Chapter 4 - swapping calories

A few more weeks passed. Jared and Ericka became pretty good friends, eating dinner together every week night after work to catch up and wind down from a long day. Ericka was back to her modelesque figure, and Jared had to admit she looked great. She was getting more attention from the guys around the site, so Jared felt a bit proud that she was still choosing to sit with him.

Ericka was really bad with taking more food than she could actually eat. She was used to filling her plate for her previous appetite, but now she needed fewer calories so she usually only ate half of what she picked. It became a running joke, because Jared would always end up finishing her food. This made him a bit hungrier throughout the day, because his body became accustomed to more calories.

After awhile, Jared had to readjust his belt to accommodate the extra space his midsection was taking up. When he realized he had to actually go up a notch, he stood in front of the mirror and looked at himself. He still looked like himself mostly, but he was starting to get love handles, and it was much harder to see his abs through a layer of pudge. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't the same as when he started. Jared couldn't decide if it was worth going the extra effort to work off, since you could barely see it through clothes, and he still looked normal.

But he really liked how it felt in his hands. Pinching it, jiggling it, seeing how far he could make his lower belly peek out when he exhaled... it was different but he kinda liked it. For a quick second, he imagined what it would look like with more weight. But he immediately shook that out of his head. He was super embarrassed too, because his friend Ericka was literally doing the opposite of him without any problems, and here he was plumping up a bit with no excuse.

Speaking of Ericka, as time went on she started to notice the tiniest bit of pudge around Jared's middle. She thought it was adorable, especially knowing all she had gone through with the freshman 15. She loved having dinners with him, and even though she always added too much to her plate, he was always there to finish it for her. She liked the feeling of giving him food. Since she couldn't cook for them, it was the next best thing.

So she started to pick out things to add to his plate. Things that looked super good, but that she couldn't have with her restrictive diet. He'd never say no to good food, so he always accepted.

And he started getting used to eating more, so he'd add more to his plate naturally. He'd even eat more during breakfast and lunch, even when he wasn't with Ericka, just because his appetite was larger.