Chapter 4 - Brianna Does Tokyo

Chapter 9

Brianna loved Tokyo. But She hated how skinny the Japanese were. Never had she felt so fat, even when she herself was skinny.

She had hoped that the combination of returning to the pill and full time international living would yield the same results as when she studied abroad - a nice 10-15 pound weight loss, at the very least. But instead, she was 165 at her first check-up in Japan. Clearly, the weight gain genie was out of the bottle, pill or no.

Sure, she doing a lot of walking again, but the food! The ramen, the teppanyaki, the sushi, the beer! Each meal better than the last - and her body was really showing it. If Brianna didn’t know better, she could’ve been pregnant. Her belly felt so heavy these days, but at least it was fitting in her new size 12s. So went for her boobs, now fitting comfortably in 40DD cups.

But she loved living with Alex, he was so supportive and loving, and clearly found her irresistible. After a fashion, Brianna found a job teaching english. But prior to that, Alex covered everything while she got settled and acclimated.

One day, after a little lovin’, Alex asked Brianna what she had done to scratch herself. There was little red line under her belly button. It was a stretch on her belly - her first. And it grew and spread like wildfire. Within a few weeks, her lower belly, upper thighs, and FUPA (yeah, she had one now) looked like cat scratches gone crazy.

Even still, Brianna was hesitant to make the effort, physically, to change her habits. Alex gently encouraged her from time to time - but always said he liked her body however it was, so long as she was feeling good.

And so things carried on, until About 9 months after moving to Tokyo…

Chapter 10

One day, Alex was at work and Brianna was home - examining her naked body. Her full, heavy breasts rested on her chest while her belly puffed out like a stretch marked body pillow.

Her butt was still as unremarkable as ever, but cellulite had formed more on her legs, providing a wider appearance. She had even gained considerably on her arms. Alex loved her her arms, but she wasn’t sure.

To Brianna, they were just big - like kid floaties, if a bit more proportional. Even her fully rounded face was looking bigger - her chubby cheeks dominated view and her double chin was looking meaty.

Feeling brave, Brianna stepped on the scale Alex had recently bought for her - the digital display read 169.9. In a rush, the mental math flooded her brain. 169.9 was basically 170, 55 pounds from where she was back in Palermo, and only 30 away from 200. And if she didn’t get her shit together, her body would certainly find a way to get there in due time.

It was time. Brianna finally had the motivation to do something about her weight. She called Alex, crying, as she browsed websites talking about PCOS diets. The lists went on and on - No sugar, No gluten, No soy, etc etc etc.

To Brianna, this felt like the end of the world - gluten and soy were basically the cornerstones of Japanese food! What on earth was she going to do?

Over the next few days and weeks, though, she found her answers. Small shops that sold alternative sugars and gluten-free products came out of the woodwork, and she got into a better eating routine.

And over time, she began to see some results. A pound here, a looser pair of pants there, until one day she weighed in back at 160. A huge achievement.

But, the diet could only take Brianna so far. She could still pack the food away and walking was her only form of exercise.

Chapter 11

Brianna had now lived in Tokyo for 2.5 years - work was going well, her relationship with Alex was going strong, and her weight was stable.

After that initial weight loss, which itself took 6 months, her weight had gone nowhere, up or down, for the past year. Still 160 pounds, she gotten used to being a bigger girl, and even started to proclaim her belly as “cute!”.

Brianna’s 26th birthday was coming up, and it happened to coincide with a major holiday. Though they had travel plans - Brianna’s school offered 2 weeks of extra vacation for the students, meaning she got a nice chunk of time off.

Anticipating her upcoming vacation, Brianna spent most of those 2 weeks glued to the couch. And she felt like splurging - it was a holiday and, soon, her birthday, so why not treat herself to the things she hadn’t eaten in almost 18 months.

First it was instant noodles, then bags of American potato chips, then fried noodles, and ice cream bars, on and on.

And she didn’t stop there. Throughout those two weeks and the entirety of her travels (another 2.5 weeks) Brianna ate what she wanted to for the first time in ages - reasoning that she’d “get back on the wagon” when she got back to Tokyo.

After 4.5 weeks of this - the results spoke for themselves. Brianna noticed it was harder to get up from the couch, her clothes got tighter, especially her bras, and her jeans regained that old uncomfortable feeling.

A week or two later, she had a scheduled doctor appointment…