“Not much,” I said.

Lola protested, pointing to a can of protein powder she had just removed from the shelf.

“Why? I’ve lost weight on this one before.”

“How many times?” I asked.

“Quite a few times,” she admitted. “I get your point.”

“What good is a diet that you have to stay on all the time?” I asked. “Sounds like a merry-go-round to me. It’s called yo-yo dieting, and it’s definitely not good for your health. I study with a guy who taught me that ‘Abstinence cures nothing.’”

Lola stayed for a consultation on circadian eating and growth zones.

I told her she could double her calories and still lose weight.

Ten days elapsed, and Lola didn’t return to the store.

I stopped at a gas station on the way out of town at twilight of that tenth day, and there was Lola.

“Wow,” she crowed, “I was just thinking about coming to see you, and here you are.”

“That’s the way it often works. And I see you’ve definitely lost some weight,” I mentioned.

“Ten pounds,” she confirmed.

“And it looks like you’ve been hanging out at the beach. That’s a great tan,” I continued.

“No,” Missy replied. “My complexion just CHANGED. My boyfriend came back from his vacation, and was amazed. He asked, ‘Who ARE you? I don’t even know who you are! You’re a whole different person.”

I wish all weight constriction/dilation stories were as successful as this. Many of them aren’t.

Are calories the only cause of weight gain and loss. Obviously not.