Dear Maggie,

I can’t seem to lose any weight. I’ve tried one diet after another, and they don’t work – or actually, they might, but I lose my will power. I always start out all enthusiastic and then I just can’t seem to keep it up. It’s so much work, weighing, measuring, counting everything I eat, and there aren’t enough hours in the day to exercise as much as it would take to make any real difference. I start feeling like life is too short to spend all my time doing stuff I hate. And I start thinking that it won’t matter how hard I try, anyway, I’ll never lose enough to make any difference. I’ve always been fat. Maybe it’s just how I’m supposed to be. I’m really about ready to give up hope. But I thought I’d take a shot and see if you have anything to say that I haven’t heard a thousand times before.

Signed,

Always Fat

Dear Always,

You see yourself as a heavy person and therefore, you cannot be anything except one.