Bon Bons to Yoga Pants

Chapter 14-Dooms Day # 2

"Lexie?"

Bitsy's voice pulled me from my reveries of what Bradley would look like when we met. She flapped her hand at me.

"Let's go. You're the last one!"

My stomach clenched as I shuffled behind her and into the suffocating bathroom. The scale sat in the middle of the floor, an innocent enough contraption that didn't even know it was a device of torture and pain. How oblivious we all were to our own purposes in life.

Bitsy smirked. "You didn't wear a hoodie this time."

"Nope." I slid out of my flip-flops. "Or sneakers."

Ha! Take that! I've already started figuring out how to beat this scale!

I stepped on, and the chrome exterior felt cool under my bare feet. The numbers flipped and changed, whirring higher and higher until they suddenly stopped. My heart nearly beat out of my chest. I sucked in a deep breath, certain I was dreaming.

254

"Well," Bitsy said with surprise. "It looks like you've lost five pounds this week. That's equivalent to a 2 liter bottle of pop."

I put a hand against the wall to steady myself. Five pounds. I'd just lost two liters of root beer. Me, Lexie Greene, had lost five pounds for the first time in my life. This self-proclaimed junk food connoisseur and TV show hoarder had done the impossible.

"Wow. I thought I would gain."

"You didn't."

"I've never lost before. At least, not that I've tracked."

"Never? This is the first time you've tried to lose weight?"

"Yeah." I shrugged. "Dad and I just always ate and watched TV together. He made it seem like my weight wasn't really that important." Talking about my dad to Bitsy's steely expression wasn't easy, so I quickly changed the subject before she could ask further questions. "Will I be able to keep this going? I'm afraid that the weight loss is going to stop here."

Bitsy snorted. "Did you stick to the calorie allotment?"

Like a slave.

I nodded. "All week. Mira and I worked out together every day, except Sunday, too."

"Good. That's what you need to do. Now just keep at it. You might have a plateau or a stall or something, but you should be good to go."

"You make it sound so easy."

"It's not," she said, and a sudden haunted look came into her eyes. It disappeared as quickly as it came, but it made me wonder what lurked beneath the drill sergeant exterior. "But it's possible. Let's go. The others are going to wonder what kept us."

Like Mira, I schooled my expression into indifference, but secretly threw a party inside with glitter, lollipops, and lots of fluffy cupcakes. Five pounds! I needed a piece of cake to celebrate! Wait, no. That was counterproductive. I silenced the inner fat kid demanding that I acknowledge my accomplishment by eating, and instead accepted the bottle of water that Bitsy handed around.

Lame, I thought. I've earned an éclair at least.

"Water," Bitsy began, looking more comfortable now that she was in charge again, "is essential to all our bodily functions. . ."

Her voice trailed into the background. I actually listened this time, unlike the previous week. Seeing that results actually came from so much exhaustive work and deprivation had changed the game. Dreams of Danish pastries still danced in my head, so I drank the bottle of water as fast as I could. It made me feel sick, but at least my stomach was full.

"That's all I have today," Bitsy concluded twenty minutes later, after Mira finished a play-by-play of her daily calories. "Just remember that the second week is the hardest. If you had a big loss this week, you may not have a big loss next week. It's impossible to tell what our bodies are going to do, and some of us are still getting to know ourselves"

Her eyes fell on me. I knew my body just fine! And right now, it wanted Arby's curly fries stacked on a roast beef sandwich with two packets of fry sauce.

"Your challenge this week is to try three healthy new recipes, and bring them next week to share. I'll see you on Wednesday. Good work, everybody."

I mean, really. What is better than an Arby's roast beef sandwich stacked with curly fries and fry sauce? Nothing. Although my brother would probably argue that Wendy's bacon cheeseburger is pretty good.

What's your vote for the best fast food sandwich?

Thanks for reading another installment of Bon Bons to Yoga Pants! It's such a delight writing this story twice a week and getting farther into Lexie's head. She gives me a space to remember all the things I thought and still feel on my own weight loss journey. For those of you on yours—you got this! Lexie and I are rooting for you!

And don't forget to vote and leave a comment because I want to hear from all of you!

MUAH.