I was just curious because I hear and read all the time about how this is heavy and that is heavy. It's almost caused me not to get certain things I have because of the doom laden warnings about the weight.

The only thing I bought so far that truly has some weight to it is my tripod but I don't use that much and when I do, I'm always with a friend who has a car. I can carry it from spot to spot when I'm shooting with it for hours on end but I sure as hell wouldn't hike hike with it!

in short... some people go to gym and to 100killos, some quite happy with 15

its very individual and as was mentioned before depends on your lifestyle and typo of photography that u do

We are all regular Schwarzenegger here I am sure, but than again I here he has serious hart condition probably because he was carrying to much weight in his time.
How much weight you are willing to carry probably depends on:
a) your overall physical condition
b) how many miles you have to carry it
c) just how important is the subject you are after
If I know there is something very important beyond the horizon then I will be willing to carry as much as I can lift, as long as I can put it in the backpack.
On the other hand if I am just wondering about and I want to be able to react fast then I will carry just a couple of bags around my belt and no more than a couple of kilos in weight.

How much weight affects you also depends on what's on the camera and what's on your back. When I have my tripod on my backpack, after several hours I start to feel the weight. If I have the camera attached to the tripod, I can go on for days without feeling pain. Probably works this way since the weight becomes more even after I take the tripod off my back.

Yeah, plus there is the issue of whether or not you want to be low key or not. Obviously, the more you bring, the more you stand out. It could be an issue in foreign areas where photography may be prohibited.

In some ways, I'm happy I bought a D40.

OK, in my bag just when I go out shooting I carry; D300, 70-200, 300 prime, 18-55mm, extra battery, 3 more CF cards, extra body whenever I have one, two TC's and if I'm going away from home for a few days the charger. Sometimes I take my tripod but that I can say is heavy because it's a heavy duty one.

I don't have a car either and carry everything in my pack and even when I'm out shooting, I keep the pack on all the time.

Age, conditioning, and what you're used to may play a role in the way the weight of gear is perceived. I used to carry two cameras and associated gear all the time (mountain hiking, walking through cities, etc.) and it really didn't seem like much at all. I stopped carrying all that stuff for several years when I kinda got away from photography, but lately that I've been back into it, and I'm older by 20 years, the same weight seems heavier.

adamz, you forgot the tripod :)
Mine weighs a total of 3.3 kg and you won't get a proper light tripod unless you are willing to spend $800 to $1000 dollars.

agree with monty, if You carry Your equipment only for couple of hours it's not that heavy, but when You need to carry all Your equipment on a trip than sooner or later You gonna feel it. D300+70-200/2.8 + grip is almost 3kg, add another standard lens, You have 4.5kg, add some filters, chargers, memory cards and flash (a decent one, not the biggest on the market, let's say sb-800) and You have 6kg, with a decent bag You gonna carry around 7kg. If You gonna carry it on shoulder, than even for 5-6 hours You gonna feel it. Not to mention the duration of a photo trip. Last year I was on a 3 weeks trip and I lost 4kg of my body weight due to carrying the equipment.
as for 200-400/f4 it's very well balanced, and especially when You are so excited about it You are not going to see it true weight (I know Your feelings toward this lens gentoo, as mine are quite similar :)) - it's almost 3kg (in other words more than five d40's).

Well the weight becomes an issue when you go on a trip or hiking and don't have the use of a car. Even if you can stay at some motels/hostels/hotels you still have to carry along other supplies. Though I think that most of the time space will become more of an issue :)

Seriously, is it? I always hear these horror stories about how heavy certain camera and lens combinations are. I carry around a D300 with either a 300mmF4 or 70-200 attached to it for 4 or 5 hours at a time. Not a big deal. Today I saw a guy at work who had my dream lens, the 200-400F4 attached to a D3. When I asked him if it was as heavy as everyone said it was, he handed it over to me and let me hold it. Again, I wasn't that impressed with the weight. I could easily carry that around on my D300 for hours on end.

Gear just doesn't seem all that heavy to me. Am I just weird?