Exercising to Attain a Perfect Body: A Futile Quest?

BY NANCY CLARK
PHOTO BY PETER SPURRIER

Body size, looks, and weight are concerns for many runners. Unlike some athletes who have to be light for a specific weight class (rowers, wrestlers, mixed martial artists), runners want to be lighter because their sport demands a svelte physique. The sport comes with pervasive diet culture, and all too often runners end up discontent with their weight, body fat, and physique. The standard solution: Run harder to shed pounds and attain the perfect body.

The problem is that exercise is better for maintaining fat loss than causing fat loss. Reducing body fat depends more on reducing food intake than on increasing exercise. As you likely know, the more you run, the hungrier you get, the more you eat. If you are already a lean runner who under-eats, your body will protect itself from wasting away by conserving energy the rest of the day. After a hard workout, you might subconsciously choose to do deskwork instead of run errands.

Which raises the question: If running had no impact on your body weight or appearance, would you change how much you currently run? 

Performance vs. Image

Dedicated athletes will likely answer “no change.” They follow a training program geared toward achieving a specific performance goal. Collegiate runners at the D-I level have little choice in how much they exercise. They have to do what the coach demands. Runners who want to be lighter would likely cut out cardio done specifically to burn off calories and instead eat a little less. Fitness runners might do only workouts they truly enjoy. Compulsive exercisers with a high drive for thinness–which can include any of the categories mentioned above–may want to take more rest days, stop getting up at 4:30 every morning to do a killer workout, or do fewer double workouts. But anxiety about getting fat would undoubtedly force them to train hard, day after day, so they can burn off calories and look good.

Is lighter better? 

Most runners believe they will perform better if they drop a few pounds. While this may be true for someone who has excess flab to lose, the lose-weight-at-any-cost struggle is more likely to hurt performance than enhance it. (Just how well do you run when you are hungry and depleted?) In a study of elite female swimmers, those who restricted calories during 12 weeks of training ended up 10 percent slower, while their well-fueled teammates improved by eight percent. Moreover, despite eating 700 fewer calories than their teammates, they did not even lose any fat. Their body fat averaged 22 percent, versus 19 percent for the non-dieting swimmers. 

Fat loss is not a straightforward mathematical proposition. The belief that by knocking off 500 calories a day you can lose a pound of fat per week has long been proven untrue. The body is complicated. Genes rule. Bodies are supposed to vary; they naturally come in different sizes and shapes.

The problem with restricting food 

Restricting food to be thinner at any cost, hit a target weight, or achieve a desired look will sooner or later come with a high price: poorer performance, injuries, and/or poor mental health. Restricting calories to sustain a weight that is too low means restricting the vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbs, and fats you need to refuel, replenish, and restore your body. When you go on a diet, your bones also go on a diet and lose density. After repeated weeks and months of malnutrition, the body will inevitably break down, with stress fractures and overuse injuries taking a toll.

Tips for compulsive exercisers

Compulsive exercisers push themselves day after day to burn off calories. No rest days allowed. Some compulsive exercisers claim that they love their relentless exercise regimen. Yes, they may love the endorphins that contribute to the post-run high. They may love when people compliment their leanness. They may love the sense of accomplishment that comes from running umpteen days in a row and the sense of control that comes from completing a killer workout. But do they love feeling driven to burn off calories? Do they love feeling hungry, tired, and easily irritated most of the time? Do they miss having time for friends and family?

If you are asking your body to run, you want to make sure it is adequately fueled. You should not feel dizzy, lightheaded, confused, or excessively fatigued at the start, middle, or end of a workout. That body should not be exercising; it is in a bad place.

 Enjoyment should be the foundation of any exercise routine; otherwise, you’ll have trouble staying on track. When running is a should and not a want to, it becomes akin to punishment, particularly for those who believe they have to run to manage their weight. You could just as easily lose weight by eating less, as opposed to running more. (Patients in hospitals tend to lose weight, and they aren’t exercising at all.)

If you find yourself running compulsively, please begin paying attention to the thoughts and emotions that drive you. Look not at what you did, but why you did it. Do you depend on killer workouts to control your emotions, reduce anxiety, and run away from loneliness? If yes, a sports psychologist could be helpful.

Concluding thoughts

Weight is more than a matter of willpower. Runners, like dogs, come in assorted sizes and shapes. No one size or shape is best. Is it time for a cultural change so we can focus more on athleticism and performance and less on body looks and weight?

At the elite level, runners get stuck between a rock and a hard place. White-knuckling a restrictive diet comes with a high mental and physical cost. While lighter runners might be able to set personal records for a season or two (because they had been training in a heavier body), unhappiness and injuries inevitably will take a toll if the runner tries to maintain “racing weight” all year long. A registered dietitian who specializes in sports nutrition can help runners figure out appropriate weight goals and fueling strategies so they can reach their performance goals. The lightest runner may not be the best–nor happiest–runner, after all.

Sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, M.S., R.D., counsels both casual and competitive athletes in the Boston area (Newton; 617-795-1875). Her best-selling Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook can help you eat to win. For more information, visit NancyClarkRD.com.

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