yes, fat. Your metabolism will slow down and you will gain weight (slowly) over the course of twenty years, unless you are a super healthy eater or change your habits as you age. If I still ate like I was twenty and still only ran 5 miles a day over the course of those next 20 years I would probably be weighing in 30 - 40lbs heavier than I am right now.

Maybe for you but not everyone. My weight is unchanged for the last 30 years no matter what I do.

Perhaps, But I would guess you are more the anomaly than I am. I will say this, however, based on my family history...3 brothers, many uncles etc. I probably not supposed to be 155lbs and wouldn't be if I didn't run AND watch what I eat.

I think the question is a general one though. Not specific to me or you. Go to a local running club function and look around.

I know guys that have been running for 40 years or more and look like they sit on the couch all day. Simply running 5 miles a day (presumably 35-45 minutes a day) may be enough to stay "Healthy" but would not stress the body enough to provide any significant gains in fitness or changes in body composition after a certain amount of time. You would eventually plateau.

I think these parameters are too narrow. The big question regarding looks and ageing has to do with stress, not fitness or diet. Stress destroys you far more efficiently and severely than lack of exercise or poor diet or anything else. How miserable is your life over these 20 years? Are you happy, well-adjusted? Fulfilled? Or are you worried the whole time, frightened, eaten by anxiety and / or suffer severe losses like job, income, loved ones, etc.? A happy, generally unworried, well-adjusted, fulfilled person will, I am convinced, always be healthier and look healthier than a generally miserable, stressbound person who is also a diet and fitness nut. Even if the former spends her whole life laying on a couch smoking a pack a day.

Quality and satisfaction of life. That's the main thing.

Have averaged this for the last 48 years. My hair is shorter and has turned grey.