Why Female Runners Gain Weight While Running More
It may be the most ironic thing ever: women tend to GAIN weight the more they run.
As you likely know, this happened to me as well – I ran over 50 miles per week and ate salads every day while training for my first ultra marathon, yet gained 12 pounds.
Today I want to talk about WHY female runners gain weight while running more, without blaming your age.
Common Reasons Female Runners Gain Weight
In this free training, I break down the likely cause of your weight gain based on which of these statements you resonate with:
- I’m not hungry before and/or after runs
- I eat pretty healthy, but I’m very busy
- I eat plenty but I’m always hungry
- I ran 2 hours — I deserve a treat
Although we want to blame our sweet tooth, lack of self-control (the majority of female runners are disciplined, so trust me, it’s not this!), it’s more a strategy & mindset thing.
Weight Gain Is Often a Fueling Problem — Not a Discipline Problem
And that weight gain isn’t just about aesthetics (although around here I totally support your goal to look good in a bathing suit); it’s a red flag that you’re not properly fueling your training and that it’s impacting performance, energy and long-term health.
One study found that 42.5% of female runners at the Boston Marathon had signs of low energy availability (underfueling) – yet those who under-fueled vs. properly fueled had no difference in body composition.
So, while some runners are justifying treats and creating a caloric surplus causing weight gain (and again, no judgment if that’s you), other runners are actually not eating enough of the right foods to fuel their training, which is causing their bodies to store fat.
Which one are you? And what do you do to fix this so you love your body AND are running faster or farther?
Free Training: Why Female Runners Gain Weight and How to Fix It
Watch Free Training: 4 Reasons Runners Gain Weight (and how to lose it and fuel training)
How to Lose weight as a Runner Without Dieting
I created my Run Fuel program with my expertise from helping female runners lose weight for the last 10 years — because diets just don’t really work for runners who do a speed workout on Tuesday, a rest day Wednesday and a long run Saturday.
Run Fuel helps female runners 35+ lose 8-20 pounds in 3 months and learn how to keep it off while fueling their training – without starving, logging every gram of protein, or giving up family pizza night.
What the Run Fuel Weight Loss For Runners Program Includes
Run Fuel a combination of:
- Strategy and education (ex: how to fill your plate at lunch so you aren’t snacking at 4 PM)
- Practical resources to help you stick with it even if you work full time or have kids (ex: recipes for the meals I make that fill me up, help me recover faster AND I can eat for multiple days)
- Real feedback and coaching (ex: weekly accountability check ins, monthly recorded calls 1:1 messaging with me to customize or troubleshoot).
This isn’t a place where you restrict, log every morsel you eat in an app, say no to wine at girls night
Who Run Fuel Is For
I’m inviting you to join Run Fuel now – if you start this week, you’ll understand your areas of improvement & be feeling better on your runs by next week AND you’ll be excited to rock that bathing suit at the pool by May.
Happy running!
Nicole Dobransky
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