How Much Do You Weigh?

Actually I’m interested in knowing how stable or not stable your weight has been since you’ve been an adult, say starting at 20 years old.

The reason I am asking is because of the concept of ‘set point theory’. This theory assumes that our adult bodyweight is genetically predetermined and that it’s ‘set’ at a certain size. The theory depends on the idea that we are weight stable for our adult life, otherwise what the heck is your set point if you’re not set and stable at it!?

Anyway, from what I can gather most people don’t stay at the same weight their whole life at all but rather they fluctuate quite a bit. I know I have and some preliminary info I have suggests the same for lots of people.

So I’d like to know what your body weight has been since you’ve been an adult. Did you gain weight, did you lose weight, if so how? Did you gain weight from emotional eating? Stress eating? Was it marriage weight gain, kids, a divorce, losing a job, getting a sedentary job, an injury, lack of exercise?

If you managed to lose weight  how did you  do it? Exercise? Diet? Both? Surgery? Drug? All of this stuff? None of this stuff?

If you don’t mind sharing I’d appreciate hearing how your weight has changed (or not) since you’ve been an adult.

You can put your story in the comment section, or if you feel comfortable emailing it instead you can email me at johnbarban (at) gmail (d0t) com

John

Posted by johnbarban in Weight Loss
Tags: how much do you weigh, set point theory, weight gain, Weight Loss |12 Comments

12 Responses to “How Much Do You Weigh?”

  1. ericrlepine Says:
    June 16th, 2011 at 2:06 pm

    Well, don’t know if this will be much help… I’ve gained weight since the age of 20 (now 38). BUT, there are a LOT of confounding factors. I’m a classic ectomorph, lean (no matter what I eat), long and small boned. Plus, in my early 20s, I was a middle-distance runner who did very little strength training, planted trees in the summer at the rate of +/-200,000 trees a season and was a bike messenger through Canadian winters! So, all that to say… I was hovering around 165-170 lbs throughout most of this period (at 6’2″). In my late 20s and all through my 30s, I let go of veganism/vegetarianism (another confounding factor LOL) to follow basically what is now known as a “Paleo-ish” diet, with dairy and a few non-paleo starches. I also took strength training more seriously and, all in all, have managed to get my weight up to 195, with the same bodyfat % (7-8%), which is the one thing that I know HASN’T changed since late high school. Good luck making anything worthwhile of this :)

  2. Jordan D. Says:
    June 16th, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    I’ve definitely fluctuated throughout my adult years. I remember weighing 182-183 lbs. at some point between 16 and 18 years old. Starting at around 18-19, I started to gain weight (briefly interrupted with periods of weight loss, but always regaining it,) until my mid-20′s (can’t remember the exact age,) when I hit my all time high of 267.

    Fortunately, I was only there for about three months. Then I went on a “low carb” diet, which obviously was just low-cal because I cut out so many of my favorite high-cal foods. I got down to 202, plateaued, and then slowly regained most of the weight, settling around 255 for a few years (sometimes dipping into the 240′s during feeble weight loss efforts, and then regaining.)

    From early- to mid-2010, I went on a low-cal/ portion control diet. I got down to 193-194, plateaued. Over the last eleven months, I’ve slowly regained some of the weight, and right now I’m around 220. I’m 30 years old. My goal is to get down to around 175, which would be my lowest body weight in at least 13-14 years!

    The general trend of my adult years has definitely been weight gain, but I don’t believe it’s set point. I just eat too much. Way too much. I tend to think of it more as a “calorie set point” than a body weight set point. Not that that’s quite right either, but it’s obvious that the amount of food that I like to consume is an amount that will necessarily lead to weight gain.

    Similar to a “set point,” I may have to consciously counteract that tendency to overeat for the rest of my life. I’ve always regained lost weight, so this is not something that I’ve been good at over the long-term. I’ll have to get better at it.

  3. aconroy Says:
    June 16th, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    Over the past 10 years my weight has fluctuated by about 10lbs. My weight tends to be seasonal and increases slightly in the winter when I am less active because of the weather. My diet also varies depending on the availability of fresh fruit and vegetables.

