Am I fat? 5’11 and 172lbs; 40 years old; 70 mpw

You want to be as fast as you can be in the 'thon? Control your eating better to lose 20 to 40 pounds.

Is your only interest health and how you look? Then you sound like you're doing fine.

Yes. Have you seen shalane Flanagan? She probably weighs about 60 lbs less than you. You've got a long way to go, babe

Your weight suggests you're lean by most standards... except that of of competitive running.

I expect a good racing weight for you would be 15something.

Nothing to do with body image - just mechanics of what makes run faster and longer.

For optimal results, you should weigh around 140-150 pounds.

Try intermittent fasting for the most effective and sustainable weight loss result.

If you adhere to 16/8 almost guaranteed you will lose weight. Your blood markers will improve too. You will be more healthy.

Yes, you are fat.

How often are you around other runners?

Don't diet. Eat healthy with good-sized portions. I'm not sure about your training, but you say you're not training per se. Does that mean you aren't doing workouts? Those will really get your metabolism running--especially on 70-80 mpw. You'll probably start to see some weight come off with that. If you're happy with your running, then don't worry about your weight.

This isn't easy to do, but try NOT comparing yourself to others and try to be happy with where you are. Part of the curse of distance running is the comparisons. Times, weight, age groupers, past self. At some point, you have to learn to let go of that and be happy with who you are and the idea that running is a joy in itself.

If you are fat at 70-80 miles a week. You need to go to overeaters anonymous.

Flaco wrote:

If you are fat at 70-80 miles a week. You need to go to overeaters anonymous.

first of all, I respect your post. You are not a troll and you are very open-minded about wanting to know if you have misperceptions.

You do have misperceptions. You are not fat and anyway. Yes of course your body retains fat. You are 40 years old and you have much less testosterone production then you did 20 years ago and this needs to be considered. You retain more water then you did 10 years ago and this needs to be considered as well because it gives the appearance of fat.

Also the 70 to 80 miles per week is a bit high in regards to feeling fat because at that kind of mileage nobody should feel fat. Fat people cannot run 70 to 80 miles per week.

your age is more of the issue then you're way too. Also consider that your way to loan it does not mean much given your height. You may not have lien, harden muscles. I ran with a guy today who is 5-6 and 160 lb but he is extremely lean.

Don't burn out. And don't believe all the hype. Just do what it takes to feel good.

The above was voice narrated.

Or an as fast as I could through my 30s but why continue to prioritize running at the expense of other career goals and pursuits?

I’m serious. Why skip out of the office at 5 when you can prepare for the presentation tomorrow?

You're fine. Just run. Eat healthy. Whatever your weight is just your weight. It's partially based on genetics. Trying to do extreme things to change it will likely backfire.

Alan

Am i fat? wrote:

Here is the deal. I am 40 and have been running, not well or with any talent, since college. Recently I have gotten into marathoning and now do 3 or so a year. I don’t really train per se, I just stay in marathon shape by running 70 to 80 mpw year round. PR in the marathon is 2:58 high.

When I compare myself to other runners I see myself as huge. I am not fat for the general population, but for a distance runner I see myself as obese. My question is whether this is true, and I am actually fat and should really diet to lose weight, or if this is body dysmorphia or something psychological. I like the way I look generally, I just feel self conscious next to runners and wonder if I should diet to look more like them.

Are you male or female?

I'm a guy, same height as you, about the same weight. I usually oscillate between 162 and 174 lbs. If I really put my mind to it I could get probably down to 156-158 lbs. but I'd be super skinny given my skeletal structure. Plus, I would have super weak upper body. So at my age, late 40s, I stopped going that low and I'm perfectly fine where I am. I feel the fastest and strongest at 162-166 lbs.

I also cycle a lot and super skinny legs are almost impossible for me;)

I know lot of folks mean it as a helpful advice but without knowing anything about your body composition it's useless... What helps is to measure your wrist and ankle circumference to get an idea of what your skeletal structure is to make better prediction how low could you go. For comparison, I'm 7.25" around my "skinny" wrists. I have a friend whose wrist circumference is 6", his hips are narrower and he is usually in high 140 to low 150 lbs range, at 5'10". When we stand next to each other the only difference is that my thighs and calfs are bigger, my hips wider, but visually we about the same skinny.

Oh, and just to brag a little: My masters PRs from 5K to marathons are in the 74-78% AG, even being this heavy;) Decent hobby jogger levels despite only picking up on running in my 40s.

Wow!...that's huge for competitive distance running! Most of the elites at 5-11 or so go well below 140 (e.g., Rupp is listed at a little over 5-10 with a weight of 138).

When I played a few years of college football in the early 80s your size was about the average of our DBs. Even some receivers and return specialists weren't much bigger (these were speed guys who had absolutely no running endurance).

Btw, that 2:58 is very impressive for someone your size and age. ?

You need to eat healthier. Eliminate sweets for a year and you will drop 5 pounds and improve your times.

You’re not fat, you’re big boned.

Thanks everyone this is helpful. I forgot to mention that I'm male.

I will clean up the diet. It's pretty good but right now but certainly things I can eliminate. Thanks for the advice!

It's what you're eating that's making you fat! Read this book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Get_Fat

Am i fat? wrote:

I am 40 and have been running, not well or with any talent, since college. Recently I have gotten into marathoning and now do 3 or so a year. I don’t really train per se, I just stay in marathon shape by running 70 to 80 mpw year round. PR in the marathon is 2:58 high.

I'm 5'11" also, and competed at about 170 lbs in my 40s. Looking back, I probably would have been faster if I'd gotten down to 160, but wasn't willing to have that "skeletal" look. I ran 17:10 for 5K and 2:56 marathon at 43.

Those suggesting a weight of 140 are crazy. Maybe OK for those with a naturally very thin build, but for normal frame size, that's ridiculous.

At age 58, I was racing at about 158, and I looked like I just walked out of a concentration camp. I can't imagine being any thinner. But, I was "faster* based on "age grading." 18:58 for 5K, 3:07 marathon.

Allen1959 wrote:

I'm 5'11" also, and competed at about 170 lbs in my 40s. Looking back, I probably would have been faster if I'd gotten down to 160, but wasn't willing to have that "skeletal" look. I ran 17:10 for 5K and 2:56 marathon at 43.

Those suggesting a weight of 140 are crazy. Maybe OK for those with a naturally very thin build, but for normal frame size, that's ridiculous.

At age 58, I was racing at about 158, and I looked like I just walked out of a concentration camp. I can't imagine being any thinner. But, I was "faster* based on "age grading." 18:58 for 5K, 3:07 marathon.

There's a few world class runners over the decades who weighed around 140-145 with muscular builds. Webb, who was listed as 5-9, 145, was huge for world class 1500 runner. He had the biggest pipes I've ever seen for a runner at that level and looked more like 160+ lbs:?

In addition, Ukrainian Ivan Heshko (03 WC bronze/Ukrainian NC), who competed against Webb back in the day, had a muscular build at 5-10, 143:

These guys probably spent some time in the weight room with free weights and didn't run themselves to death.

I am about your size and yes I am fat for a distance runner. I really hate that I'm leaving time on the course because of it but nothing I can do at the moment as I am injured. Although when I'm healthy I don't run nearly as much as you and I'm sure I'd get lean if I did, you're definitely overeating.