During a meeting with Mike Bloomberg a year ago, I mentioned that he looked trim.

I admitted that I had put on weight during Covid and I could stand to lose a few.

I asked him for the secret. He leaned in and said:

“When you get up in the morning and you are hungry, don’t eat breakfast.”

Ok, I said. Got it.

“And try not to eat in the morning. Just try to make it to lunch,” he said.

Ok, I said.

“And if you can make it to lunch without eating, then don’t eat lunch.”

Ok, I said, starting to see where this was going.

“You are going to be hungry,” he said.

“But try to hold back. Try not to eat until the evening. Try to make it to dinner.”

“And if you can just make it that far, don’t eat dinner.”

“That’s it,” he said. “You’ll lose a lot of weight that way.”

He was kidding, of course, and no one should ever feel shamed for their weight.

What Mike’s impractible “diet” did remind me was how hard it can be. On average, men gain 10 pounds every decade. I had held the line for decades and then seemed to accumulate my fair share all at once.

I saw my doctor last week and she reminded me of the health risks of being overweight. She said there is a new FDA drug available that is helping lots of people. She didn’t recommend it for me at this point.

The good news is that you don’t have to adopt the “Bloomberg diet” to make a difference.

According to the FDA, a combination of diet and exercise that helps you lose 5 percent to 10 percent of your body weight can dramtically reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.