3 ms·
> I tend to hang out with hundreds-to-thousands of endurance athletes [0], and the large plurality of them are not heavy people. Might be sampling bias, or rat
by pbmonster 3y ago
> I tend to hang out with hundreds-to-thousands of endurance athletes [0], and the large plurality of them are not heavy people.
Might be sampling bias, or rather reverse causation.
It's not that "endurance athletes are not heavy", but simply "heavy people don't like endurance sports".
So the interesting question is how many of those athletes used to be obese more than 2 years ago?
- ultrarunner 3y agoThis is a good point. I do know of a handful who joined the community strictly because they realized they were getting too heavy. One (adult) guy's dad had a sit down with him. Another guy I know needs a hip replacement and his mobility has been decreased for the last two years or so as he waits. His weight has also gone up dramatically. Interestingly in his case, he's tried all kinds of different diets which have all had negative effects at best. Still, there have been a few people that fit the profile exactly as you describe— heavy people who find it very difficult and eventually decide the juice isn't worth the squeeze. Running is very difficult when carrying extra weight. There are surely people who decide they can't do it even before they give it an honest try. But that's kind of what I was referring to above; the amount of times I've heard people say "I honestly cannot believe I had that in me" at the completion of a race is why I keep coming back.