Yes, You Can Lose Weight Running
How I lost 65 pounds by outrunning my bad diet — and finding a better life.
When I began my running journey, I weighed well over 200 pounds and losing weight was a significant part of my motivation to start running. Yet, everywhere I turned I was told that running would not help me lose weight.
To add insult to injury, many people said that taking up running while more than 80 pounds overweight would just lead to injury. Instead, I was advised to focus on my diet.
I am thoroughly convinced that if I had listened to the advice, I would have made myself miserable trying to lose weight. I would have stayed trapped in my body and focused on all the things I couldn’t have rather than exploring the amazing things my body could do. I would never have become a runner, and I would probably still weigh over 200 pounds.
Luckily, I am a stubborn person who likes to do things my own way. But I am angry for all the people who laced up new running shoes, full of determination, only to be told they would fail. On Reddit forums, over and over, I saw experienced runners tell newcomers that “you can’t outrun a bad diet.”
These warnings always had a ring of self-righteousness — as if these overweight newcomers hadn’t earned the right to enter the club…
