I SWALLOWED A COW

THE STRUGGLES OF LOSING WEIGHT

Karen Carson has always been the love of my life, I have never met anyone quite like her before in my entire time on God’s Earth. The two of us have been together for five years now, and each year has been a lot happier than the one before. We also have thought about marriage many times. However, for a couple of years, it never actually materialized. She is one of the kindest, sweetest, and most understanding individual I have ever met. She touches everyone who comes in contact with her. Karen is African-American and just twenty-six years old. My name is Kenny Davis; I’m also African-American and 27 years old. We both reside in different sections of the beautiful and picturesque City of Chicago and the State of Illinois. Chicago is a city with enormous family parks and a breathtaking colorful skyline, that included the Buckingham Fountain which is just awesome.       I first met Karen in college when we were both very skinny little people attending DePaul University downtown campus in the middle of the Loop. She was majoring in Political Science and I was mainly interested in film production. It was inside the University’s library where I got that first glance at the soon to be girl of all my dreams. I looked at her and she looked at me. There was some immediate attraction and then came the mild affection. We felt it.  Somehow it was just right. I could tell that she was still just a tiny bit apprehensive of me. But I remember that I quickly dispelled any negative thoughts that she may have had and that was when I revved up enough nerve to ask if I could carry her books after our final class for that day. She hesitated but finally said, yes. I guest she realized that I wasn't really a bad guy. We talked for awhile and soon we really got to know each other a lot. And after about a week we began dating.       On our very first date, it was nothing elaborate. We didn't want it to be elaborate. We just was a simple first date. Therefore, we walked around the corner from the school to a newly erected Macdonald’s fast food restaurant with all its new amenities.  It was one of so many in the City of Chicago. It was a beautiful place, all modern features. The place was a sight to see. At that time, we loved it. We were young kids at heart.  Some girls that I had dated in the past would have acted as if as though it was an all out insult to have dinner at a fast food restaurant on the first date or at anytime at all.  But not my Karen, she was all smiles. Matter of fact, she was one who suggested where she wanted to go and eat. I just gleefully concurred.       We entered the place and stood in line to be served just like all the other hungry patrons, looking up at the menu, everything and anything appeared so delicious and really scrumptious. My mouth watered and stomach growled with great expectations. I could see that Karen was licking her upper lips dreaming for that moment she would be ripping into one and only, THE BIG MAC.       Finally, we were face to face with a young blue and white uniformed Asian young goddess who was going to take our orders and soon give us food. I told Karen to order first and this time she did not hesitate.               “I would like two Big Macs, two double cheeseburgers, two double quarter pounders, two large fries, two apples pies, one large salad, and a extra large strawberry milk shake. I'll get my own sodas. ” Suddenly the clerk who wrote everything down was done.               “Thanks for ordering for the both of us,” I said. She looked at me unexpectedly and mused with her big brown batty eyes.             “Kenny, I didn’t order for you.”               Karen totally and emphatically insisted that she didn't order for me.               I was visibly stunned but quickly left it alone. She had such a small frame for a body. It really didn’t look like she had room for all that food. My first thought was, did I bring enough money to pay for all that? I sneaked and checked my pockets and found that I had more than enough for our meals. And that was a relief. Could she be taking advantage of me on our first date? I don’t know. Maybe she was really that hungry. So I left it alone, again, because I loved her.       Then it was my turn to order. I told another clerk to give me the same thing as Karen. She went to look at the ticket. I paid the young lady then Karen and I moved over to side to wait for our food. We stood there watching the cooks in the back who were putting it all together and onto separate food trays. Karen was literally constantly licking her lips at the sight of the hot dipping food being prepared. She appeared so very sexy to me doing that. I almost fell to the floor. However, we wanted food.       Our food finally arrived; the four trays were overflowing with everything we ordered. Not a fry out of place. We rushed to our small table near a window with views of the outer avenue. Karen ripped into the food like an elephant in heat. In about ten minutes, the two of us had eaten every on the trays, not even a tiny morsel could be found in and around the large food trays after we were done. We washed it all down with four two liter cokes.  And a choruses of belched followed. This kind of gut eating went on for awhile.   During some of the time while we were stuffing our guts, we had gained a small audience. They were expecting us every night to binge eat. We never let them down. Some thought that we were beginning to look and act just like pigs. We didn’t care what people thought, because Karen and I really felt better afterwards. We were stuffed and tight. However, we felt good being together.     