The universe has good news for the lost, lonely, and heart sick.

The sugars are here, speaking straight into your ears.

I'm Steve Olman.

I'm Cheryl Strayed.

This is Dear Sugar's.

Oh dear son, won't you please?

Yeah, some little sweet days would be.

I check my bell vibes every day.

Oh, and this sugar, using my way.

Dear sugars, I've been on and off diets for 25 years.

I don't think I can string two days together when I was not starting a diet, thinking about

starting a diet, on a diet, are falling off the wagon.

The goal of my first diet was to fit into a pair of guest jeans.

I was in fifth or sixth grade at the time of that first diet, and guest jeans were popular.

I'd fantasize about buying the jeans and wearing them to school with my shirt tucked in,

so that all of the kids could see the symbol on my back pocket.

I never lost enough weight to buy those jeans.

Over time, they became a symbol of what losing weight would feel and look like for me.

Guests jeans turned into a new basketball uniform to play on the team in junior high,

new jeans for my first day of college, or whole new me for law school.

After 25 years of dieting, I feel like an accidental expert.

But I'm so tired of it.

...