Inappropriate Linear "Fits"

Next week I turn 41.  Bald spot, grey hair, trimming my eyebrows - these I am okay with.  But the persistent weight gain and my inability to lose the weight simply by thinking about it really bothers me.  In a nerdy attempt to gain a handle on this, I turn to analytics.

Many non scientists love to apply a linear fit to nonlinear data.  In this spirit, I have graphed my weight as a function of age and determined the best fit line.  As you can see, I will probably weigh 440 lbs when I am 85 years old.  Also of note is that I was born weighing 20 lbs and that I am gaining about 4.5 lbs per year.

The red line represent the 6 actual data points (drawn from memory and last weekend's weigh-in as well as the logical zero point of 1969).