Body Weight & Running: It’s Complicated
You may be surprised to know that you use less than a third of your energy while running on moving forward. You use less than two percent of your energy maintaining balance. What uses the most energy while running? Supporting your body weight.* [Not thinking about your body weight.]
I want to talk about body weight.
That can feel uncomfortable. It is easy to take this research and tell myself that I will use less energy if I weigh less. The top tier professional runners confirm this with their smaller bodies. From there, it can be easy for people [even men! *gasp*] to conclude that if they weighed less they would run faster because if they weigh less, it will take less energy to move.
I want to complicate this.
How much do YOU need to weigh to be at the optimal weight on this equation? How would you be able to figure it out? How would you know how much body weight you need to support all your desired activities? How would your ideas of what you’re supposed to look like affect your calculation? How would you know when to stop at the “right” weight? Is there one “right weight” for you? Is there a range? If there’s a range, is it bigger or smaller? How might it change with your fitness? Could you have one “right weight” at a lower level of fitness and another “right weight” at a higher level? If you just run more at a low intensity, shouldn’t your body burn all that “excess” body weight? Why isn’t it working out how you thought it would? How much of your time and energy are you willing to put into calculating and managing this? How will you be able to take good care of your mind and your spirit in the midst of focus on your body in this way?
The questions don’t stop. Does this sound obsessive? It could get there. I want you to pause right now and check in with yourself. What are you feeling in your body? What does this say about your relationship to your body and running?
I’m not going to say that body weight doesn’t matter. I’m also not going to say that you should obsess over your body weight. Like I said before, it’s complicated. As for the coaches I have heard address body weight, they seem to advise talking to a professional, being confident you’re eating enough to fuel your training, or making an affirmation of accepting your body as it is. I’m not going to contradict those things either.
I’m just trying to make this more complicated. Why? Because it is complicated.
Because it’s complicated, that means your path is your own. It’s personalized to you. This post won’t address every nuance of your story. It won’t enlighten links between trauma, food systems, shame, normal weight cycles, or any other of a number of factors that play into conversation about body weight. It won’t calculate for how your context might be different tomorrow or next week or next year. It won’t calculate for how your context might change and change and return to a place like where you are now.
So when your brain or someone in marketing tries to simplify your conversation about body weight and running to say: lower weight means higher performance and higher performance has to be the goal. When that happens, and it will, you can respond,
“Well, it’s complicated.”
Just take a moment and check out these folks who are doing awesome things while loving their body:
Mirna Valerio’s video “It’s not about losing weight but gaining life.”
This runner who placed 5th at the NYC Marathon.
This book on body positive running.
What is your next step on your journey of learning what it means to be you in your body?
What is your next opportunity to heal your relationship with your body and running?
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. You’re not alone in these questions. Bringing it into the light is preferable to letting it grow in the dark. I’m convinced that it’s more about engaging well with helpful questions than it is about easy answers. If this discussion resonates with you, I’m sure you already know the road you’re on is a long one. Find companions to walk it together. There’s lots of resources out there, and I’m honored if you want to include me along the way. It’s complicated, like the rest of life, and I want to see you flourish. Blessings on your journey, and don’t hesitate to be in touch.
*Arellano CJ, Kram R. “Partitioning the Metabolic Cost of Human Running: A Task-by-Task Approach.” Integr Comp Biol. 2014 May 16. pii: icu033. [Epub ahead of print]
