Chapter 1 - Breakfast Flips the Switch

It was 6am on a Wednesday morning, and the summer was hotter than any I could remember. I’d taken many road trips from the west coast to the east, mostly sleeping in my camper van and eating healthy snacks, but I’d hardly slept the first couple of days on this particular trip. My air conditioner wasn’t working properly, and I realized I needed to get a hotel room for the night. I mapped out a day of driving that I expected would take me seven hours, bringing me to a hotel room in Oklahoma by the early evening.

The weather had made it difficult to keep my own food in the van, so I stopped for breakfast at a McDonald’s. Opening the mobile ordering app, I noticed there was a deal that allowed me to get $20 worth of food for $15. Unable to turn away from a bargain, I ordered two breakfast meals and a large iced coffee and an Apple fritter, which they had just added to the menu. I figured it would hold me over for a few hours, and I didn't have to eat it all at once. However, after less than an hour on the road, I’d mindlessly finished everything: two breakfast sandwiches, two hash browns, a large iced coffee and the Apple fritter. I felt full, and I couldn’t ignore how much I loved it.

I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of being stuffed, pushing myself to my limit and then eating just a little bit more. At Thanksgiving and Christmas, I make sure to wear leggings and a baggy sweatshirt so that I can overindulge, feeling my waistband stretch to accommodate my expanding belly. The sweatshirt lets me sneakily rub my swollen gut as my family and I sip our after dinner coffee and top everything off with a large helping of pie after dinner. It’s as if a flip switches when I start to feel full, and I never want to stop.

That morning on the road, the large breakfast settling into my stomach made me tingle. I looked down and noticed that my tank top was stretched tightly over my belly, and my skirt was cutting into my waist. The iced coffee was making me feel like I had to pee, so I took the opportunity to find a gas station where I could use the bathroom and get a good look at my swollen gut.

I pulled into a Pilot truck stop about an hour and a half into the day’s driving, and ran to the bathroom. In the privacy of the stall, I lifted my tank top and put both of my hands on my belly. It wasn’t as full as it had been thirty minutes prior, but I was still bloated. That’s when I realized that it would be the perfect day to give in to my desires. I had a hotel room that night, where I could nurse an overstuffed gut and get a good night’s sleep. At that thought, the road became my personal buffet.