    If I feel like my body composition is changing too much I will make adjustments in my diet or exercise habits. The occasional trip to the tropics usually does the trick to reset my ‘set’ point.

  4. patrick@empowerednutrition.com Says:
    June 16th, 2011 at 4:21 pm

    Hey buddy, you know I crushed my old set point back in highschool as I attempted to grow to a new one. I found the set point smashing to take place in 20 lbs increments on the way up. Locking it in is a bit of a hit and miss game.

    On the way down I find the set point change to only really take place after achieving a new point and holding that for 6 months. After that I feel its locked in. At least that’s what happens for many of my clients.

    My current set point is 220lbs, but this year we are going to push it down to 200 and hold for the winter. Then lower again for mountainbike races next year.

    The secret is implementing intelligent nutrition and training on the way up and the way down.

  5. ZachHunter Says:
    June 16th, 2011 at 4:27 pm

    My weight has fluctuated considerably since I was 20 (I’m now 40). I’ve been as low as 167 in my mid 30′s and as high as 257 in my mid 20′s. I’m currently 182 and about 11.6% bodyfat (Tanita) and AI is approx 1.54. I’m more fit now than when I was 167, due to lots of weight training, some cardio and more responsible food intake… although I still eat all my favorite foods, just less of them. My fluctuations I always felt were lifestyle related and never “set points” based on genetics or something. I practically lived in a sports bar in my 20′s. Regular Staples included lots of wings, pizza, burgers, fries and beer. I got married and settled down, lost quite a bit of weight just because of that. To answer the set point question, if there are indeed set points, I think it would be higher (a little to even a lot overweight) due to my tendancy to indulge.

  6. jbrunson Says:
    June 16th, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    I injured my back in my early 20′s (about age 22) and went from a lean and muscular 225 to a fat 280 by the time I was 26. At the age of 27ish I stop drinking soda cut out about 50% of junk food and started doing Yoga almost every day and dropped to about 240. Since then I have bounced around the high 230′s up to the high 240′s depending on activity level and diet. I am 6’6″ and 29 years old.

  7. Shaun Somers Says:
    June 16th, 2011 at 11:18 pm

    I’ve been overweight my entire adult life.

    In January 2006 I was my highest ever of 317lbs at the start of a workplace biggest-loser type contest.
    (I’m 6’3″, and 33yrs old now.)

    Today I weigh in at 210 give or take a couple lbs. I have records of my weight loss progress approximately weekly since September ’09 when I was 276lbs. I lost the first 60 lbs by just eating less and moving more in general. Kettlebell workouts are my preference.
    From that 276 mark (note I had gained back some) it dropped with Eat Stop Eat which I found that year. Got down to low 220s.

    Holidays see me slack off ESEing and bump back up to 233lbs beginning of January. Now I still fast occasionally but I have been following the Primal Blueprint pretty closely. Current weight, as mentioned above, about 210lbs.

    If you want any more details feel free to contact me at somers.shaun {at} gmail (d0t)com.

  8. dieterscherer Says:
    June 17th, 2011 at 8:23 pm

    Median Mean Range Mode Std Dev
    202 200.3198413 172-228 200 10.23014812

    Total Time Period: ~6 Years
    Ages 15-22

    I lost most of my data for the first two years, so measurements are only intermittent for that time period. I tried to clean up the data to make it more accurate. I’m currently sitting at 204 lbs and 14% bodyfat as measured by the BodPod at a height of 72 inches.

    Current Lifts:
    4×420 Deadlifts
    5×255 Bench
    6×365 Squat
    6×185 Press

    Factors that have influenced the variance in my weight include:
    GOMAD
    Traditional Bulking
    Intermittent Fasting a la Leangains for the past 10 months and Eat Stop Eat for the 6 months before that. I lost 48 pounds by utilizing ESE, 228–>180@11%. However, I lost considerable muscle mass as that coincided with a marathon, which caused me to stop resistance training.
    Bulked up to 210, now I’m cutting back down to 185-190.
    Layoffs due to surgeries

  9. ylva Says:
    June 19th, 2011 at 2:29 pm

    Female, 41 y old, two children. I am about 165cm, weigh about 60kg.

