"My father was an avid runner. He amassed a huge collection of tea shirts from eugene's annual race, the butte de butte." The shirt i loved most was from 19 82 and my father would have run this race when i was four,. in prist school, still learning to tie my shoes. "I thought about the way my able body had allowed me to help his suddenly disabled body with its basic functions," she writes.
We cannot escape our bodies. So how do we reconcile them with who we really are?
Sam Anderson, a staff writer, considers this particular conundrum of the human condition by recounting his lifelong struggle to maintain a healthy weight: his teenage triumph over the “legendary snacker” he was in middle school, the slow creep of the pounds in early adulthood, and the pandemic’s expansive effect on his waistline.
Anderson also explores what it takes to monitor food consumption, the linguistic legacy of 1980s diet culture, the curse of intergenerational weight problems, the natural limitations of weight-loss efforts and the importance of self-acceptance.
This story was written and narrated by Sam Anderson. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.