I found this article interesting, but I really enjoyed the comment section with Stephanie Howe, Liza Howard, Gina Lucrezi and Meghan Hicks. Meghan's long piece really struck me, I know the feeling. I'll quote that piece here

"Young women fight a lot of demons, right, wrong, externally created, internally created, rational, irrational, politically correct, or not. This article shows that those demons don't go quietly into the night for many adult women, either."

http://www.irunfar.com/2015/11/weight-and-the-accompanying-head-games.html

There is no point in running multiple hours a week if I can't eat like a fucking horse.  It is probably my biggest motivation.  And, beer.

I'm sure I'd be faster if I lost 10 lbs, but I'd also be weaker for daily/work activities.  I'll pass.

I could probably lose some weight if I would ignore the damn office sweets that always appear. When I have been at my lightest weight as an adult, it has been illness related, so not conducive to running. That said, I ran my 2nd fastest 5k at my lightest weight on crap mileage, so maybe there is something to it, I just can't get back to that weight without being sick.

I keep picking sports where weight is a huge deal. I did gymnastics up til the time I was 15. I gave it up cause I was fed up with the constant harping on my weight (which since the coach did not actually witness me weighing in, I lied about it). I heard they wanted to set a max for everyone at 110 lbs. I'm 5'6" and not small framed, short of losing a limb, that was never, ever going to happen in a healthy way.

 

If you have any weight at all to lose, it must be no more than 10lbs. And 10lbs on your frame is nothing. You are what? 5'6" or 5'7"? 10lbs on someone my height makes a big difference. I have raced with about 8lbs difference over the years and I can tell you I felt it. Maybe visually it is nothing, but I felt those extra 8lbs on me when I was running long distances. After 3 hours of running, you curse those extra pounds... Something else I tell myself: I don't have the heart and lungs I had 30 years ago and I can't do much about it. But I can keep my weight in the lower range of healthy and make things a whole lot easier for my body in general. That's how I see it.

 

That said, I don't diet, never have and I'm not particularly into healthy eating. I also hate feeling hungry, but I try to not go to bed feeling stuffed also. I find there is something almost unethical about it. I know, I'm weird...

Yeah, I am probably 10lbs over racing weight. And I have no doubt I could run faster if I was lighter. I try to eat mostly healthy but I think I would have to be pretty strict to get that low.

I dropped 20 lbs (196 to 176) after my second marathon strictly for racing purposes and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done! The discipline required to do that is simply incredible!

I decided though that I was too light, and whatever speed I gained wasn't worth it. 182 - 185 has been my range the past two years and I am fine with that.

 

If you have any weight at all to lose, it must be no more than 10lbs. And 10lbs on your frame is nothing. You are what? 5'6" or 5'7"? 10lbs on someone my height makes a big difference. I have raced with about 8lbs difference over the years and I can tell you I felt it. Maybe visually it is nothing, but I felt those extra 8lbs on me when I was running long distances. After 3 hours of running, you curse those extra pounds... Something else I tell myself: I don't have the heart and lungs I had 30 years ago and I can't do much about it. But I can keep my weight in the lower range of healthy and make things a whole lot easier for my body in general. That's how I see it.

 

That said, I don't diet, never have and I'm not particularly into healthy eating. I also hate feeling hungry, but I try to not go to bed feeling stuffed also. I find there is something almost unethical about it. I know, I'm weird...

I'm 5-8 and to me 10lbs is huge in racing times.  I do race quite a bit now, from 1000m to 8k in weekly club races as well as typical races.

Even as little as 3 lbs I can feel, and I mean +3 from training weight ~148.

Race weight is 146 at which I can't stay for long.

I also do not diet, just pay more attention to what I eat count calories more closely and get focused.

I read that Paula Radcliffe, at 5'8", had a race weight of 116lbs. Which goes to show that with the perfect diet, and medical supervision, it's possible to live as an extremely thin human being and still be incredibly strong. Of course, aesthetically, it does not meet our North American standards and few among us would want to be as thin as she is (or was). At 116lbs, her BMI was 17.6. Mine is presently 18.6 and my upper body is a twig and I'd hate to be thinner than I am now. But I know that if I really wanted to, I could weigh under a 100lbs, as long as I had the perfect healthy diet. But as a recreational runner, it would be a ridiculous thing to do. There is too much to enjoy when it comes to eating and drinking.

I've been trying to drop weight again to get faster, but apparently I just like beer too much. LOL  I've been hovering around 195 for some time now, although it is slowly coming back down, 191-192 over the last week.

But interesting enough, while maintaining at 195lbs, I have been able to get stronger and faster.  I'm faster now than I was at 175, and visually I'm about as lean as I was around 180-185.  I would have to attribute this to the hills I've been running since moving to SC eight months ago, and more recently specific hill sprints/repeats over the last couple of months.  But of course, now all I can think about is how fast I would be if I could focus enough to get back down to 175, while maintaining (and building on) the strength I have now.

I understand though, that the problems with weight are much more prevalent in female athletes.  I've read a few articles that state that there seems to be a lot of change in the coaching of young females, ensuring they are focusing on strength and not weight, and it seems that young women are getting faster and having less weight/eating issues.  Hopefully that trend continues.