Happy new year

chapter 3

Christmas Day I spent the entire day eating from morning until night. I was so stuffed, my gut was protruding so far out it was alarming, but I ignored it and waddled my way to my bedroom and quickly fell asleep. My gut never returned to the flatter state it had been before my Christmas binge, but I didn't make note of that. When I went back to work after Christmas, Holley greeted me and asked me how my holiday was. I told her I over-indulged and she said "That's ridiculous, you look great, same as always, glad you had a nice day!" "Thanks" I said and waddled into my office. I sank into my office chair and my hips grazed the sides as I squeezed myself into it. I scooted my chair up to my desk until my belly prevented further movement. I looked down and patted my new rolls and thought, I'll have to work on getting rid of these few extra pounds after New Years. I hardly moved the rest of the day, only getting up to use the restroom and get some lunch. I had packed a "few" snacks to keep me going throughout the day (my appetite had grown immensely and I was hungry all the time) and I reached into the backpack I'd brought every few minutes. Chocolate bars, gummi bears, twinkies, oreos, and for lunch I ordered two large pizzas and ate every bit of it myself. It was amazing how eating made me feel. I noticed how the sensation of filling my stomach was so satisfying and made me feel so warm and content. I absentmindedly rubbed my rotund belly and imagined it getting even bigger not noticing that it was practically growing beneath my touch. My extra chin was working on forming another and I could now feel it laying on my chest when I looked down, I no longer could climb the stairs in my building, walking down the hall caused me to get winded, bending down to pick up a dropped pencil was impossible, but it all felt normal to me now. My coworkers never noticed the change and I had slowly forgotten what I had looked and felt like before. This was my new normal. New Year's Eve finally rolled around and I pulled out the scale I had bought to set it up. I input all my data describing my pre-Christmas market body as those were the last numbers I could remember. I knew I hadn't been monitoring and I'd been indulging, so this would tell me what the damage was and how much I needed to lose to get back to where I was pre-holiday indulgences. Once the scale was set up, I stripped down to weigh just myself and lumbered over to the small square...it really looked small at this point. I carefully stepped onto the scale which was difficult because I actually couldn't see it over my enormous gut (it's interesting that the fact I couldn't see the scale did not alarm me). The scale groaned as my weight transferred onto it and I had a fleeting thought that it might not register my weight, but then assured myself that was ridiculous, it had a limit of 400 pounds, nobody can gain 300 pounds in 3 weeks, and besides I had only put on a few pounds right? I slowly raised my phone to see what weight it registered and I stared at the number. What? How is that possible? I would have noticed, people around me would have noticed! I looked back at the data I had entered and realized I had typed in 120 as my starting weight...could that be right? My memory was starting to get fuzzy, should I have typed in 220? But that would mean I gained almost 200 pounds, no, no, no, I must have started at 300 but now I'm close to 400 pounds!!! I stepped off the scale and waddled over to my mirror and took a good hard look at myself. I had a faded memory of doing this same thing just three weeks ago looking at a very different woman. My mind must be playing tricks on me, but I think I had been thin 3 weeks ago. I realized that every day since that Christmas Market visit I had put on almost 15 pounds caused by something I ate or inhaled which also made my appetite go crazy. That market and the gypsies who ran it were long gone now. I had no idea how I might get this spell reversed, but then I thought back to what I felt like before and realized that I was happier now than I was when that skinny stick stared back at me from the mirror. I no longer stressed about what went into my mouth or how my clothes looked on my body. In fact I very much looked forward to eating and showing off my curves. My friends still thought I was beautiful, fun, and great to be around. I liked the new me and I decided to throw away that new scale too. So here I am. One more "morbidly obese" American taking up space in this world. I no longer care what the world thinks. I may move slower and breath heavier, but I feel great! I have no idea if that spell continues to work its magic, only time will tell, but I'm not going to do anything to stop it. In fact I think I'll just help it along, I'm hungry and I'm heading to the Cheesecake Factory...massive portions and I think a whole cheesecake! Happy New Year!