This Olympic Runner Wants to Gain Weight for Her Wedding

Sabrina Rojas Weiss
Emma Coburn
Emma Coburn competing in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Rio Olympics in 2016. (Photo: Getty Images)

Here’s one bride who is definitely immune to all suggestions that she needs a wedding dress diet or bridal boot camp. On the contrary, Emma Coburn is hoping to gain 10 pounds before her wedding this fall. The Olympic bronze medalist in steeplechase told people she’s looking forward to being “softer and curvier” on her wedding day.

“For my sport, it’s really important to stay lean and strong,” she told People. “It’s less about what the scale says and more about eating right and lifting weights and putting in a lot of miles. Just [because of] the nature of training, as the season progresses and the intensity increases, I naturally just shed weight.”

Well, she says “naturally,” but we know those chiseled abs and lean muscles are the result of some insanely hard work. The abs are actually something Coburn would like to forget about when she gets married to fellow runner Joe Bosshard.

“Up until this point, there have been dresses I’d try on and look down and just see my ab muscles,” she told Runner’s World. “I don’t think I want that necessarily to be what the focal point of my wedding day is.”

Yes, even Olympic athletes have body issues. But Sanford Sports Science Institute dietitian Lizzie Kuckuk told Runner’s World that most runners gain 5 to 10 pounds during their training breaks. The kind of attention they pay to their bodies during their season is not sustainable.

“I’m not someone who stresses about my diet, and I don’t count calories,” Coburn said. That’s not to say she feasts every day of the week. “Usually the first couple of days of the off-season you’re just shoving food in your face and having a ball. It’s more that you’re in celebration mode and less about cravings. My day-to-day isn’t like a freak show, though — I’m not having piles of unhealthy food in front of me.”

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and@YahooBeauty.

Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty: