I hate to admit it, but one thing I thought immediately after signing up for my first marathon was… I wonder how much weight I’ll lose. I didn’t sign up for my hometown race in Columbus, Ohio. to I would lose weight, but my internalized diet culture brain held that as a bit of a potential side benefit. That’s why I was so disappointed when, a few months after I started training, the opposite started happening.
I feel bad typing this and it’s even worse to think that other people will read this, but I quickly realized that I wasn’t the only one who had been thrown. When I looked it up on Google, I saw headline after headline that boiled down to, “Yes, weight gain can be a byproduct of marathon training,” which made me feel totally shitty. One article gave advice on how to train without “destroying your waistline,” while another questioned why people would take up long-distance running if it wouldn’t help them lose weight. The prevailing theory was that gaining weight during a training cycle defeats the whole purpose of training. It’s a mistake that needs to be corrected immediately.
But increasingly, young women are rejecting this harmful framework altogether. When you close your browser tab and turn to her TikTok or Instagram, you’ll see more than just accepting her weight gain. Please embrace it and give it a round of applause.I know it’s an essential part of preparing my body for the enormous endurance challenge of running 42.2 miles. In fact, the training experience managed to change their entire perspective on eating and exercise, even outside of training. This is quite a feat considering the pressure women are under to be the thinnest versions of themselves possible. Their videos racked up hundreds of thousands of views and had vibrant, positive comment sections, like a public invitation to a running club that was always accepting new members. And I wanted to be one of them.
I see Hannah Gerson, a 27-year-old account executive from New York City, as the captain of that club.she posted some popular videos He is one of the most passionate and open runners on RunTok when it comes to this subject. This summer was her second marathon training cycle, but she said she noticed her weight was increasing a month after that block started. “My first reaction was, ‘Why is this happening to me?'” she says, adding that like me, losing weight wasn’t a goal for her, but running more. He explained that he thought he would lose weight.
This is the same idea that sent me into a panic when I noticed my pants were getting tighter and my stomach was bulging. I was programmed to believe that weight gain for any reason was a sign that something was wrong, that I was eating too much, not running enough, or doing something else horribly wrong. That’s what I thought. That’s why it was refreshing to see Gerson speak candidly about his experiences. “The point of this is not only to normalize weight gain during training, but also to normalize weight gain in general.” she says in one video. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, you’re doing a terrible job.” In the comments, women were effusive in their support.
One runner wrote, “I gained weight for the marathon!!! I felt so much stronger and gained muscle. I really needed it to survive 26.2 seconds.” “Marathon Barbie is perfect just the way she is,” added another.
Marathon nutritionist and nutritionist Christy Bauman explains that when our bodies move hard, they are more efficient at storing glycogen, a storage form of carbohydrate, so that our muscles can use this energy during training. He said it would be. But importantly, Bauman explains, this is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s proof that you’re doing things right. “In order to feel good while running, you need to make sure you’re eating enough to support your training adaptations,” she says. “If you’re running to lose weight, and that’s what most people run for, you’re asking for burnout and injury.”
Science backs this up: Reputable the study showed Overly restrictive diets are rarely effective for athletes. In fact, they often lead to poor performance and injury. A lifestyle where you don’t eat enough can also negatively impact a runner’s iron levels, immune system, and stress response.
So while I was worried about eating too much, I should have focused on maintaining my strength and energy. Instead of worrying that I don’t “look like a runner” because I have all the muscle I need, I should have paid more attention to what my body really needed. In my defense, I read about celebrity diets, such as eating “water popsicles” (literally ICE!!!!) to suppress hunger, and I was right in the early 20th century hellish environment of the Millennial generation. I grew up. As it turned out, this unhealthy idea about weight gain, imprinted in childhood, was very difficult to dispel even as an adult.
I gingerly started taking protein, adding eggs to my breakfast, and drinking chocolate milk after my runs to calm my hourly stomach, but nothing really changed. I was hungry. My body needed more. After a few weeks of thinking about what I did wrong, I started thinking about what I did right. I ate more carbs the night before my run and I crushed it. I failed when I chose salads and carbohydrate alternatives. I did a PR when I ate a big dinner before speed training. I ran before breakfast and felt tired.
I found these videos and comments from other female runners and it all clicked. After every long run, speed workout, or tempo trial, the last thing I thought about was how I looked. All I really felt was a sense of accomplishment and pride in my body for achieving my goal. I stopped worrying about my thighs and stomach and started eating what I wanted to eat instead of what I thought I’d somehow earned. From then on, I felt like a real marathon runner.
Many other female runners, like Megan Kanai, have described the exact same flip switch. The 28-year-old content creator, who lives in Atlanta, said after battling an eating disorder for years, she said: gain weight while running Restructured her entire perspective. She became so obsessed with her feeling that she was doing difficult things that she never thought she could do that it became less about her own physique and more about her performance. ” says Megan.
Nicole Winter, 29, is a certified personal trainer from Austin. Post about her marathon trainingsaid she found that by gaining weight, women are typically expected to prioritize their appearance above all else. “I’m tired of women not being able to enjoy life and doing what they want to do because society expects us to look a certain way,” she says. “We think we should have this ideal body type and that we have to do it in order to be toned and ‘healthy’, but there’s so much pressure,” she says. To help women avoid embarrassment, they post videos about the positives of marathon weight gain. “You can run 42.2 miles with all that weight on your body. Why would you be upset about that?” Nicole points out.
Although it is just one of the UK’s races, 24,028 female runners took part in the London Marathon last year, with many women taking part in marathons. I hope that means more women will forget the harmful messages about weight gain we’ve been taught for years. To be clear, gaining weight is only acceptable in connection with marathon training or other feats of athletic performance and should not be encouraged. I learned that for me, and for many other women, that’s what it takes to correct distorted thinking.
The women I spoke to said they noticed that weight gain can occur for a variety of reasons. And that’s fine. Objects are not meant to be static. “What people don’t talk about is that our bodies grow and evolve as we age, and it’s normal for changes to occur. As women, we’re not as strong as we were when we were 20. It shouldn’t be visible. Our bodies are stronger, smarter, and constantly evolving,” Gerson said. “Easier said than done – I struggle with body image myself – but the more we normalize changes in our bodies, whether we gain weight or not, the less we devalue our appearance. I’ll put it away.”
These runners really changed my perspective. To be honest, I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t come to this realization myself. It’s hard to shut out all the self-criticism about my body, but I’ve found something that quiets those thoughts. On marathon day, I didn’t care about how I looked or how much I weighed. All I cared about was crossing the finish line. And I did. My body ran 42.2 miles and I felt a pride and love for myself that I never knew was possible.