You: weight lost = running comfortable/fun?

Running is 90% a mental activity. It doesn't matter how much you weigh; if you start out thinking about how much it will hurt and suck, then it will hurt. And suck. But if you start your run with an open mind and let your body do what it can without setting expectations, you'll be happily surprised at what you can accomplish.

I've run half-marathons between 160 and 190 (I'm 5'7" and 30, one race a year since I was 23), and I did a full marathon at around 170. The ones that hurt the most were the halfs I wasn't excited about. When I was bored with training and not-motivated. Strangely, I was at my lowest weights during those. I think it had to do with form more than weight...I wasn't interested, so I wasn't concentrating on planting my feet, swinging my arms, keeping my shoulders down, hands relaxed, etc. Plodding instead of pushing.

I firmly believe in this: Change your mind, change your body. Tell yourself to enjoy it and you will. Tell yourself how much it hurts and sucks and it will.

If you run, you're a runner. I've seen old ladies, amputees, dads pushing wheelchairs, fat(ter than me) chicks, dudes with thunder thighs, ten year olds, teens with Down syndrome, service members in full uniform with packs and flags and everyone in between finish races. Don't let the number on the scale in the same room you sh1t in determine how much you enjoy the outside world. You can do it!

[quote="gdyment;35419256If I could take a magic pill and keep all my physiological benefits I would do it in a heartbeat and sit on the couch playing video games, watching movies, doing puzzles or painting or models etc. But I also don't think sitting in a bar having a chat is very fun either - much rather run with someone for an hour+ and chat that way. To me working out is a part-time job that pays me in health and wellness.[/quote]

Sounds like we have some of the same hobbies? I figure running/walking is the price I pay so that I can sit on my butt and paint miniatures for hours at a time. Gotta be a tradeoff somewhere.

I am slender and lean, have been lighter, and running doesn't ever get effortless feeling for me, it's a slog at any weight. I went at it from the other direction - tried to gain muscle to see if it would make it easier feeling but nope. Started at 123lb, now at 136lb at 5'9", I am 48. Most of the gain was muscle. Running *fast* feels pretty good but I can only go for about a minute at the feels-good pace.

I do feel better for the whole rest of the day if I run in the morning though, even though I don't enjoy the running. I have yoga mornings and jogging mornings and the jogging works better for the "glow" feeling in the subsequent hours.

So, I don't love running while I am running, but I do love having running in my life, love that I can do it, feel better for doing it.

OP, yes! There is a definitely a correlation with weight and feeling like you can run faster/easier, etc.

When I started out, I was close to 170 and it was a bit of a struggle (I'm 5'7"). I'd say once I hit under 150 I felt like "I got this." I now range about 131 - 133 and have a 23:31 5K PR, 49:26 10K PR, and 2 sub 2 hour half marathons under my belt. I have definitely had moments - like last week when I did a continuous 8 mile track run at a 9:20 "easy" pace when I felt like I could go forever. I've also had moments during track workouts where I feel like I'm just flying! (Granted, this isn't every day, but it happens a LOT more now that I'm at a healthy weight.)

As I have gotten rather competitive (mostly with myself - I want to see how fast I can go!), I've been attempting to shave off a few more pounds so I can ideally hit 125 - 127. Obviously, as I'm already at a healthy weight, this is not really necessary - it's just more of a thing I'd like to do to improve further at my sport.

Good luck to you and just keep at it!!

SarahIluvatariel wrote: »

OP here. Progress update: I'm down to about 200 lbs, now, and had an interesting moment the other day: I went for a walk and came upon an intersection, so I jogged across because there was a car coming soon, and was really surprised to find that I just felt like keeping going. It was way easier than I expected! I haven't been actively trying to run or jog or anything these days (because I'm still above my previous 190lbs "comfortable threshold"), so this came as a very exciting surprise.

AWESOME. One thing that REALLY helped me a couple years ago when I pretty much had to start from square one again - I celebrated EVERY little victory like this. I plotted all my workouts on a calendar and I'd put smiley faces and sticker stars on it. I felt it really kept me motivated and in the game to focus on how far I'd come and the progress I was making, versus the long journey to where I wanted to be.

I weight currently in my "fatty" zone (210 lbs) I'm 5'11" but I'm comfortable running (slowish) now because I've build up some endurance. It just isn't weight, it is a lot about building up to volume.

When I'm at my target weight, clearly I'm faster and more comfortable.

Had an interesting run this weekend:

10 km Urban Trail

https://youtu.be/whr1FmBl5O4

I could weigh 10 lbs and I would still hate running! lol Hence the reason I just don't do it. I wanted to like it, I tried for years to like it. Truth is..I HATE IT! I came to terms with that and just do things I don't hate doing now.

My weight has only fluctuated by about 10 pounds or so in the past few years, so I don't think it has any bearing on how I feel running - the only thing that has is becoming better at running! When I got to the point that I could run about 2.5-3 miles without feeling totally exhausted, I started to not-hate it (this was also the point that I stopped doing run-walk intervals, which I think made a big difference in my enjoyment). When I embraced the idea that an "easy run" (i.e. most of my running) should be at a pace that's *actually* easy, I started to kind-of-like it.

I know that being lighter really does make you faster, but I wonder if a lot of people who feel like they're suddenly much better at running at a certain weight are really just hitting some point in their running training that makes it easier. If you're losing weight and working on running at the same time, a moment that feels weight-related might just be running-practice-related. Which is awesome!

I also started out running on the treadmill because I liked the feedback from the numbers, but realized that running outside is way way better. I just run with an app on my phone (runkeeper, but there are many others) that gives me the same kind of speed/distance/time feedback on the go.

Female, 5'8"
Started running at 268, currently at 173
Comfortable = 180
Fun = 180

No gazelle here, but I just ran my first half marathon and it felt really, really good.