chapter 3

The three years Tom and Rachel spent together were very happy, and very comfortable for the both of them. Rachel got her degree in computer science and found a job as a database administrator at a good company where Tom had a few connections. When Tom was promoted two years into their relationship, the happy couple got engaged and moved to a different city. Rachel's company allowed her to enter into a telework agreement, meaning she worked from home full time which, though it would likely stifle many opportunities for promotions, suited her desire for a laid back work-life balance. Tom was making good money, she was making decent money and not dealing with the stress of a morning commute or office politics.

She spent most of her days at home, sitting in her pajamas at her multiple monitors writing SQL scripts and collaborating remotely with her coworkers. Tom made sure not to push too hard during this period and let things progress naturally with his project. When they went to the grocery store, he made sure to throw a number of extra snacks in the basket, and to leave them lying around in plain sight when he left for work in the morning. Slowly but surely he started to notice bags of Doritos go from full to almost empty in the course of a day. He also started randomly showing up home from work a few nights per week with special "treats" for Rachel from her favorite fast food restaurants.

Rachel enjoyed Tom's thoughtfulness, and didn't give much consideration to the impact these changes would start to have on her waistline. Slowly but surely as she sat around, she developed a habit of stuffing her face. Day after day she found herself subconsciously craving sweet and salty snacks. Junk food became a past-time of hers- a hobby really. It got to the point where at the grocery store, Tom no longer had to sneak the extra items into the basket, Rachel was stopping to grab them for herself.

The changes were slight and imperceptible as she gained her first 10 or 15 pounds. Sure, some clothes tightened and she was a little bit softer than usual, but she didn't really look all that chubby and didn't take notice either. 6 months into her new work schedule Rachel continued to plump up, eventually noticing her expansion when she hit around 145 pounds. Looking in the mirror one morning before hopping in the shower she turned to the side. "Wait a minute..." she thought to herself.

"That wasn't there before" she exclaimed, grabbing her small paunch which was protruding ever so slightly. Alerted to the chance of real weight gain, her eyes darted from place to place. Her love handles...squisher and protruding slightly more as well. Her breasts, larger and hanging slightly lower outside of her increasingly uncomfortably tight bra. Her ass, looking thicker, fuller her thighs... "oh SHIT" she whispered to herself. Her thighs had lost their gap. They ever so slightly pressed against each other at their meaty interior.

How did she let this happen? How did these changes creep up on her like this? She was legitimately shocked by everthing she hadn't noticed. Slowly stuffing her face at home, adopting a sedentary lifestyle, lazing around in comfortable loose fitting loungewear had all taken their toll. Her wedding was just over 8 months away. She had bought a dress at least 15 pounds ago, and it was fitted to her then. Reluctantly, as she had grown accustomed to indulging herself, Rachel resolved to begin dieting and exercising right away so she wouldn't look like a cow on her wedding day.