Derek (More Plates More Dates): natty or not?
Confirmed The internet's leading PED-analysis channel, co-founder of Marek Health — and the source of the method this site uses
Short answer. Verdict: confirmed. At the peak physique on this page, Derek (More Plates More Dates) is 6'0" (183 cm) and 220 lbs (100 kg) at roughly 15% body fat. That works out to an FFMI of 25.2, against the ~25 mark cited as the natural ceiling.
The numbers (estimated)
| Peak physique | His fullest recent form, around 220 lbs |
|---|---|
| Height | 6'0" (183 cm) |
| Weight | 220 lbs (100 kg) |
| Body fat | ~15% |
| FFMI | 25.2 — ~25 is the cited natural ceiling |
Era by era (estimated)
| Era | Year | Age | Weight | Evidence | Body fat | FFMI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-prohormone start (his account) | 2011 | 19 | 165 lbs (75 kg) | reported | ~12% | 19.5 |
| Shredded phase | 2020 | 28 | 201 lbs (91 kg) | reported | ~6% | 25.4 |
| Recent form | 2023 | 31 | 210 lbs (95.3 kg) | reported | ~12% | 24.9 |
FFMI over time (estimated)
FFMI per era (values in the table above). Hover a point for details.
Note. Every number below is a reported figure or our own photo read, not a measurement. See the methodology page for how we judge.
Full disclosure first: the analytical method this entire site runs on — timelines over photos, lean mass per unit time, the tiered signals — is distilled from this man’s back catalog. Derek of More Plates More Dates has built the internet’s most-watched body of work on performance-enhancing drugs, analyzing hundreds of physiques by name, and he has always been open that his own history includes them: he describes starting prohormones young, running gear since, and managing it all with the obsessive blood-work culture he helped create — he co-founded a telehealth company built substantially around exactly that. Confirmed, by a career of first-person openness; there was never a debate to settle.
The numbers
His reported stats — around 210-220 lbs (95-100 kg) at 6’0” (183 cm), with a documented shredded phase near 200 lbs at very low body fat — compute past the natural ceiling in his lean eras, exactly as he’d tell you himself. By his own account he was an ordinary 165-lb lifter before the first prohormone bottle; the entire adult physique is an enhanced physique, precisely dosed, tracked and disclosed.
The context that matters
Derek’s significance isn’t his body; it’s that he made the honest conversation mainstream. The quotes above — on inflammation, blood pressure, and why enhanced bodybuilders die of cardiovascular disease — are the risk half of the ledger, delivered to millions by someone inside it. His harm-reduction framing (test, monitor, minimize, ideally abstain) is the reason a site like this one can cite real numbers instead of rumors.
Verdict
Confirmed — openly, clinically, and by his own choice, for essentially his whole public career. The debt this site owes his method is disclosed above; it buys him no discount on the verdict, and he’d be the first to say it shouldn’t.
In their words
“I think systemic inflammation, oxidative stress is something that goes overlooked. People often say that guys look older who use steroids.”
“I think blood pressure is a shockingly overlooked and easy-to-regulate thing that often leads to premature kidney deterioration but also changes in the heart. Almost every time you see a bodybuilder die early, it's a cardiovascular-related issue and it's often from mismanaged lipids, systemic inflammation on top of that, and mismanaged or unaddressed entirely blood pressure, which can lead to not just functional changes in the heart but the actual shape and structure of it that leads to the dysfunction is pretty common.”
Common questions
Is Derek (More Plates More Dates) natty or on steroids?
This site rates Derek (More Plates More Dates) as confirmed, the only verdict here stated as fact. It takes an admission, a failed test or an official record, and the one behind this page is cited in the sources below.
Has Derek (More Plates More Dates) ever failed a drug test or admitted to using PEDs?
The record that settles this page is listed in the sources below and described in the article above. It is what makes the verdict confirmed rather than an opinion.
What is Derek (More Plates More Dates)'s FFMI?
About 25.2. That comes from 6'0" (183 cm) and 220 lbs (100 kg) at roughly 15% body fat, normalized to 1.8 m. Drug-free lifters in the Kouri 1995 study topped out near 25.