A Man Well-Fed

The Prelude

Caleb was fat. He always had been. He was born a chubby baby and just never grew out of it. Not only did he not grow out of it, it became even more obvious as time moved forwards. He went from being a chubby kid to an overweight teen to, where he is now (at the oldest and heaviest he's ever been), an undeniably fat young adult. Caleb had hit his highest weight as about three months before today he decided that he would go on a diet (again). He was tired of the comments, of being the largest in every room, and most of all, he was tired of being undesirable.

So, at 19 years old, 5'8, and 261 pounds he started counting calories and exercising like he never had before. The other 4 times he went on a diet he just hadn't been trying hard enough, losing a bit of weight and then putting it all back on and then some had been his penance for his gluttony and weak will. This time was going to be different, he could feel it. Caleb was driven and determined, resolute in his goal. He even enlisted his best friend Jordie, a personal trainer and nutritionist/dietician, to aid him in his efforts. And it was working. 

Two months in he hit his 20th birthday at 21 pounds lighter and a pants size smaller. He took great pleasure soaking up the praise that came from every side. All manner of comments from friends and family gushing about how good he looked and how much healthier and happier he must be. Even Jordie was impressed. He was so impressed in fact that when Caleb and himself got together for a private birthday celebration he brought along two large cakes and a feast of Caleb's favourite treats with him. It was Caleb's birthday after all he argued, he deserved a reward. And so, after some prompting from Jordie, Caleb cut himself a sliver of cake and gingerly took a bite. Then he took another, and another, and another, and then he finished the slice and cut himself a second, much larger one. He finished that too, and then a third, and a fourth, and then the only proof that a cake was ever there in the first place was a few loose crumbs and a candle laying sideways on a plate. He shifted his attention to the second cake, demolishing it in minutes as his best friend looked on in equal parts horror and amazement, deciding to not interrupt his best friend's well-earned feast. Although maybe he should have intervened because after inhaling cake number two he continued to eat. He ate and ate and ate, wolfing down everything Jordie had brought him, then he didn't stop eating for 34 days. 

So here he was, standing in his bathroom next to the sink, about to step on a scale for the first time since just hours before his birthday binge. He decided that he needed to find out his weight once and for all. he hadn't weighed himself over the past month as he had just assumed it was the same as the last time he had checked.  After his smaller clothes stopped fitting he started telling himself he had put on a few but that it wasn't anything to worry about. Then when his stamina started decreasing he told himself it wasn't a big deal, everyone starts getting tired walking to the fridge after a couple of weeks without cardio. This continued until the morning of the current day when getting dressed he had found that his sweat pants were straining at the waist and digging into his sides, and his favourite band shirt didn't reach far enough down to properly cover his apron of fat. 

To Caleb's credit, his delusions of thinness (or more accurately, less fatness) weren't entirely his fault. When he noticed his clothes fitting more snugly or his endurance decreasing in amounts that just a couple of pounds could never cause Jordie would reassure him that he was just paranoid and that he actually he looked slimmer than the last time he saw him. Over the month Jordie's subtle soothings, comments of 'you look fine' and 'it's healthy to take a break from training', took on an almost encouraging dismissiveness. 'Fine' turned to 'good' and then to 'great'. He started not just turning a blind eye to Caleb's daily stuffings but being an active participant, taking it upon himself to bring him food and drink because 'that's what a good friend does, don't they'? Once he even took it upon himself to feed Caleb the last few bites of mac 'n' cheese because there was only a bit left and you really shouldn't waste food. 

Caleb took a step forward.