A lot of the solid studs on here that are young don't have the life experience yet. Even if they are sub-17 and sub-2:50 'thoners. But if you are single, wealthy and have tons of free time it's easier to get fast and train all the time, esp. if you have nothing else.
Probably Psychological wrote:
My guess is that through all of those years of training and racing they've developed eating habits that include eating a large amount of food and the ability to get away with eating sweets often. A lot of times this forms a psychological dependency and once they quit running they can't stop eating the way they did when they were training. Add to that fact that they probably exercise less overall and their eating habits deteriorate accordingly.
+1
Mmmm, bacon.
Ill Mitch wrote:
'Murica. Basically everyone is fat, man.
I go to Walmart to make myself feel better about my level of fitness. The soda and chips aisle is always jammed with scooters and people wearing giant shorts, showing off their red ankles and lower legs..
'Murica:love it or leave it!
Oooh-rah!
Right here, right now wrote:
6-2, and 180.
Was 147 at my prime, long ago.
I run maybe 10 miles a week, lift a LOT, swim, ride bikes, tanned, shaved head, one bicep tattoo (of course). And I'm pretty sure I get attention from the ladies.
There's a good chance that many think your tattoo expresses your poor judgment.
Ill Mitch wrote:
'Murica. Basically everyone is fat, man.
You have not been to Ireland or the UK recently .
And the Europeans are all skinny fat with their fags hanging out of their gobs .
Old and skinny wrote:
I am 50 years old and I am 10 pounds lighter than I was in my prime. I probably consume about 2000 calories instead of the 6000 that I used to. That is the trick. You don't need to continue to run. The OP is correct that any amount of biking or walking or mowing the lawn coupled with calorie restriction does not take time away from family. It also prolongs life which actually adds total time that you can spend with family.
What world do you live in? How does "any amount of biking or walking or mowing the lawn ... not take time away from family"? I mow about 5 lawns a week for money and it takes EVERY SPARE MINUTE I HAVE on the weekend. I have also been a serious cyclist many times in the last 30 yrs and that takes at least 10 hours per week to do. Sometimes I was doing 22 hours a week just riding.
Maybe you were trying to say that "a small amount of exercise" combined with calorie restriction will keep you thin and take a minimal amount of time away from other things and your family, but you stated it poorly. It is also still a small amount of time no matter what you do.
You complain about all of that but not the part where he claims he used to eat 6000 calories/day...
Lack of empathy wrote:
A lot of the solid studs on here that are young don't have the life experience yet. Even if they are sub-17 and sub-2:50 'thoners. But if you are single, wealthy and have tons of free time it's easier to get fast and train all the time, esp. if you have nothing else.
I am not sure what you are getting at here. Maybe that if you are under 25 you have no idea what it is like for a 45 year old whose metabolism has slowed, whose body is not the same as it was when he was 24, and who has many more responsibilities tying him down, than when he was 24?
It doesn't really matter what you meant though because a 16:50 guy is not a "solid stud" in any world I have ever been in. I ran much faster than that when I was 15 years old.
Rolling my eyes wrote:
You complain about all of that but not the part where he claims he used to eat 6000 calories/day...
I did not complain about any of that. I told him he was wrong that it "didn't take any time".
asker of fat questions wrote:
You talk to them and find out that decades ago they were scholarship runners, 2:20-ish marathoners, and winners of lots of local races. Then something happened and they got fat.
I don't get this. Even if I had a horrible injury that prevented me from running, I'd find an alternative exercise and watch my diet so I didn't pack on the pounds.
I figure there are lots of fat ex runners on letsrun, so do you let yourself go like that? I would hang my head in shame.
Age can catch up with us all, even the fleet of foot. In my case, the thyroid started to go wonky - taking Synthroid made me breathless in long run exertion. Arthritis also started to occur on the knees.
Funny to go from being on the cusp of a sub 3 marathon to now getting by on the Zero Runner at the gym four years later.
A friend who was a 2:45 at NYC marathon in the early eighties and a low 5 minute miler found his running days ended by subsequent painful gout.
Inevitably many of us have to eventually hang up our running shoes. But we can look back fondly on the memories of those grand past accomplishments. No regrets and no ability to recreate them now. But I am okay with that.
lol classic LRC turning a thread about getting fat into a chance for 5k PR dic waving.
Runningart2004 wrote:
Define fat?
People called Bob Kennedy fat when a post retirement pic of him was shown and he’s not fat.
At what body fat level would you consider a guy fat?
Alan
Kennedy for sure has chunked out. He's fatter than Larry Bird, looks like a typical Indiana dude.
Lame
asker of fat questions wrote:
CindySalsa wrote:
They come to the realization that other things in life are more important than running.
And that's fine, but shouldn't your health always be a priority? Even if running were permanently taken out of my life for whatever reason, I'd still find a way to exercise and watch what I ate to keep from becoming a giant disgusting slob.
Dude, when I was a young know-it-all, I said the exact things you are saying. Guess what? Life humbled me because of things others have mentioned. Things like time with the family is too valuable to waste so much of it on myself.
I regret ever being so arrogant in my younger years.
EZ10Miler wrote:
Running into your 40's and 50's is hard, (heck running at any time is darned hard.) Try doing it after a knee surgery or two.
