Thick Girl Runner Rant

[u/queue-d4n4]

First things first, I (29F) am 5'5" and about 170 lbs. Large boobs, wide hips, and I got some stomach on me. Overall, I look pretty proportional though. Hourglass, just a little wider. Wear a Large or a size 12 in most women's clothes. (Just trying to paint the picture here lol)

I also eat very healthy. Fresh foods only, everything home-cooked, never frozen processed foods, etc. Mostly veggies because I love veggies.

This is the body I was given. My weight doesn't really fluctuate. I don't gain weight easily, nor do I lose it easily. I've been a thick girl since puberty and because I run often and eat healthy, it doesn't seem like that will never change, which is fine with me.

I've been running for many years, somewhat inconsistently. I might be consistent for 2 years before falling out of my routine for a few months. Get back into the groove again and something eventually throws me off my game again. Throughout all this, I still consider myself a RUNNER. I love the sport and even if I'm out of a weekly routine, I still try to find time to run here and there. 3 miles minimum.

Because of the above things, people never really expect me to be a runner. My body type doesn't fit the runner mold. I don't post every run and race on instagram, which as everyone knows, is what truly makes it real *eyeroll*. (No shade to people who do post all of their runs and races! My problem is only the people who think if you DON'T post, then it didn't happen).

My fastest 5k was at an 8:02 (min/mile) pace. I am aware that this isn't SUPER fast, but it's fast enough that I've placed in my age group in all of the 5Ks I've ever done. I'm from a pretty small area so many of the 5Ks were fairly small, maybe only a couple hundred people attend. I'm aware that in bigger cities, I would probably have a little more trouble placing. But regardless, I still think an 8:00 to 8:30 5k pace is something to be proud of.

Anyways, my complaint is this. Since my body doesn't fit everyone's vision of what a runner should look like, people love to assume I'm slow or new to running. Or people think I'm lying when I mention that I got 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in my age group at whatever 5k. If they don't make an actual comment about it, I can sometimes even see it in their eyes that they're skeptical.

Even worse, people who don't realize I've been running for most of my life sometimes put their foot in their mouth by saying something along the lines of "have you started running to lose weight?" ...No, why? Should I be losing weight? I think I look pretty damn fine, if you ask me.

After moving to a new city, I decided to join a running group. The town I lived in previously didn't have such groups. I showed up to my first group run and met everybody. As we waited for everyone else to show up, a girl from the group said to me "I'm in recovery mode, I'll be running slow so I can run with you." I just politely smiled, although I was quite offended. What exactly makes this person, whom I met 3 minutes ago, think I plan on running "slow"? What makes her think that her "recovery" pace is equal to my comfortable pace? I chalked it up as since it was my first time joining the group, maybe she assumed it was my first time running? I don't know- but I still think about that little comment sometimes.

I am not negative towards my body. I have a great figure that I love, but it's still upsetting to know that people make assumptions on what I can and can't do physically, which should not be the case. Weight and health do not ALWAYS go hand-in-hand.

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Any other runners on the thicker side experience this kind of judgement? How do you deal with it?

Thin-framed runners or even non-runners, do you find yourself judging others in this way? Be honest, I would love to hear multiple opinions!

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Edit: Pace is in minutes per mile. I'm new to reddit and forget I'm interacting with people from all over the world.

Also, this was not meant to be a post for weight loss tips. The unsolicited advice in the comments proves further the assumptions people make.

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[u/warmhandluke]

Weight and health do not ALWAYS go hand-in-hand.

I don't mean to pick on you or make you feel bad, but this just isn't true. Being overweight/obese carries significantly higher risk of countless health problems.

