Actually it was my old "heavy weight days" that I originally was striving for to reduce my pack weight! My old pack weight for a 5 day trip was 25 lbs with food and water! No tent, just a tube tent. No heavy pad, just a light ensolite pad. No stove, we cooked over a fire. No water filter, cholorine drops. etc etc etc
In the late 80's I went on a solo trip where my pack hit 40 lbs. I hated it and was thinking about that old 25 lb pack weight and have been working on it ever since. I am down to 12 lb base weight...pretty happy with that actually. I got lower, but added some things back in...:)