Emergency Diet

Emergency Diet

Sam rushed into the breakfast room where his girlfriend was sat eating her scrambled eggs on toast.
“Guess what?” he announced, obviously really excited about something.
Mary shrugged in between bites, “Um, I give up”, she said.
Sam grinned, “I may have a job offer from that huge agency, Modelz 101!”
Mary widened her eyes then mimicked his grin, standing up to hug him, obviously incredibly proud of him.
“That's fantastic! You deserve a lucky break!”
Sam nodded, although it was clear to Mary that there was something he was not telling her.
“OK, what's wrong? I know you too well Samuel, therefore I know when there's something worrying you.”
Sam sighed, moving away from Mary's embrace.
“In order for them to take me on as a client, they insisted that I lose 10lb. If I don't, they will never even consider me!”
Mary listened, “Well then, they are not worth the bother. No one, not even a big agency like that, should...blackmail you into losing any weight whatsoever.”
Sam stared at her, mouth agape, unable to believe what he was hearing.
“You're my girlfriend, you're supposed to support me and accept any decision that I make!” he argued.
“You do not need to lose any weight!”
Sam glared angrily at her. “You know how hard I have had to work to get this far, how many agencies I have had reject me. Why can't you just be happy for me?!”
“I am happy for you, really I am! I just don't think you need to lose weight!” Mary pushed her breakfast plate to one side, grabbed her anorak from the coat stand and stormed outside into the rain, slamming the door after her.
Sam slumped down on a chair, shaking his head in disbelief.
“I'm losing this weight, I'm not letting anything get in the way of my dream!” he spoke to himself. Sam walked into the living room and flicked the laptop on, googling diets to find one that he thought would help him lose weight quickly. After a few minutes of researching, he decided to try the 5:2 diet, after reading many positive comments from previous dieters.

Sam took down the calender and marked out the days he would restrict the amount of calories he ate. After a bit of deliberation, he settled on Wednesdays and Saturdays. As today was Monday, Sam figured there would be no better day to start his diet than the start of a fresh week. Just then, he heard the front door open then close, and guessed that Mary was back. Mary walked into the kitchen, clearly still not happy about Sam's decision.
“Please, just let me explain...” Sam began, but quickly stopped as Mary held up a hand to silence him.
“Look, I'm really not happy that you've decided to take their 'advice', but you're right. I am your girlfriend, and I should try to support you with every decision you make...even if I don't necessarily agree with it myself.”
Sam slowly smiled and hugged her tightly.
“Your support means the world to me. I know you don't approve of my losing weight, so I really do appreciate this.”
Mary cuddled into him, merely nodding. “Have you decided how you are going to go about this crazy idea of yours?”
Sam chuckled slightly at her judgemental tone of voice, “I was thinking of doing the 5:2 diet, you know, eat normally for 5 days then restrict yourself for 2?”
“I've heard horror stories about it, but I guess different people find it helps them, or doesn't help them, in different ways” Mary replied, trying and failing to sound supportive.
Sam stopped cuddling her and stood up, walking to the fridge.
“It's not all about restricting calories, it's the exercise side of things as well. Maybe I could join you on your morning jog or something?” he spoke, starting to fry some eggs.
Mary watched him cook. “Yeah, maybe.”
Sam sat back down with his plate of eggs and toast, oblivious to her lack of enthusiasm.
“Hopefully, in a few weeks, I'll officially be a Modelz 101 model!”
Mary nodded, knowing this would be a long few weeks.

Wednesday came round, the first calorie restriction day. Sam headed downstairs, tempted by the smell of cheese and ham omelette.
“Mmm, that smells tasty babe” he commented to Mary.
“I can make you one if you want me to.”
Sam shook his head. “Despite how nice it smells, no. This modelling opportunity is too much to give up. It's my lifelong dream.”
Mary turned to face him, spatula in hand. “So, what are you having to eat for breakfast then?”
Sam took an apple from the fruit basket in response to her question.
“Really? That's not a filling breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all. Sit down, let me fix you an omelette.”
“No! I need to lose this weight, we've been over this before!”
Mary held up her hands in defeat and turned back to finish her omelette, listening to Sam eat his apple in silence.

