Brittany's Belly - Part 8

Behind the security of her bedroom door, Britt could feel her shoulders finally relax for the first time today. Her stomach wasn’t empty, which was nice, and her mother was off her back, at least for the moment. Only a few breaths passed before she realized that dinner in a few hours would be substantially unfilling, and she hoped that the pizza she ate would be able to ride her out until at least tomorrow. As minutes turned to hours though, it was very evident that the entire pizza meal was not enough for the well nourished girl. Thankfully a heaven sent was about to knock on her door.

*Knock*Knock*Creeek* ”Hey mom said dinner is ready, but…. you’re not going to like it.” Steph had cracked the door to tell her sister the news, slyly laying a trap to aid her ulterior motives. “Maybe you want to hit MickyDees tonight again? I’ll sneak you out.”

Brit wasn’t happy that it had come to this, but she had to face the facts that her mother was prepared to starve her to death over a “couple pounds” and she had to take offers no matter where they came from. With her pizza digesting, she knew whatever her mom had prepared for her wasn’t going to be enough. “Yeah, that sounds great.” Brit replied with excitement. “Just don’t tell mom, she’s going so psycho with this diet thing. Thanks Steph, I’ll be down in a minute.”

Steph wasn’t wrong, dinner was highly unappealing. As Brit bobbed downstairs she could see the offerings, a plate of steamed vegetables. But unlike last night, two plates had normal meals on them, it was only the serving at Brit’s spot that seemed to have an aggressively healthy option. Her mother and sister had a small serving of pasta and bread along with a small grilled chicken breast. Brit was disappointed to say the least. Of course her mother had a defense prepared for the moment Brit spoke up.

“As soon as you drop your extra pounds you can eat regular meals with your sister and I again. Until then it’s going to be like this. Getting some exercise in starting tomorrow will help get you down to a more reasonable weight.” Diane said this like it was nothing, but using the “E” word was a big deal to Brit.”

“Exercise!!! Come on mom, you can’t be serious!” Brit balked

“Dead serious little missy!” Diane shot back with the same amount of attitude. “You’ve got some serious flab to drop, eating right is only the first step. If you’re ever going to get to a respectable weight this summer, you’re going to need to sweat those pounds off. I can’t even imagine what Mrs. Cox thought of your swollen stomach today. Thankfully it will be shed away in no time.”

“Mom, with work, and exercise, when am I going to have any time for an actual summer?” Britt bemoaned.

“Well you should have thought of that before you porked up away at college.” Diane humble said, cutting into her chicken breast.

“It’s only a COUPLE OF POUNDS!” Britt yelled, not able to take it anymore.

“Couple? *Ha!* Britt that gut of yours clocks in at a bit more than ‘a couple of pounds’. If you don’t believe me, why don’t we have the scale tell us the truth.” Diane smiled. Getting her daughters pressured under her thumb brought her great joy, knowing it was only her who could put them on the right track, and the scale would be the ultimate equalizer.

Britt wasn’t too concerned about the scale though. Yeah maybe she hadn’t stepped on once since she was in high school, but honestly she had only gained a couple of pounds in college, the freshman 15 at most, she thought. With a huff Britt declared, “Fine” and stood back up after only just sitting down. Her mother followed her to the bathroom, and Steph couldn’t help but follow in tow.

“Now now, I know you were precisely 110 lbs before going off to school. Let's see how you stack up now.” Diane mused. Britt stepped up on the scale, expecting to see something close to 120. The scale did its calculating and measuring, and finally flashed the result for all to see.

“One hundred and forty six?” Britt said, baffled. Diane meanwhile gasped, her daughter's weight was much worse than she expected, she must have hid it well, or well as best she could.

*Scoff* “This is a travesty, much worse than I thought. You will have no summer plans until you slim back down, that is that!” Diane stormed off, grabbing her plate and scooping it into the trash, clearly not hungry after what she just learned, and also wanting to make sure her greedy daughter didn’t sneak any extra calories off her plate.

With their mother off in her room, the sisters returned to the table. There was a moment of silence, in which neither of them moved. That was until Steph broke the tension. “Well I guess MickyDees sounds pretty good right about now, since mom’s not going to let you eat anything but Kale for the next four months.”

“Are you kidding me Steph? I know you saw the scale too. 146 pounds, I’m so fat.” Britt dryly sobbed.

“Oh come on, your only evening the scales… no pun intended. Mom’s only feeding you like 200 calories a day. You need like 2000 to function. Plus knowing her, she’s going to stay in her room the rest of the night, we don’t even have to worry about sneaking out.” Steph tried everything to convince her sister.

Fact was, Britt didn’t need all too much convincing. Yes the scales had been revealing. She had truly gained 35 pounds while away at school (and probably one since she’d been home), the freshman 15 more than twice over, but this didn’t make Britt any less hungry. Her pizza and snacks from earlier were fleeing her stomach, leaving so much empty room that craved to be filled. Unhealthy choices and over eating had gotten her into this mess, but she couldn’t starve herself, even she knew that was unhealthy. Her metabolism would slow, she’d be unable to do the exercises her mom was about to force on her, making her punishments even worse. The logical thing was to go to McDonalds with her sister, right?

“You’re right we should go, but I can’t eat as much as I did last night, ok?”

Steph chucked softly. “Sure.” Britt had relented, and allowed Steph to bring her to the fast food mecca for once again another meal. The whole way there Britt told herself she’d only get a sandwich, that was all she needed to get through the night. That would not fly for Steph though. She had dragged her out, she was paying, she was going to get her money’s worth.