Fluctuations in weight

[wja]

From reading this forum I have conceived the idea that all of you are tall, slender, and well-proportioned.  Your weight rarely varies by more than a couple of pounds and you can spend considerable sums on fine clothing, knowing that the garments will fit you well for decades.

Then there's me.  When I get to 195 I diet and shoot for 185, hoping that I may drift around 190 for a while.  I haven't been able to exercise for a year (back) and now touch 200.  After the surgery in 2 weeks I'll lose weight - initially by eating percocet instead of food and then by getting back to the gym.  And so it goes.

Despite the best of intentions I go up and down.  How do I reconcile this reality with my wish assemble a decent wardrobe?

 

[globetrotter]

lets put it this way, WJA, I myself didn't get to a bespoke wardrobe as a result of having a perfect body. I can't speak for anybody else here, but my clothes are designed to hide a wide range of flaws, and handle slight changes.

 

[AlanC]

No doubt. Especially this time of year I'd say there are several who have fluctuated up a bit. I've got to drop some weight from where I am now to get into some nice clothes that await a slenderer me. I think there are a number of younger guys on the board who still haven't hit the full reality of fighting the bulge. For those of us 30 and older, it's most likely hit.

 

[PeterMetro]

lets put it this way, WJA, I myself didn't get to a bespoke wardrobe as a result of having a perfect body. I can't speak for anybody else here, but my clothes are designed to hide a wide range of flaws, and handle slight changes.

He said it. My weight, and therefore the fit of my clothes, fluctuates too. But instead of lamenting it, I actually use it as motivation: I'd rather hit the gym and watch what I eat than give up my custom made suits. Vanity, thy name is PeterMetro.

 

[JohnMS]

Despite exercising regularly for the past 20 years, age is closing in on me and I now have two sets of clothings. I refer to them as my 'fat man' and regular wardobes.

 

[LA Guy]

In my early 20's, when I was running more, my weight usually stayed around 160 lbs. At one point, due to decreased running (it was getting harder, both in terms of time and available energy to keep up my schedule) and increased eating and lifting, I reached up to 178 lbs, not all of that being muscle. I decided at that point that the days when I could eat a large Chili cheese fries from Lucky Boy for dinner, or down entire large pizzas on a semi-regular basis were over, and that some of my dietary freedom would have to be conceded to advancing age. These days (I am 30 now) I try to eat reasonable amounts of food, limit myself to a desert a day, and exercise 5 days a week, consistently (without fail unless I am traveling *and* unable to run or find a gym), and have been about to stay between 165 and 170 lbs for the past few years. Sometimes it is more difficult to exercise, and I find that it takes more time for me to recover between hard workouts, but everyone I've talked to who are 40+ and in decent shape tell me that consistency is key. So if I find that my legs are just too fatigued to run, I will do crosstraining on the elliptical trainer or the stationary bike instead. I just try to never, ever, skip a scheduled workout, even if it must be a truncated one.

BTW, my height, (5'11&quot, on the other hand, has not fluctuated at all since I was about 18.

 

[matadorpoeta]

as petermetro said, i use my clothes as motivation. i'm a size 34 waist right now, and i go between 32 and 34 all the time. most of my pants are cut to a 33 so that i can wear them more or less regardless of how my weight has fluctuated. my favorite suit has a pant size of about 32.5 and i'm trying to get back into shape because the last time i wore that suit i looked ridiculous.

 

[globetrotter]

as petermetro said, i use my clothes as motivation. i'm a size 34 waist right now, and i go between 32 and 34 all the time. most of my pants are cut to a 33 so that i can wear them more or less regardless of how my weight has fluctuated. my favorite suit has a pant size of about 32.5 and i'm trying to get back into shape because the last time i wore that suit i looked ridiculous.

Matador, people who have 32 inch waists should be careful about getting on a thread about people who are not happy with their weight. I last had a 32 inch waist in high school.....

 

[LA Guy]

most of my pants are cut to a 33 so that i can wear them more or less regardless of how my weight has fluctuated.

Know this exact feeling, although these days I think that I am a dead on 33. Am trying to hit 32 again for my wedding. I don't mind my tux pants being a little loose. A little tight, on the other hand, might be a little embarassing - Ennio Capasa does not seem to believe in forgiving cuts.
My lowest waist size since high school was 30, during a summer spent in Norway when I ran up and down a mountain every single day except Sunday, and dropped my weight to 150 lbs. I bought a pair of jeans at the end of the summer that I was able to wear until October of that year and have never been able to wear since.

 

[globetrotter]

wow, when I ran a marathon I couldn't get my waist that low. the lowest I have weighed since about age 13 was 132, after a really bad case of food poisening right after graduating high school.

 

[LA Guy]

Really depends on body type and metabolism. My father has been skinny his whole life (althoguh my uncles on that side of the family are quite fat generally) and my mother's side are full of tall (for southern Chinese) people. Globetrotter, I don't know how tall you are, but if I ever hit 132 lbs, I would be very worried.

An objective evaluation of my body shape and size are that I could stand to lose a little off my waist and butt (maybe an inch off both) and to bulk up my shoulders and chest a little. I naturally have the skinny upper body, muscular legs (though my legs are not really even that big) physique, and I'm not completely sure that I am working it up to it's true potential.

 

[stache]

When I have something made I make sure that there are very generous seam allowances in all the right places. And as globetrotter says, a garment made on your body fits a wider range of your own sizes. At this point I have assorted clothing in about three size ranges.

 

[discostu004]

discipline... before i sit around and decide to NOT go to the gym i think about the amount of $$$$ it'd take to redo my wardrobe in a bigger size, then working out is easy..

 

[Associate]

I'm 34, 5'7" and currently hovering around 150. Lowest I ever been since high school is about 130 (during a 6 months trip to South East Asia when I was 22). Highest ever is close to 160 (3 months of stduying for the bar exam).

True, I bulked up considerably since my 130 days, so some of it is muscle mass, but not all. As I'm getting older, I find I have to run (metaphorically) as fast as I can just to stay in place. I eat less and less, to the point of acting almost like a (hungry) chick. I look with astonishment at people who eat two slices of pizza for lunch. Last week I had dinner with a colleague and she laughed at me becuase I ordered two appetizers instead of an appetizer and an entree. Never you mind about desert. And I find I have to exercise more and more. I swim during the week and ride a bike on the weekend, and I'm pretty much stuck at 150.

Weird thing is, I can never gain weight under the waist. I have the perfect legs. Perfect, that is, for an anorexic super model who is rather on the short side and hairy. If I could redistribute some of my upper body weight into my legs, than I might have something going.

My pride and joy is that I managed to maintain waist size 32 since high school. Sometimes I can get into a 31, other times I look like a candy apple on a stick, but even when I gain weight, as long as I'm wearing size 32, I not officialy fat...

 

[benchan]

Well, my waist is about 30-31, but never been able to fit into any regular or slim fit jeans say the Levis 501 in 31W*34L.

For maintaining and keeping weight off, I suggest a very simple exercise--Rope Skipping, start from skipping 300 times a day and work it up to 1000. All it takes is 15 mins max daily.