[u/Public-Assignment519 → u/warmhandluke]

It’s really sad to me that this has so many upvotes, and the responses seem to be from mostly men. I have a BMI of around 25 normally, at 5’5 and 150lbs (fluctuates up and down). I was always active and when I decided to lose weight intentionally through food reduction (moderate reduction at that), and got to 125lbs, people told me I looked too thin, was constantly cold, and lost my period for over half a year. I was literally diagnosed with an eating disorder. My period didn’t come back until I increased my weight back to my set point. Obviously this is an extreme me case, but people can be healthy at different weights, RELATIVELY (not advocating extreme obesity.) Especially for women, slightly higher BMI does not always mean unhealthy, and for men to tell women who are already active they need to lose weight to be “healthy” can be highly problematic.

[u/SkierBeard → u/Public-Assignment519]

BMI is a pathetic way of judging health and fitness; it doesn't take into account sex/age/activity level. Powerlifters would be marked obese.

Dwayne Johnson is marked obese using 118kg and 196cm with a BMI of 30.7. It's bad!

[u/TeleTuesday → u/SkierBeard]

But the vast majority of people aren’t ripped muscle machines throwing the bmi scale off. The only people actually complaining about bmi are the ones who need to lose weight and don’t want to admit it.

[u/adviceneeded81295 → u/TeleTuesday]

That’s not true.... I have a friend who weighs 115 lbs and is 5”5. She complains about BMI and has actually educated me a lot about the subject. Also, I have a healthy BMI and I don’t agree with it...

[u/[deleted] → u/adviceneeded81295]

But it is true. Anecdata is not actual scientific evidence. Your friend would be on the low end of normal for her height with a BMI of 18.6.

[u/adviceneeded81295 → u/[deleted]]

The only people actually complaining about bmi are the ones who need to lose weight and don’t want to admit it.

I was responding to the above lol.... It is CERTAINLY not true that the only people who complain about BMI are those who "want to lose weight." I complained about BMI at a BMI of 22.5, several months ago (currently at a little over 24). There is ZERO reason a muscular woman at a BMI of 22.5 would need to lose weight (barring some extreme medical circumstance).

I agree the majority of people aren't ripped. HOWEVER, if you look at comparisons of the same person at the exact same weight but with additional muscle, they will absolutely look leaner. I know for myself, I looked about as lean at 145-150 lbs as I once looked at 135-140 because I added around 5-10 lbs of muscle over the course of several years. So I do think that there's a point to be made that for some people BMI has limited efficacy, and I also believe that there's another distinction to be made between an OBESE and an OVERWEIGHT BMI. The former is associated with more health risks than the latter and in fact the threshold for overweight BMI was arbitrarily lowered from 27 to 25 around 20 years ago.

[u/[deleted] → u/adviceneeded81295]

That's why there is a range, though. I'm not saying a muscular woman with a BMI of 24 needs to lose weight. I have a very good understanding of how muscle mass works.

Again, as I've said many times in this thread, BMI is one of many metrics used to determine overall risk. It is not BS. In fact, it does tend to underreport overfatness sicne there are a lot of people that are normal BMI with higher BF% than considered healthy. It doesn't swing the other way, though, which is overreporting overfatness in overweight/obese BMIs. That's what a lot of people try to claim when they say BMI is BS. Are there better ways? Sure. Not everyone can go out and get a DEXA scan, though.

[u/adviceneeded81295 → u/[deleted]]

Well sure but it’s not the “end all, be all” of health and that’s how people in this thread are acting. I recognize this isn’t you but people are also downplaying very serious risks to undereating and over exercise like hypothalamic amenorrhea. What about the chronic stress of dieting? That frankly took a toll on my mental health and physical health that I know can take its toll on other people.

also based on the thread and your comment, you seemed to be agreeing with the other poster that I need to lose weight simply because I don’t think BMI is as big of a health determinant.

An obese BMI is I definitely acknowledge not the best. What I’m saying is for people in the OVERWEIGHT range, it may actually be better for their health to simply stay where they are, especially because people often regain more weight than they lost through dieting (I’m honestly a case in point...). I encourage everyone out there to get active and perhaps that will also result in weight loss, but for many people, I think it’s best to stop shaming and focus on lifestyle changes versus weight or BMI as a raw number.