Truth and Scales

 Each time I walk into my kitchen a piece of cake whispers "Come hither and partake", while the salad and fruit are mute. And in the bathroom, my scale gives me bad news, actually it speaks the truth. In denial, I never equate the allure of cake with the attitude of my scales.

I can remember years ago, while I was in school I had a suite mate, Emily, who was  'big boned' as my Grandmother would say. As often happens with a group of young ladies, there was an obsession with weight. The 4 of us decided to diet - all for one and one for all. So sandwiches and cookies were sacked, replaced by salads. All cake and candy were done away with. Chicken became the sole meat around the place.

Upon our weigh-in after the first week, the results were mixed. 3 of us lost a pound or 2. However, dear Emily gained a pound. No doubt due to the stash of cookies she kept hidden in her room, supposedly for those times she had low blood sugar, although she was not diabetic. But we were not to judge.

The weigh-in after our second week had similar results, 3 of us lost a pound or so and poor Emily gained another pound. She acted shocked at the results, after all, according to her, she had been very faithful to her diet. (There was no mention of her "blood sugar" issue.)

At the end of the 3rd week, prior to our 'weigh in', we decided to help Emily. After all, each of us had at one time or another suffered by the wrath of the scales. So we adjusted the scales at negative 2 so it would show our true weight less 2 pounds. That evening we gathered for our weekly moment of truth. Needless to say the 3 of us knowing the scales had been doctored, pretended to have mixed results.  But, we waited for Emily's moment of truth, knowing she would be excited.

But, we were all shocked at the look on her face as she stepped off the scales. "Well", she said. "At least I only gained 1 pound this week." We then realized the situation with Emily was a bit worse than we suspected. 

Jennifer, the most successful dieter among us just laughed. "Well, at least she seems pleased." After that we jut let the chips fall where they may. The scales were readjusted for the truth and each week we commiserated with Emily as her diet continued to fail.