Gone Are The Dreams Of High-School Weight

Throughout high school, I weighed right around 165 to 180lbs, depending on my general level of athleticism at the time. I ballooned to 215 while on a mission for the LDS church, and returned to around 200 by the time I returned from the mission. Then, through a focused program of poor nutrition, spending all my money on stuff other than food, and an incredibly busy schedule, my weight diminished to 178lbs on the day before my wedding.

Of course, the first year and a half of marriage, bringing with it enormous quantities of excellent food lovingly prepared by my wife, saw my weight rise dramatically. 220, 230, and I eventually landed a position as a meter reader. A pedometer told me I was walking somewhere between 10 and 15 miles every single day. I came to be in pretty good shape — eating like a horse and weighing right around 200-210lbs — but I always looked back at 178lbs as my healthy, high-school and college weight, thinking I was just too big and needed to reduce

Time changes everything. Including my body image. A couple of months ago, we weighed-in everybody in my data center. At 251lbs, I was the king: the heaviest guy here. This was my original motivation to resume the low-carbohydrate, high-veggies eating plan with which I’d been able to reach and maintain 207lbs on several years ago (with almost negligible exercise, I might add).

At the time, that was almost 100lbs heavier than the lightest guy in the data center, Dave S., who weighed 155lbs. I thought maybe there was just something wrong with me. Turns out, there’s really something right, and I didn’t know it.

As mentioned recently, I have been spending time at the gym, and learned that my body-fat percentage was 25.7%. In other words, my lean-muscle and skeletal mass is 74.3%. This ratio is really important, but until this morning when I spent time with a calculator figuring out realistic goals, I had no idea how critical it really is.

I found this handy chart of general body fat percentages helpful in my quest for better health & nutrition. As always, this is just a guideline, and your individual body chemistry may dictate more or less depending on your body’s needs.

Classification	Women (% fat)	Men (% fat)
Essential Fat	10-12%	6-13%
Athletes	14-20%	5-15%
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Acceptable	25-31%	18-25%
Obese	32% plus	25% plus

Math time!

I’m currently 25.7% fat, or 74.3% lean mass. Simple math gave me a startling result: 235lbs * .743 = 174.6lbs

Yep. My lean mass currently stands at 175 lbs. If I retain all my lean muscle mass, there is simply no way in hell I’ll ever be 178lbs again unless I’m willing to pillage a lot of muscle to do it. Damn. And that 155-lb guy in the data center that works with me? I’d have to be extremely sick or dead to even approach that weight.

So I worked it the other way: if I’m satisfied with my goal of around 15% body fat (85% lean mass) — a healthy body fat percentage for a male, by most measures — what would my weight be if I just maintained the exact same muscle mass?

174.6 / .85 = 205.4lbs

Yep. So if I worked out and ate just enough to keep my existing muscle tone while losing weight, my original goal of 200 lbs is actually about five pounds lighter than what should be my target weight. Apparently, I should be aiming for a higher weight than my goal, not lower! Which means that, even if I maintain my historical (in)activity level I’m less than thirty pounds away, and I’m not fifty pounds overweight as I assumed.

It’s always nice to learn you’re wrong when the result is that you’re much closer to your goal than you expected.

All that said, I’ve been weight training, and my weight loss has temporarily stalled for the past few weeks right at 235 lbs. Yet my waist has kept shrinking, I need a new, smaller belt, and my size 38 and 40 pants now practically fall off my butt when I put them on (the 36s fit great, and the 34s are still a bit too dang tight). Two weeks ago at 235, those same size 38’s fit just fine.

What changed? Lean muscle mass is heavier than fat. I may have continued my five-pounds-per-month fat loss regimen, but if I’m gaining five pounds of muscle at the same time, my weight loss will be dramatically reduced while I — with any luck — keep looking better and more muscular.

I like this plan, even though it means I might have to substantially modify my weight-loss goal.

So I ran a few “what-if” scenarios. Let’s say I put on 15 pounds of muscle over the course of this year. I know that many say that’s too optimistic, but I’m a little over six feet tall, have a naturally muscular & broad-framed physique, and am a beginning weightlifter. Everyone knows beginning weightlifters post the most dramatic gains, at least for a little while. I think I have a shot at those kinds of gains if I eat the right diet to support it, follow a muscle-mass-oriented training regimen, and use good form in each exercise while working with the maximum weight that my body allows. With the original target of 15% body fat, the equation of how overweight I am at the moment changes dramatically:

Lean weight: 189.6lbs Total weight: (189.6lbs / .85) 223lbs Fat weight: 33.5lbs

Holy crap. If I can pack on fifteen pounds of muscle this year, I only need to lose around twelve pounds, total, from where I am now. I think I really prefer this equation; wouldn’t you? If I targeted a “show your six-pack” 10% body fat, I’d need to drop twenty-four pounds from my current weight to get down to 210lbs. Still totally do-able, and I’ve been there on diet alone — with almost no exercise — before.

I’d be looking good! Well, as good as this bobble-headed, Irish-descended, freckle-faced white guy with crooked teeth can look, I suppose.

Doing the math, however, made me realize the dreams of high-school weight are gone forever. I will never again be the scrawny teenager. But, with work, maybe I can be a middle-aged beefcake instead!