Bruce Cameron

Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2010.

One of life’s great ironies is that for the first 18 years of my existence, I tried everything I could think of to gain weight, while for the most recent 18 years I’ve tried everything I can think of to stop gaining weight.

I was a spindly, spoke-like teenage boy, with wrists and thighs of equal diameter and every rib on display in my frail torso. In seventh grade, my father said I should lift weights to improve my physique, but I didn’t have a physique. I weighed barely enough to stay rooted to the ground.

Bullies took note...