This has become an on-again-off-again post about Running in LoseIt.
All levels of runner are welcome here, from first timers to experienced marathoners. We welcome someone who just ran for the first time or is just starting couch to 5K (r/c25k) as eagerly as someone who has thousands of miles of experience.
This post is for sharing your weekly progress or excitement with running. From training you got in this last week, your first run, a virtual race, or a real race, we'd love to hear what you did. Got a running related NSV (non-scale victory), we'd love to hear. Have a question or need advice, we are here to help.
In addition to sharing your progress each week, I ramble on about some topic related to running. This week's topic - science of overweight and obese running.
Update on posting: Sorry, it's been over a month since my last post. I remain crazy extremely busy but it should even out going forward.
Science is Cool
Given the current pandemic, I feel like science is getting a good thrashing lately. I love science and studies. But science is also full of contradictions. You can find one study that tells you "it's good to drink chocolate milk" to aid in recovery and another that tells you, "chocolate milk is just better than water, because calories and fat." (Personally, I avoid drinking calories and I prefer strawberry milk.)
I've collected some science below that largely in favor of running for LoseIt folks. But I also included some that aren't, too. Trigger Warning: obese and BMI is used extensively in science studies and I use that below.
Running while Obese will Hurt Your Knees
Guess what? Nope. Recent study from Jul 2020 -- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32605464/. In fact, running in general won't hurt your knees [2017 study] compared to not running.
The common idea that extra weight will lead to more injury here is unfounded. You will get less injuries than normal weight runners.
"The proportion of running-related knee injuries was 13% lower among overweight runners compared with normal-weight runners. Similarly, the proportion of running-related knee injuries was 12% lower among obese runners compared with normal-weight runners." I personally think this is because as an obese runner I go slower and speed is a factor in injury.
Non-running/Obese: There's definitely good evidence that a high BMI is bad for your knees [2013 study] long term.
Fasted Running vs. Non-Fasted Running
This 2014 study says there's no difference -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242477/
It doesn't matter if you workout fasted or not. Do what feels best. "In conclusion, our findings indicate that body composition changes associated with aerobic exercise in conjunction with a hypocaloric diet are similar regardless whether or not an individual is fasted prior to training."
Running vs. Walking for Weight Loss
This 2013 study compared the two and running wins -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4067491/
There's more than just calories burned here. Intensity of the exercise makes a difference. From an article about this study -- "The same amount of exercise in adults with a body mass index over 28 (deemed overweight) resulted in 90 percent greater weight loss for runners compared to walkers, he found."Running is more effective than walking in preventing weight gain and achieving weight loss," he said. Both groups shed pounds, but the runners lost more, Williams found."
Avoiding Getting Injured from Running
Couch to 5K is the way to go here. But if you want proof that easing into running is required --
This 2018 study of new obese runners -- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6253747/ -- shows running too much as a novice leads to more injury -- in this case they started people running 3km a week versus 6km.
"An injury was sustained by seven participants (12.5%) during the 4-week follow-up. Two participants were injured in the 3km intervention (6.9%). Five participants were injured in the 6km intervention (18.5%)."
Running for Distance Program lead to Overuse Injury
This 2018 study shows why some obese runners have injury issues with training plans -- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29932876/
I run slower than many other runners. Running a mile/km based plan for me or paying too much attention to distance during training will lead to very long running sessions -- too long. "Overweight and obese runners selected a similar training dose [aka "distance"] to that of normal-weight runners when starting a self-chosen running regime. This may partly explain the higher running-injury risk among overweight and obese runners compared with normal-weight runners observed by other studies."
Can Running correct more than just weight in the obese?
This 2019 study shows running is one of the best activities to reverse the broad negative health indicators that come along with obesity -- https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008277.
Interesting study that looks at a bunch of types of exercise and sees which not only lowers weight but improves other factors, called genetic risk scores (body fat %, waist & hip measurements, waist-to-hip ratio). From the results, "It is interesting that, across all 5 obesity measures, regular jogging consistently presented the most significant interactions with [obesity genetic risk scores]."
Downsides
Surely there are bad studies about running while obese? Oh yes, there are -- especially with feet/ankles.
Running while obese/overweight weakens feet muscles
https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008277
"To prevent foot pain and injuries related to excessive foot pressures, at the start of the weight control process non-weight bearing rather than weight-bearing exercise is advisable."
I had plantar pain/discomfort for a decade leading up to my weight loss. Losing weight did not by itself make it go away and I had regular boughts of plantar pain. But good cross training has really helped and I think my regular walking/good shoes assists. I no longer wear any shoe inserts.
Obese/Overwight Running Gait and impact forces
It's not all sunshine and kittens. Stay prudent.
https://www.clinbiomech.com/article/S0268-0033(13)00008-9/fulltext00008-9/fulltext)
Two key sentences here, "Absolute maximum ground reaction forces were increased while maximum hip power absorption was reduced for overweight adults," and, "As a result the joint surfaces of overweight adults are exposed to increased loading."
