Why I don't talk about weight loss

I’ve been writing about running for as long as I’ve been a runner which is more than 16 years, and in that time I’ve not once talked about weight loss. I’ve written two books, I’ve written my own blog and this Substack, I write regularly for Women’s Running and I’ve written for The Guardian and the Times, all about running without once mentioning weight loss.

It’s not because I’m thin (I’m a size small) because one look at the internet, and social media in particular, will show you plenty of naturally slim women dishing out diet tips and weight loss advice. But I won’t be one of them.

When I started running back in 2008, a friend said to me “But why are you running, you don’t need to lose weight?” We all know by now that there are plenty of good reasons to run: it improves your health, your mood, your social life, your confidence and many more things. But we’d grown up in the 90s when diet culture ruled the media with a toxic mix of Kate Moss quotes and emaciated models. There was only one reason to exercise: to get thinner.

Fast forward a few years to 2013 when I started my own beginner running groups on Hampstead Heath. I advertised by standing outside the tube with a bunch of flyers handing them to women that I saw as my target market. None of those flyers mentioned losing weight or burning calories. I can still pretty much remember word for word what they said: “Want to start running but don’t know where to start? Join our friendly women-only running group.” It mentioned a supportive group of other runners who ‘don’t care if you’re sweaty and red-faced because they are too’.

People still showed up and the beginners running courses regularly sold out. Everyone had their own reason for joining and, sure, some probably included wanting to lose weight. But I made no bikini body promises and never mentioned earning food.

What’s for dinner?

Often, on a beginners run, I’d chat away to my runners to encourage conversation among the group and distract them from thinking about stopping running. As our sessions were in the evening, I’d often ask what everyone was having for dinner that night - something that was very much on my mind as I got hungrier. Sometimes runners would avoid answering or be pretty vague and it took me far too long to realise they thought I was checking up on them and potentially judging them. So long has the role of the fitness professional been about weight loss and diet that it was difficult for them to see this as the innocent, if nosy, question that it was.

When I trained for my personal training qualification, diet culture loomed large in the room and the course literature. It was assumed that anyone walking into a gym wanted to lose weight and there was no mention of the fact that it’s possible to be healthy and fit at any size. And that’s a very important point: you CAN be healthy and fit at any size. You can also be unhealthy and unfit at any size, including smaller sizes. It’s possible to be fit and healthy in a bigger body just as it’s possible to be unfit and unhealthy in a smaller body.

What someone looks like tells us very little about how fit they are or their overall health - just look at the array of different body shapes that won gold medals at the Olympics last month.

Dishing out advice

For those who come to exercise with the aim of losing weight, there are plenty of personal trainers happy to supply ‘nutritional advice’. However, having trained to be a PT myself, I know that the nutritional component of the training is basic at best. Although some PTs do further their training and knowledge in this area, it isn’t a given. Being slim is far more determined by genetics and social factors than simply what you eat and how you move your body.

What’s more important, I feel, is to help a client find ways to move their body that they enjoy and gives them the confidence to do so. Instilling a love of exercise and a respect for your body is far more valuable and will deliver more health gains in the long term than helping them lose a few pounds.

What sticks in my mind when I think about weight loss advice is an exchange between a woman and her trainer at my old gym. I’d forgotten my headphones and was on the treadmill next to a woman who was having a one-to-one session. The PT was interrogating the woman about what she’d eaten that week and whether she had stuck to her plan. The woman explained that she’s been very busy at work and hasn’t been able to stick to the diet. To me she seemed uncomfortable with the conversation and the PT didn’t seem very understanding of the barriers she was facing.

What struck me was that this woman had turned up for her training session. In amongst a busy week she’d made time to work out with her trainer, but the session would probably leave her feeling like a failure rather than empowered or motivated. Guilt and shame isn’t a good way to build healthier habits.

If you turned up to train with me, I don’t care what you’ve eaten that week or what you look like. If you have goals to lose weight or not, that’s none of my business. What I care about is helping you enjoy running and working towards your next race. And you can do that whatever size body you’re in. I might still ask what’s for dinner, but I’m only after some inspiration for my own.