    I have been about the same weight all my life eventhough I make great efforts to alter my weight.

    I have gained 40 kg once and that was because I let myself go completely during my first pregnancy(no baby fat, I became obese because I ate to much). I was around 100kg at the partum day! I lost all my weight and a bit more down to 52kg afterwards. It was no walk in the park. I did about 50-100 km running a week, weighttrained 3 days/week with trainer, did extra spinning and followed a very regemented eating plan, the traditional protein-focused-eat-every-three-hours 1250kcal/day. I did that for at least 5 months and I became very lean and also a longdistance runner.

    Since then I run a lot and weighttrain each week. I maintained my weightloss for many years afterwards (6y). Then I got pregnant again and opted not to gain any weight and continued to run each day until I was 37 weeks into the pregancy. I had a pt to help me weight train during my pregnancy. Eventhough I gained about 20kg. I started to work out again 2 days after the birth and I ran my first 10 km, 3 weeks after that. I lost a lot of weight but have fluctuated up and down 5kg.

    I have a really hard time getting back to my super lean body. I have done the same trick as I did the first time and tried a few more. My conditions are a bit different now since I started to work shortly after the second baby arrived.

    So now I am back at 60kg. I have weighed the same since I was 16 y old with small alterations +/- 2-8 kg. The weightlosses have been the most resilient weightalterations because of huge efforts to maintain them both diet-and workoutwise. I have been severly obese during both of my pregnancies but have not maintained the obesity after the babies were born.

    Today I suppose I look athletic but I really want to lose those excess 6-8kilos to look superlean. There are many benefits due to my lifestyle but weightwise, no difference.

    I hope this is helpful for you.

    B t w. I found you and Brad just a few weeks ago (on the internet)and I am since then following the ese diet. Since I am already follow a workoutroutine I looked for something to help me eat less. This may be it for me.

    Regards Ylva

  10. ERV Says:
    June 19th, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    Hmm– My bodyweight has been pretty constant, however my body composition has changed pretty radically (sedentary student–> ‘I only do cardio I dont want to get bulky’ student–> ‘Cardio sucks I only lift’ student–> Happy medium student… oh god I am never going to graduate…)

  11. rezamalek Says:
    June 21st, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    At age 19 I weighed about 170 lbs. As I got closer to my mid-twenties, my weight went up to about the 190 range. As of Feb 2010 I weighed around 225 lbs. During that time, I discovered your website as well as Brad Pilon’s. Doing absolutely no cardio work at all, just a mix of bodyweight and freeweight workouts, combined with the eat-stop-eat principles, at the age of 32 I now weigh 170 lbs. at a height of 6 ft. I have maintained this weight with relatively little effort for about 6 months now.

  12. tr3gurl Says:
    June 22nd, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    I’ve actually become leaner as I’ve gotten older. I’m a 48 y/o female, 4 kids, ht 5’4″, wt 114. Learned weight training from a lifter boyfriend at 18y/o and have never stopped.

    Was around 125 in HS and pre-child #1. Gained 50 lbs in first pregnancy, but body snapped back pretty quick because I was so fit before the baby.

    With each baby – my weight training never stopped, although I did cycle down – my set point seemed to lower just a bit. Even during times of illness or when I wasn’t hitting the weights, I was not seeing any gain or fighting my weight.

    Pregnancy weight for other three was around 35 lbs. for each, and the weights, for me at least, have always been my go-to for whipping the bod back into shape. (Did I mention I hate cardio?)

    I eat reasonably clean; that is to say, I’m not about denying myself when I want something. But I’m aware of the cost. And as I’ve gotten older, I find intermittent fasting suits me just fine.

    Maybe my set point is more about discipline than anything else.

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