"I wanted to lose the weight, but didn't want to be seen wanting to lose it," says author. She tried on a pair of tight jean shorts and felt as if she had stepped into a weightloss commercial. The shopkeeper at the counter told her that what enabled him to lose all his weight was a weight loss ap called nom. "Nom is to diet culture, what a cool youth pastor is, to organized religion", writes writer.
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.