Chapter 5

Despite Mallory's drunken words praising his belly, David was still resolved to go on a diet and take up exercise on January 1st. Well, the gym was closed and it was snowing, so exercise would have to wait, but diet could start right away.

He still felt pretty full at breakfast, so it was easy to just eat a piece of toast. He had told Mallory about his plan, and she hadn't said much, but he saw she was on board when she prepared a salad for lunch. Okay, it was a Caesar salad, with plenty of bacon and garlic croutons and salad dressing, but still, it was a salad. David felt quite virtuous.

They lazed around the house, enjoying the last holiday before it was time to go back to work. Supper was leftover salad, with the last of the snacks from the party. Those had to be eaten, thought David, even if cream cheese chicken puffs probably weren't on any diet plan. It would be wrong to waste them.

Photos from their party were up on facebook already, David discovered. He was appalled by how fat he looked. His belly was camouflaged, true, but his rounder face and his obvious double chin made it clear what was going on. He pinched the flesh under his chin. God, he looked so, so... gorgeous, his subconscious whispered, like someone who's been gorging. No, that wasn't it. Fat was not attractive, was it? Was not supposed to be, he was sure of it, even as his hand fondled his soft paunch. It had to go. He sighed.

Mallory was not happy. She had loved watching David expand over the past few months. His solid frame and pudge made her want to rip all his clothes off and do it constantly. It was so sexy, she felt unable to explain it to David. Obviously he didn't like getting fat, so how would he feel if she told him she wanted him to gain more because it was the hottest thing ever? Tears stung her eyes. He'd think she was a total freak. She should support him. She straightened her shoulders. She would support him, no matter at what cost. Her big beefy hunk of a man... even if he turned into a string bean. She sighed.

David got up and breakfasted on toast again, before going into the office. By midway through the morning, he was cranky and hungry. He broke down and went out and bought a bran muffin from a coffee shop. For his lunch, Mallory had packed a veggie wrap and a baggie full of carrot sticks. He finished them off and still felt nearly empty. His belly rumbled all through the afternoon.

He was too hungry to hit the gym after work without refuelling, he decided. He found himself guiltily wolfing down a Big Mac meal with supersized fries. But he was going to workout, so it was okay, just this once.

He looked at himself in the full length mirror at the gym. He'd grown since last time, he thought. Of course, he'd been eating like a hog for the past month. Taking a deep breath, he stepped on the scale. 203 pounds, it read. Wow, thought David, cradling his gut. He went in and spent twenty minutes walking on the treadmill, then decided that was enough for a first session. He went home.