Like others have said, other stuff gets in the way and becomes a priority (as it should.) If you've run a sub14 5k and you know the work it takes to get there, are you going to show up at some local 5k and shuffle along at 19 or 20 min? What's the point? Ego is real. As a 51 year old it's HARD for me to accept that the goal paces I have to train for now used to be my resting easy pace, but time is undefeated. That can make you wonder why you are ever trying, it's humbling and not exactly motivating.
And yes the irony of threads like this on LR is not lost on me. LR is a place where Masters runners are ridiculed for still competing into their 40-s and 50s, but then if someone were to retire from the sport they are called out for being fat and out of shape.
Just had my second knee surgery in as many years. I tell you, it was tough to run after the first one. Just started back after the second one. Painful times!
More important than staying healthy? wrote:
More important than staying healthy?
I feel like the people that do this weren't true runners, they just did it for a while because they were good at it, and once they stopped being decent at it they quit and stopped exercise.
People like that were true "racers" not "runners" (joggers), they were out to compete and to be the best they could be, not for "health" reasons, as if most high school and college athletes even in think in those of terms, they just take good health as a given. Your way of looking at it is that of usually late to the sport, middle aged and older person's perspective.
We need to recognize and value all sides to the question:
OP---you are correct, it is a tragedy how people in this country blow up, and unfathomable to a young runner.
To the empathizers---you too are correct, life has a way of SERIOUSLY getting in the way.
1. MOST Americans are fat. Over 70% according to most estimates. I personally think it's even higher, because soft, "dad-bod" types are probably not counted in this number. Look around you--the number of fit, strong, healthy looking people is now vanishingly low. This is an objective tragedy.
2. The modern American lifestyle that one poster detailed (sedentary job, long commutes, bad food, etc) is a disaster, and fatness is the logical conclusion. Put plainly: FATNESS IS NOW THE **DEFAULT** SETTING for a human in America. If you live the "lowest common denominator" life that most people live--eating poorly, avoiding exercise--you WILL be fat in this country. Full stop.
You have to be "awake" and making proactively good decisions to be thin and healthy in modern America. Sad but true.
Note this is not a judgement against current Americans--they are no less disciplined than previous generations*--it's just the DEFAULT setting used to be less food and more movement in 1820 and 1920 compared to 2020.
*I'm not sure I fully believe this. People seem awfully dissipated these days. The obesity, the opioids, the tattoos--it's a real mess out there.
My mother and her sister went to Netherlands and a few other central European countries last year and were blown away with how "attractive" all the men were. It's because they are slimmer and they dress better--they walk and bike more. Unfortunately the American lifestyle is hitting western Europe and moving east--pretty soon it will be the same everywhere.
3. It has gotten much worse since the 1980s--more calories, less physical exertion = everyone is fat. Look at old photo albums of your parents--it's incredible how thin everyone was. The crazy thing is that the thin 20-somethings partying in my parent's photo albums are now 70 and they're all fat, have diabetes, etc. The equivalent 20-somethings of today are at least 30 lbs heavier-- think how fat they'll be at 70!
4. Still, STILL--there are a lot of excuses in this thread. I personally consider keeping oneself in good shape a MORAL OBLIGATION--both to your family and the larger society. I had to have a heart to heart talk with my dad when he started getting fatter because I made it clear he was sentencing himself to a low quality of life for the last 20 years of his life filled with medical issues, and by extension, sentencing ME to dealing with them too. He's doing his best, we'll see.
Most everyone has time for their own health if they give a damn. And everyone can control what they put in their mouth if they give a damn. Clearly, most Americans, former runners included, don't give a damn. They're tired, they're stressed, they have family obligations--we get it. But MOST Americans spend hours on TV and other wastes of life, fantasy football, etc. There is time to be carved out for health IF THEY GIVE A DAMN. Most don't. Sad but true.
I'm 40. I work big, stressful hours providing for 4 kids, one of whom is severely special needs, so I REALLY don't want to hear about how busy people are. But I'm not a fat pig. Get up at 5 or 6 and exercise several times a week, and control what goes in your mouth. GIVE A DAMN, for yourself and others. Be an example to your children.
It starts with your own dignity. Shout it out: I'm a human being, g-ddammit, my life has value!
Runningfart1999 wrote:
Runningart2004 wrote:
Define fat?
People called Bob Kennedy fat when a post retirement pic of him was shown and he’s not fat.
At what body fat level would you consider a guy fat?
Alan
Kennedy for sure has chunked out. He's fatter than Larry Bird, looks like a typical Indiana dude.
Lame
You do realize that Kennedy is from Ohio?
I used to be a 2:30ish marathoner. let me say this to the OP: I watch what I eat, and still run 3 or 4 times a week. But here is reality;
My metabolism slowed down. A lot! Ever visit a really old person? They hardly eat anything. Ever wonder why? Their body isn't burning it up like it was at 25. When I was running 90-110 per week, I would eat all day, everyday. I stayed at 136 for ten years, from 26-36. Gradually, I gained 5 lbs. here, 2 lbs there. Before I knew it, 15 years later, I'm 52, 53, I weigh 160lbs.
And, what do you care? these people have done their damage. They have left their mark. Have you?
Pages of replies on being fat after running and only 1 picture. This thread should be burned to the ground.
Because beer and pizza together are pretty awesome and I'm never going to run as fast as I did as a 21 year old. Maybe once my son gets to be 10 or 11 I'll start running again, but I doubt it. Running sucks now