Patrick Dempsey · August 6, 2026 · 4 min read
Years ago my wife took a photo of me from behind on the Death Ride — a long day in the California mountains. I couldn't believe the size of my own backside. It wasn't muscle. I was "fit," and I was carrying something the mirror out front never showed me. That photo started me eating like an athlete instead of just training like one.
This week's video, Why Cutting Sugar Didn't Lower My Blood Sugar, makes the case that fitness doesn't grant metabolic immunity Video link here. This letter is the other half of that: the two-minute check that finds the fat it's talking about, using nothing but a tape measure.
Below: why the scale is a poor witness, what visceral fat actually does for a living, and the two-minute check I promised you on camera — plus one number worth asking for at your next physical.