Emelie Forsberg: A World-Class Athlete With a Balanced Approach About Food, Weight and Body Image
Emelie Forsberg can be as intense and competitive as any athlete in the world. A native of Sweden who lives in Chamonix, France, she’s won dozens of trail running and ski mountaineering races all over the world, including several in the U.S.
She trains a lot, races often and travels quite a bit. She is also someone who likes to eat good food and happily allows herself to indulge from time to time. The 28-year-old grows her own food, has worked in a bakery and admits that she loves dessert. She often posts recipes to her blog. But she also eats healthy food most of the time.
Still, because of her strong, muscular frame and powerful legs, she says she’s been told she seems too fat to be a runner or that she “doesn’t look like a runner”—which is odd, given that she’s one of the very best mountain runners in the world. She says understands the context to some extent, but is disappointed that it’s based on perception. “I’m not big, I’m fit and strong,” she writes on her blog this week in a post titled “Relationship mind, body and soul.”
But Forsberg says she’s more frustrated that some of her fellow athletes focus more on counting calories and their weight than they do on being healthy. Forsberg had read a provocative post about the topic from the Trail Sisters column on IRunFar.com called “Weight and the Accompanying Head Games” and decided to give her own insights about food, weight and her body.
She says she wants to have a strong, healthy body that will serve her well in the long run—both in her sports and in life—and that means having a healthy relationship with food.
Her take is simple: “Eat what you want. But learn a little about nutrition that will make you eat sustainably and healthy!”
In the end, she says it’s about feeding your soul. “Don’t read ‘weight-loss’ or ‘get these abs’ or ‘how you get this skinny’ articles,” she says.
“Love your hips, breasts, butt and belly,” she concludes. “The fat keeps you warm. And healthy.”
Well said, Emelie!