AEven runners who stay in top shape as they age may see their waistlines expand because of declining levels of “youth” hormones, such as DHEA, which alter where body fat is stored. While your diet may not have changed much, certain foods can have a bigger impact on weight gain as you age.
No, your waist is a combination of Genetics, diet snd how much energy you burn. Running will not make your waist bigger. For a huge majority of people running will make your waist smaller.
Your waist is made up of muscle, and those muscles can respond to heavy weights by growing bigger. After doing heavily weighted exercises for an extended period of time, it may lead to a broader, or 'thicker-looking', waist.
If you have gained some fat while running, it's likely down to eating more calories than you burn (whether that's from eating more food, or moving less), which is simple to fix.
Hormones like estrogen and progesterone play crucial roles in how our bodies store fat and develop breast tissue. For many female runners, higher levels of physical activity and specific exercise habits can lead to lower body fat percentages, which often results in less breast tissue development.
“Endurance athletes like marathon runners and cyclists tend to have very low body fat levels, often in the range of 6 to 13 percent for men and 14 to 20 percent for women,” says Malik.
One reason for belly fat is a sedentary lifestyle. Even skinny people can spend too much time in front of the television or computer screen, and this can encourage what little extra fat they have to settle into the stomach. A diet high in processed foods can also cause belly fat, even in skinny people.
You will have stronger legs from running
When we run, we use all the muscles in our legs, big and small. If you are new to running, you might be surprised by how quickly you start to develop lean muscle in your legs and the speed at which you build endurance.
Many women notice an increase in belly fat as they get older even if they don't gain weight. This is likely due to a lower level of estrogen because estrogen seems to have an effect on where fat is located in the body. Genes can contribute to an individual's chances of being overweight or obese too.
On this basis, it was shown that men with lower, more feminine, WHRs feel less comfortable and self-report lower body esteem and self-efficacy than men with higher, more masculine, WHRs. Women with a relatively low waist-hip ratio (the hourglass figure) is commonly considered attractive.
Improved heart health, lower blood pressure, increased metabolism, stress relief, extra energy – the benefits of running and boosting your cardiovascular fitness are plentiful and, happily, running delivers them all.
On average, a consistent, healthy rate of weight loss is about 1-2 pounds per week. With regular running and dietary adjustments, most people begin to see changes in four to six weeks. However, this is a very individual journey, and patience is key.
Although running is a very beneficial exercise, you must incorporate other workouts and follow a healthy diet to achieve the body shape you want.
Risk of overuse injuries. "The biggest drawback to running every day is not allowing the body to recover properly", Mack says. That can prompt problems related to repetitive stress on muscles, bones and tendons, known as overuse injuries.
Overall though, if running a mile every day helps you move more and sit less, it can lead to significant health improvements, Dr. Arena says. Ahead are a few research-backed benefits, including a lowered risk of chronic disease risk and increased life expectancy.
A combination of things happens as we age. We tend to lose muscle mass, so our abdominal muscles aren't as tight as they once were, and the loss of elastin and collagen in our skin allows gravity to have its way so skin starts to sag. Both can cause the waistline to expand.
On average, one can expect to lose between 0.5 to 4 inches in a month.
“There is a change in body composition, where fat that was once stored in the hips starts storing around your belly,” Alexander says. “When hormones go away, it changes your body composition and slows down your metabolism, so it's going to be harder to lose.”
Research has shown that the hip width of very good female runners is similar to that of both athletic and even non-athletic males. Narrow hips allow runners to direct more of the muscular force into forward propulsion. Learn more about Q-angle and how to train female runners with the REVO₂LUTION RUNNING™ certification.
Middle-distance runners are the slimmest, and have a narrow trunk and little subcutaneous fat. The physique of sprinters and long-distance runners is dominated by mesomorphy, while middle-distance runners are mesomorph-ectomorph.
It is good to note however that active females who have energy intakes less than 1,800 calories per day are not meeting their dietary needs, and more often their bodies require 2,000 to 2,500 - even 3,000 calories a day - depending on the amount of time they are training and exercising.