Now, each and every day and night for the next five years and beyond, we went out and ate like that. Some nights we would add a large helping of macaroni and cheese, along with smothered barbecue rib tips, a few tubs of delicious hot links,  tub of fries smothered in ketchup, two litter soda for each of us and a ton spicy cold slaw. Every night had become our heaven.       Over the next months, a couple of more years, we had picked up so much weight, however, we still munched away nonstop on our favorite foods. Along with some candy most of the time.  After each meal I could feel myself getting much heavier than before.But I didn’t care. Karen was exploding too. She’d just smile and held my hand with a candy bar between her teeth. We had long ago graduated from college and were now living together. We were now trying to find good jobs so that we could have extra money to eat more.  We didn’t care how we looked to others, we just loved food and each other. Soon I had to found extra work because food everywhere was on the raise. Prices had increased along with every thing else. We had gained so much weight that we looked like to two humongous bowling balls walking the city streets.       Most of the people in the neighborhood who saw us knew that Karen and I were very much in love. However, some failed to realize or didn’t care that we had real feelings. Some of our former friends now looked at us with disdain. They had stop inviting us out for get-togethers to just hang out. Some were acting like they didn’t know us anymore. We were the butt of every fat joke in the world, and  some them, I have to admit, were very funny.        We truly had a love for eating food. It didn’t matter that we were a lot slower physically than before and that we couldn’t walk or stand for too long before and becoming short of breath. Our bodies were now hanging slabs of flab and dragging fat. Karen had gotten so fat, her breast disappeared. Her butt was so big and wide she had trouble getting it through a doorway. Neither one of us could fit in the car anymore. Therefore, whenever we wanted to go, we took the bus or train. When we did that, each of us needed at least three to four seats to be comfortable. The other commuters on the train tried not stare but some of them did.       Each night we were still hammering away at anything we could put into our mouths and it all felt good about. Karen and I knew that no one would ever want us. However, we would always want each other. At home, we walked into our closets and saw lots of clothes we would never wear again. We saw brand new shoes just sitting on the floor that would have be thrown or given away. We both felt remorseful about that but soon that feeling vanished in the haze. That is when we went the kitchen cabinet and got a few candy bars and sat down on the sofa and turned on the television. We were very happy and we kissed each other.       After putting on so much weight, we began to notice again, how people that we grew up with, were looking at us so differently. More of them pretended not know us. Turning up their noses every time we wobbled by.   Others talked unkindly behind our backs. Karen was hurt by some of the talk. One of her long time former best friends said she looked like a big fat giant balloon who had swallowed more than three cows. I wanted to laugh, but I did not. However, I didn’t fare any better with some of own my co-workers. Most of them looked at me as if I had some kind of disease. They would stare and turned their noses up at my protruding belly and love handles. And most of them didn’t want to be seen with me. I was soon fired. The reason that I was given for being let go was because I just appeared and looked awful.  Karen was feeling a bit uncomfortable at her job also and she had quit before she was fired. So we decided to stay out of the way of most other people as much a possible to try and avoid the jeers and nasty looks that were sure to come.       Suddenly one day later Karen had taken sick. Neither one of us knew the problem or what kind of sickness she had. Weighing at least over 300 pounds, I just knew I had to get her to a doctor. At the hospital, I learned that she had a mild stroke. She was diagnosed with really high blood pleasure that led to her heart muscles becoming constricted and damaged. She had swelled to 350 pounds. And that was the culprit of her troubles, according to the doctors. Her cholesterol was sky high also. Karen was lucky to be alive. I love and wanted her even more.       I was 325 pounds and I knew that if I didn’t make some lifestyle changes that I would eventually die. The lean and fit looking doctors that were treating Karen, they all looked over at me, as if to say, we will be cutting you open next. I knew that they were right. In a few days Karen was at home resting. I was at her side the entire time. As I expected, her doctors gave her an ultimatum and told her bluntly to loose weight or die young. Karen and I were really frightened out of our minds. Because I felt that we both were in the same boat. Being sloppy fat had made us both so lazy and non-caring about our conditions that breathing became a chore.         Karen and I began a massive campaign to lose weight together. We needed to change our eating habits drastically.  At first we had reservations about giving up the foods that we loved but I knew we had too. We rode bikes, jogged, and joined a health club. We each had a personal trainer. They volunteered to help us with our weight problems.  It was hard and dedicated work for us. However, with the help of others, we met along the way, our goal of becoming fit and healthy had materialized.  www.derricksweatmidwestdeepfreeze.blogspot.com