Yes, in fact, and to your point about how different we are, I did just this with very rare exception. That choice has in part (along with very hard work and regular exercise) allowed me to maintain my 120–125 lbs, down from 205, since 1987. There are so many lies around weight, food, and what works. What works for Cassidy at his age won’t work for me at 66. What works is the hard work of asking the body what it needs for fuel, the occasional treat, and how eating can be a joy rather than a chore or guilt-ridden, angst-driven agony populated by huge ups and downs.

In the 31 years since releasing that weight, I have once gained twelve pounds (just year, pure stress) and dropped it again when I took some adaptogenic herbs, took a long horse trip in Canada and got my sanity back. We gain/lose weight for far more reasons than food or laziness. The body is very eloquent.

Above all the point isn’t about being thin for thin’s sake. While I am thin, that’s my natural set point and body type, drive by bird bones. Each of us has a place where the body is supremely happy and fit, and that may well not fit the airbrushed lie of Vogue or a fitness mag. Your body, my body, we are all unique. Our needs change as we age, and so do our caloric requirements, as well as the types of calories depending on our health.

I value the thought you put into this, Cassidy, and appreciate the message. This is a lifetime journey. I’m an athlete today, which means largely eat for fuel, but the sight of a Krispy Kreme doesn’t terrorize me (it’s brief because in the next second I have gormed it). Food is a joy but it’s also a responsibility. So is moderating the compulsion to sculpt ourselves into something our bones and structure can’t support.

Your point that is most powerful? What’s sustainable. I am sick unto death of People Mag articles touting folks who have lost more than a hundred pounds.

Here’s the truth: that’s the easy part. Talk to those folks from American’s Biggest Loser who gained it all back and then some. How about we do a callback on people who have kept it off ten, twenty, thirty, forty years? THAT is a success story. I’ve made it 31 so far. Not bad. Got a long way to go. Talk to me at 96.