You catch a glimpse of yourself in the bathroom mirror at work as you’re returning from lunch. Damn, you’ve gotten fat. When did you start looking this hefty? When did your face start looking so round? You suck in your gut a little, turning to the side. Still huge. Pants are really digging into your stomach too lately. Especially after that lunch you had. You wound up going to two places because you still felt hungry after the first lunch.
Maybe it’s time to cut back, lose a few pounds, get back to where your pants aren’t cutting you in two and you’re eating single lunches like a normal person.
With that in mind, you hit the grocery store after work, armed with a shopping list of sensible options and a firm sense of resolve. You’ll have salad for lunch every day. You’ve listed out several kinds of fresh produce. And that lean protein–chicken breast, some salmon, canned tuna.
You’re going to save a ton of money too, you realize, seeing how your cart is much emptier than usual without the junk food you’ve gotten used to tipping into it.
Everything’s going according to plan until you hit the dairy aisle to pick up the skim milk and see the cooler full of egg nog. Ohhhhh. Egg nog is a weakness of yours.
You stand front of the cooler for a couple of minutes, the resolve you felt upon entering the store wavering. You feel the pinch of your waistband digging into you. Egg nog is not on your list. But it’s a seasonal thing, and you haven’t had any yet this year. Finally, you put a carton into your cart.
You can’t help yourself. You open the carton of egg nog in the car and sip from it as you drive home. You forgot how good it is! After you unload your groceries and put them away, you continue sipping as you prepare your healthy dinner. Your stomach is still growling once you finish. It’s going to take a little adjusting to get used to the smaller and less rich portions again. That’s the worst part about diets, you think.
Since it’s your first night, some egg nog for dessert is probably fine, you decide, so you pour yourself a little more, leaving the carton on the coffee table as you watch TV.
By the time you go to bed, you’re a little shocked to realize you absent-mindedly polished off the entire carton. That’s over 1600 calories you drank this evening.
You stare at your naked body in the mirror. You don’t feel as huge as you did at work.
You might have to hit the grocery store again tomorrow.
