Bruce Cameron

Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2009.

Experts say that in order to get a true picture of your body weight, you shouldn’t weigh yourself every day, which is why I step on the scales only after I’ve had food poisoning. Also, this is the time of year when you should set the starting weight on the scales back 10 pounds — “fall back.”

“Dad, you’re gaining weight,” my daughter tells me one day.

My daughter loves me and would say something like this only if she were mistaken. “Shut up,” I say gratefully.

She is a serious cyclist who rides things like The Triple Bypass,...