WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE: Reader Michael Wallace writes:

I have been trying to lose about 20 pounds the last couple of years and failing. I have seen your comments on weight loss and mostly looked past them. Then April 20th you recommended the LiveStrong app and pointed out that “dieting” may be a permanent condition for many. For some reason it clicked: there is so much food around us it is very very very difficult to lose weight if you don’t count the calories.

So I bought LiveStrong for my iPhone and began using it on April 21. Since then I have dropped 21 pounds and am measuring everything I consume. Doing so is a fascinating exercise…who knew how small a portion an ounce of ham is? Or how many calories there were in a piece of cornbread The first couple weeks were “different”, but not painful. And I have continued to consume high quality Colorado craft beer, California red wine and Kentucky’s own Broadbent bacon along the way.

Thanks.

P.S. There are probably better apps. There are several things I dislike about LiveStrong, but using it worked.

P.P.S. My daughter, the oil field engineer, is a second generation Instapundit reader. Her news sites didn’t cover the “Obama ate the dog” stuff and she wanted to know where I got news like that. Pepperoni, not pupperoni Barack! Still slays me.

Yes, I didn’t put a lot of research into the Livestrong app — it worked for a friend’s wife so I got it. There may be better ones, but it works. I use it for maintenance; I dropped a few vanity pounds last year, but I’m basically where I want to be. But as I said a while back, in today’s society, most of us have to make a conscious effort not to be fat. It’s a good way to keep track of what you’re eating. I also favor the Gary Taubes approach, seasoned heavily with Mark Rippetoe.