exercise and eating healthy food are the province of the well-off.

This is my category. I dont really gain much weight, no matter what or how much I eat.

When I was a teen, it bothered me because I really wanted to gain weight. Nothing helped much...the protein shakes, creatine, etc...

Now that I am in my 30s, I feel really lucky about the whole thing. I have friends and co-workers who are younger than me who have been or are on diets, can't eat certain foods, etc, but I am really lucky in that sense.

Technicaly, there are a few foods I avoid, but not for weight reasons....more for either allergic reasons or "that food is disgusting" reasons.

Jerk.

I'm 6'2" and wear a 38 waist, and currently weigh about 230 lbs. I'm actually probably a 37 waist as 36s are a bit too tight, and 38s are a bit baggy, so I go with the 38 for comfort sake. The biggest I've been was 260, and my ideal is in the 200-210 range. I'm about halfway there. I actually carry my weight fairly well, and while I'm overweight and working at it, I by no means look obese for a guy who is as big as I am. (I guess by no means am I obese either).

I gained most of my weight in college, going from 185 up to about 230 while working with the football team at the Y. They fed us like the players, but we weren't even close to physically working like the players, and I bulked up quite a bit (and not in a good way). Add to it a knee injury, sympathy pregnancy weight, genetics and starting a desk job, and I went from 230 in school to the 250-260 range. I really enjoy working out and wish I could do it more. The hardest thing for me is finding the time to do it, since I hate getting up early and feel an obligation to spend time with wife/kids, and finding somebody to lift weights with so I push myself enough.

Your BMI is close to the 90th percentile.

Btw, I think the more interesting figure would be the median waist size in america, not the average.

BMI is an overrated system IMO. Yes, I need to lose weight. But if I weigh in at 210, a healthy weight for me, my BMI is still high.

Look at a guy like Bryan Kehl (6'3" 240 lbs). According to BMI, he's fat, but looking at him, he's ripped and a physical specimen. I'm not Bryan Kehl, but I'm not a fattie either.

My high was 195+, and on the scale yesterday I was 167.

No one would have called me fat at 195. But looking back, yes, I was fat.

I was very active pre-marriage. Surfing, Mountain Biking, Rock Climbing, Snow Boarding, Basketball, you name it. In my high school years till I was married at 22 I was never out of top shape let alone fat. About 2 months before my marriage, I tore my ACL. Being married and trying to recover from the ACL, I packed on some pounds. When I left high school I weight 210, when I married I was 215. about 6 months (1995) into my marriage I weighed 240. Since then it was pretty steady at 240 until I switched carreers (2005) and found myself behind a desk all day long. In the past 3 years I ballooned to just shy of 300 pounds. I carry the weight decently, so I never heard I was looking bad but I knew it. But last year, after years of flirting with it, resolved to get back to high school weight.

So, to answer the question, for me it was a combination of Marriage, Desk job and injury.

All those of you who are using the waist size of your jeans to determine your waist size might be in for a shocker. It is my opinion that American clothing makers lie a great deal about the waist size to make the consumer feel better about him/herself and more likely to buy their brand of jeans.

I wear size 34 jeans comfortably but on a recent suit buying expedition I was measured by a tailor who informed me that I was a 36. I saw the tape with my own eyes. I went home and tried on some of my old 36 waist jeans and they were baggy as can be. The sad truth for many of you may be just a tape measure away. Try it and see. It seems to me that the size listed is actually one size larger. So a comfortable pair of 36 is likely a true 38.

So true.

And I am not talking about waistlines.