chapter 1 - a growing young woman

Kate hit the alarm button for a third time. Third time’s a charm, right? Like Lumiere from ‘Beauty and the Beast’, she felt delightfully “flabby, fat and lazy”.

Kate was hesitant to admit it; but she had it good. She had an easy and overpaid job as a receptionist, while still living at home with her parents, who hardly lifted a finger themselves. Her mother always told her that maintaining a desirable figure was the key to having lustful men take after your every need or whim. At Kate’s workplace, they even affectionately referred to her as the ‘cute, skinny, blonde receptionist’, so she felt that she must successfully be on the path of least resistance.

Kate had the pleasure of Chef-cooked meals at home, but her excess income afforded her to splurge in other ways that she hoped were not becoming too obviously excessive. Well, the fact that she liked to secretly stray from her diet plan carefully crafted by her mother was subtly becoming more noticeable, but she hoped not to others’ watchful eyes, at least. Kate had played sport in high school, as was traditional in her family, which helped maintain her figure at the time. But it had also introduced her to the idea of ‘carb loading’ before a game, or meeting up with team mates to celebrate or commiserate the result after matches at local fast food joints. In fact, if neither of her parents could attend these get togethers, Kate was well known for being undefeated in cheeseburger eating contests against the other slim girls on her team, and sometimes their athlete boyfriends.

To be honest though, strict diet and exercise had been forced upon her her whole life and she truly was very lazy. While she frequented the most luxurious brands that she could afford, she had also had to increasingly visit innovative shapewear stores. Lacings, strappings and corsets made her feel increasingly like an overstuffed sausage. Rather than admitting to herself that it somewhat turned her on that these items could no longer contain her, she instead demanded to know why these supposedly better-quality products were not keeping up with her needs. She had gained weight during the lockdown thus far, but everybody had. And it’s not like she was actually fat.

Coming home from one of her one-on-one fittings (in masks and socially distanced appropriately), Kate had tired of being stuffed into so many restrictive garments for the day, and opted not to where one around the house. Being hungry but self-conscious, especially upon finding her mother in the kitchen, Kate took an apple from the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter and stood in place to eat it. As her mother made herself a detox tea, Kate could feel her mother’s eyes watching her. The silence making her nervous, Kate scrambled to break it, forgetting that her mouth was full.

“’Ow ‘as ‘our ‘ay ‘een, ‘om?”

Kate’s mum, Helena, grunted with disapproval.

“I taught you so much better than to become such a pig!”

Kate was rather shocked. Helena had never spoken to her that way. Any assistance with diet and exercise had always been about helping her daughter be her best because of how proud she was as a mother. She swallowed her mouthful, hard.

“I’m sorry, mother, I really shouldn’t have spoken to you with my mouth full like that, it has just been such a long day, and I was sooo hungry…”

“Yes, you have been a very hungry and greedy girl lately!”

Helena waltzed over to her daughter and pinch the little bit of flab that formed a soft paunch, before poking he sides that, alarmingly, made her love handles wobble. She hadn’t even realised that she had love handles before this moment!

“Not only do you look like a pig, now you have started eating like one, too!”

Kate was lost for words. She knew she had developed some curves perhaps, and a bit more softness to her form. But she suddenly saw what her ‘shapewear artists’ and mother had seen for a while now. She was absolutely chunky now, and teared up with this realisation. Her cheeks burned with shame and her eyes burned from her tears. How had she let herself go and get so chubby? And how had she denied it so well until now?

“I try so hard to be a good mother, a proud mother, a loving mother…” exclaimed Helena, “but I see now that I have spoiled you!”

Kate put down her apple. It reminded her too much of how roast pigs are presented at feasts with an apple in their mouth. She still thought her mother may be over-reacting somewhat, but she hated to disappoint her. She had let herself get so flabby, but in that moment she resolved not to be so complacent anymore. At least for her mother’s sake.

“We should weigh you,” Helena said, pulling Kate by her fattened wrist. Upon realising that she could only just touch her fingers while gripping her daughter’s wrist, Helena recoiled but motioned for Kate to follow her into the nearest bathroom, and forced her onto the scales that were permanently in place (that Kate had been careful to avoid recently!)
“Okay, in high school you maintained around 90lbs…since working you got a little chubby at 110lbs…and now….”

The numbers span, and Kate pointlessly tried to such her bulging stomach in, as they came to rest on 155lb.

Luckily, Kate’s father had entered the bathroom to see what all the commotion was, and caught Helena as she fainted into his arms.