On Monday, Ren arrived at school looking impeccable and with her homework
done accurately and thoroughly, as usual. Somehow, however, it didn't give
her the same sense of satisfaction that it normally did. Every time she
looked in the mirror, she saw that no amount of makeup and no amount of
flattering clothes could hide the fact that she was ugly and fat. So
rather than bringing money for a school lunch (fattening and full of
caloric preservatives, she knew), she had brought a small paper bag with a
carton of Colombo Lite and exactly six carrot sticks. Ren had told her
mother that the food was for an after-school snack, but it was actually
going to be the only food she ate all day. Pretending to have gotten up
late had excused her from the normal two fried eggs and two slices of
toast, instead grabbing half an English muffin on her way out the door.
Come lunchtime, Ren was so hungry she hadn't taken nearly as good notes in Advanced Placement U.S. History as she usually did. She was upset about the notes, but not about the hunger. She ate the yogurt as slowly as she could, so that by the time the bell rang for fifth period, she still had four of the carrot sticks left. As the gang was getting up from their table, Ruby asked, "Ren, are you feeling sick? You don't usually eat hamster food for lunch."
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I felt really crummy yesterday," Ren said, using the same excuse she'd used on her parents the day before. Then, she had what she thought was a stroke of genius inspiration. "By the way, Ruby, can I come to your house this evening? You know we have to work on the school newspaper write-up on the fashion show."
"Of course," Ruby answered. "I'll tell my mother to throw some extra vegetables in the stew so you can eat with us."
"Oh, that won't be necessary," Ren reassured her friend. "I'm only going to be at your house until about six, and I know that's when you eat, so I'll eat at home later."
"Suit yourself," Ruby shrugged, "but my mom makes a mean vegetable stew."
Ren let her friends go ahead of her and ducked into the bathroom. Pulling out her cell phone, Ren called her mother and told her not to expect her home for dinner, because she'd be eating with Ruby's family. Mrs. Stevens didn't have any problem with the plan. Though she felt guilty for lying to her best friend and to her mother, Ren felt like she was on top of the world. Awesome! she thought. Now my total calorie intake for today has been only 250. Not bad for my second day of dieting.
All through the seemingly endless afternoon, Ren had difficulty concentrating. She found her mind wandering to how she was going to avoid eating too much over the next few days, and how she could fit extra exercise into her day. She had only six weeks to lose the weight she needed in order to fit into the green Betsey Johnson dress. After the prom planning meeting after school, Ren drove across town to the gym, where she put in an hour on the StairMaster, as opposed to her normal 35 minutes. However, after the lengthy amount of exercise, she felt so tired she didn't think she could manage her weights regimen, so she bought a PowerBar at the counter and left for Ruby's. All the way to her friend's house, she beat herself up mentally for eating the 180-calorie nutrition bar. This nearly doubles my calorie intake for the day, she thought angrily. I have got to be better about this! When she arrived at Ruby's, the girls finished the article for the school paper, then worked on their pre-calculus homework together.
"Ren, you are so good at this!" Ruby exclaimed, as Ren finished a difficult trigonometry question. "How do you manage to be so perfect?"
Ren answered modestly, "Oh, I'm not perfect. Nobody's perfect." In her head, however, she was thinking, How can you look at my flabby body and think I'm perfect? Maybe the rest of my life is, but until I lose this weight, I, as a person, will not be perfect.
Come lunchtime, Ren was so hungry she hadn't taken nearly as good notes in Advanced Placement U.S. History as she usually did. She was upset about the notes, but not about the hunger. She ate the yogurt as slowly as she could, so that by the time the bell rang for fifth period, she still had four of the carrot sticks left. As the gang was getting up from their table, Ruby asked, "Ren, are you feeling sick? You don't usually eat hamster food for lunch."
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I felt really crummy yesterday," Ren said, using the same excuse she'd used on her parents the day before. Then, she had what she thought was a stroke of genius inspiration. "By the way, Ruby, can I come to your house this evening? You know we have to work on the school newspaper write-up on the fashion show."
"Of course," Ruby answered. "I'll tell my mother to throw some extra vegetables in the stew so you can eat with us."
"Oh, that won't be necessary," Ren reassured her friend. "I'm only going to be at your house until about six, and I know that's when you eat, so I'll eat at home later."
"Suit yourself," Ruby shrugged, "but my mom makes a mean vegetable stew."
Ren let her friends go ahead of her and ducked into the bathroom. Pulling out her cell phone, Ren called her mother and told her not to expect her home for dinner, because she'd be eating with Ruby's family. Mrs. Stevens didn't have any problem with the plan. Though she felt guilty for lying to her best friend and to her mother, Ren felt like she was on top of the world. Awesome! she thought. Now my total calorie intake for today has been only 250. Not bad for my second day of dieting.
All through the seemingly endless afternoon, Ren had difficulty concentrating. She found her mind wandering to how she was going to avoid eating too much over the next few days, and how she could fit extra exercise into her day. She had only six weeks to lose the weight she needed in order to fit into the green Betsey Johnson dress. After the prom planning meeting after school, Ren drove across town to the gym, where she put in an hour on the StairMaster, as opposed to her normal 35 minutes. However, after the lengthy amount of exercise, she felt so tired she didn't think she could manage her weights regimen, so she bought a PowerBar at the counter and left for Ruby's. All the way to her friend's house, she beat herself up mentally for eating the 180-calorie nutrition bar. This nearly doubles my calorie intake for the day, she thought angrily. I have got to be better about this! When she arrived at Ruby's, the girls finished the article for the school paper, then worked on their pre-calculus homework together.
"Ren, you are so good at this!" Ruby exclaimed, as Ren finished a difficult trigonometry question. "How do you manage to be so perfect?"
Ren answered modestly, "Oh, I'm not perfect. Nobody's perfect." In her head, however, she was thinking, How can you look at my flabby body and think I'm perfect? Maybe the rest of my life is, but until I lose this weight, I, as a person, will not be perfect.
