Amy knew she had a weight problem which was not made any easier by her husband who continually chastised her about her will power. She decided she’d had enough of his sniping comments. She was well aware of James’ feeling about her weight; he was super slim and very fit. He had a personal trainer and ate lots of fresh vegetables. Fruit and nuts – so did Amy but added little extras, like her favourites chocolate, which didn’t help her figure. Looking in the mirror at her wobbly stomach and dimpled thighs was evidence enough.
She had always had a weight problem – in fact she had lived all her life on a diet of some sort. James knew of her struggle and the negative feelings about her body that haunted her every thought on a daily basis. Why did he need to add to her misery by the sniping comments? From today things were going to change.
Later that day she began preparing their evening meal. It was James’ favourite- a healthy tomato and vegetable pasta dish. As she chopped and prepared the sauce things were taking shape in her mind. A smile curved her lips as she thought “I’ll show him.” After she had prepared the sauce she split it in two, she put one helping to the side and then added liberal amounts of cream and wine to one portion then a handful of cheese. Amy licked her lips. That evening at dinner James glanced up from his plate and looked at her. Amy held her breath-had he noticed. “This sauce is delicious. You’ve excelled yourself, what’s different?”
“It’s a new Nigel Slater Recipe. I’m glad you like it,” she said. James smiled and tucked in again with gusto.
Amy continued to alter James’ food. His diet yoghurt was scraped out and a luxury full fat version was put in its place. Diet mayonnaise was replaced by the full fat version and sweetener was replaced with castor sugar. Meanwhile she kept to the low fat, low calorie versions. By week four Amy realise she had lost a stone in weight but James was accusing her of shrinking his shirts in the wash.
One evening in bed James turned over to look at her and said with a frown puckering his forehead. “My trainer said I was looking porky, what a cheek.”
“Really?” replied Amy hoping that the low light in the bedroom concealed her smile,
“I told him I’m eating the same as usual – low fat, healthy food. I think it’s muscle.”
“Probably, Amy said,” night night.” Secretly she was pleased he was becoming aware of what sniping comments felt like.
Another couple of weeks passed and Amy continued to lose weight while fattening up James. He didn’t seem to notice except frequently commenting on the taste of the food saying everything was so scrumptious. Occasionally he looked at her with raised eyebrows as though he thought something was going on. He would comment on the creaminess of the yoghurt or the richness of the sauce. Amy just looked at him, her eyes wide with innocence.
One evening James came in from work. He had an air of despair about him. He was huffing and puffing and seemed under the weather. Amy looked at him, a worrying frown appearing on her forehead. “You okay love?” she asked.
“No, not really, I’m sick of people saying I look fat, that I’ve put on weight and to be honest with you I have been thinking about how you must feel. I’ve not been very kind or helpful in the past. I hope you know I love you whatever size you are. I just wanted you to feel fit and healthy. I don’t want to lose you.”
“Oh James how sweet of you. Yes, I am a bit fed up with the comments if I am honest with you but now I realise why you made them I understand.” Amy felt awful that she had deliberately made James fat and unhealthy-it was like abuse. She realised that if she was more like him she would have lost weight sooner. She couldn’t let him find out what she had done, she felt really ashamed.
“I tell you what,” Amy said, “why don’t we help each other?”
“Good idea, you could come to the gym with me.”
Amy joined the gym and went back to feeding James his healthy food. Within a few weeks he was back to himself and .better still, Amy was two stone lighter.
James didn’t comment on Amy’s weight any more only to say how trim she looked and smile knowingly.
It all ended well and James never realised what Amy had done…or did he?
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