Cavorty wrote:
the last time I was that weight would have been when I was 15/16 years old...
Well, this morning I was 156 pounds, a weight I was probably last at when I was 15-16 years old (withe the possible exception of Army basic training when they starved me down to a skeleton at age 33--yes, that was way old to join the military, but I did it, and I was the third-best runner in my platoon of 50 men, almost everyone else age 18).
So I hear all you guys who are saying it's impossible for you to get down to your youthful weights, but I'm not sure I believe you, because I have done it myself. Not saying it's easy.
Body composition is one complication. When you were 15-16, especially if you were a runner, you probably had low bodyfat and no visceral fat (fat wrapped around your internal organs) at all. Any weight you had was muscle and bone. It's really hard to restore that lean muscular young-man body type, with low bodyfat and no visceral fat. (We won't even get into the testosterone issue.)
Now at 156, even though I have been doing lots of strengthening, I still have a girdle of old-man fat around my waist ("love handles") and some loose skin on my stomach with subcutaneous fat beneath. Most likely there is some visceral fat around my organs that wasn't there when I was 15-16 years old.
But frankly I'm still early in the process of getting back my old body. I started at 184 pounds on Jan. 1, and I have only completed the first phase, which was getting down to my exact target weight of 156 (18.5 BMI, the lowest rung of "normal").
The next phase is to stay at 156, while doing lots of strength work to regain muscle and lose the fat that is still hanging around my midsection. In other words, now it's time to work on body composition.
When I was 15, I showed up for cross country with no previous training, and I ran a varsity time in my very first race, on a strong team (Pete Pfitzinger was our #1). Then I faded away because my body couldn't take the training and I was constantly injured. (We spent a ton of time doing 440 intervals on the track, which was a big thing in those days. I think the pounding of constant speedwork may have been a factor in my injuries.)
There was something about my 15-year-old body that made me fast, even for a 15-year-old, and I have to respect that.
However, to be perfectly honest, there was also something about my 15-year-old body that made me injury-prone, and you could argue that more muscle (=more weight) would have helped me stay in the game. This is a possibility, although I tend to believe the real culprit is abnormalities in the structure of my right leg (knee and hip especially). In this interpretation, more muscle might help cushion the joints, but any additional weight would also add to the stress on the joints. I just don't know.
Anyway, looking in the mirror right now, I look good. I do. My wife agrees, and she didn't want me to lose the weight in the first place. I don't look too skinny. I look like a runner. And that's a start.
Reminds me of the old Beatles song, "Drive My Car":
I told the girl I can start right away
And she said, "listen, babe, I got something to say
I got no car and it's breaking my heart
But I've found a driver and that's a start