A few hours later, it was lunchtime, and Sam had only eaten the apple.
“Look, how about I make us some spaghetti carbonara?” Mary questioned, desperately trying to get him to eat.
Sam shook his head, pulling out a packaged salad, ignoring the exasperated expression on Mary's face.

Mary and Sam sat down at the kitchen table, Sam with a salad and Mary with home-made pasta.
“You really have to eat more than that, you must know how dangerous these diets can be.”
Sam rolled his eyes, having heard this a lot recently.
“I'm fine! ...although I do feel a little bit dizzy.” Sam suddenly pushed his plate away and stood up but instantly collapsed to the ground.
The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was Mary leaning over him, speaking frantically into the phone.

Sam opened his eyes but quickly closed them as a bright light filled his vision.
“Where am I? What happened?” he queried, not knowing if there was anybody listening.
Mary took his hand gently. “You're in the hospital. Your blood sugar dropped pretty low, which is why you felt dizzy and suddenly passed out.”
Sam slowly sat up, trying to take all this in.
Mary continued, “The doctor also confirmed that you have type 1 diabetes.”
Sam looked at her for the first time, seeing tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Hey, don't cry. It's all my fault for attempting that diet. Maybe the 5:2 wasn't the right choice.”
Mary couldn't believe her ears. “Not the right cho...? Sam. You are here because of your sudden dieting! You have to stop this madness, unless you want to get seriously ill.”
“But the modelling agency said...”
“I really don't care what they said. Your health is more important than a modelling agency. There are plenty of other agencies out there that will accept you as you are now, and won't force you to lose any weight.”
Sam sighed, knowing deep down that she was right, but unable to accept losing his first job offer. “I'm just not ready to give up on my dream yet.”
Mary looked at him like he was crazy. “Who said anything abut giving up? All I said was there are other agencies out there. It will take more work, but do you really want to work under an agency who makes you feel bad about yourself?”
“I guess not. I'll just take a few days off to look after myself, then I'll get back out there and scope out different agencies.”
Mary nodded, pleased that he was finally beginning to see sense. “First things first, let's get your blood sugar levels back to normal. Think about your health first and put your career on the back burner for a while.”
Sam went to disagree but closed his mouth as a tall doctor entered the room.
“Hello Samuel. My name is Doctor Hamilton. You gave us all quite a scare earlier but luckily we managed to get some glucose into you and your levels are rising back to where they should be.”
Sam nodded his head in a 'thank you' gesture.
“I do have some booklets on diabetes and a dietician will be along shortly to discuss your eating habits. One thing I would recommend, lay off the fad diets. Admittedly, they are successful in quick weight loss but once you end the diet, you gain all the weight back, and more. Take it from me, the key to losing weight is to eat healthily and exercise.”
Sam is obviously deep in thought so the doctor nodded goodbye to Mary and strolled out, quietly closing the door behind him.
Mary watched Sam, “I hope you were listening to him. If you're still determined to lose weight, even though it's a ridiculous idea, at least do it the healthy way, by eating less and exercising.”
Sam turned his gaze towards her, having thought about his next words carefully.
“Mary, you're right. I don't need to lose any weight. I'm a healthy weight, and I don't want to give the impression that being skinny is the way forward, because it's not. It merely increases your risk of ill health.”
Mary breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“However, there is one more thing. Mary, you've stuck by me the past 3 years and especially the last 3 days. You're such an amazing person, and I know this isn't the most romantic place, but will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”
Sam watched as Mary's green eyes filled with tears.
“Of course I will! I love you so much!”
Sam put an arm around her, strangely thankful for his hospital scare, for without it, he could quite easily have lost everything he cared about, especially his wonderful fiancée.