Quarter Pounder Became an Understatement

Running out for lunch with co-workers had become a social habit that I became addicted to. Everyday my work buddies and I would gather into one vehicle and head out to our fast food choice of the day! At first, it was more about socializing, and getting to have girl time away from the monotonous married duties of the everyday rat race once I got home.

Lunch time was the high light of my day. It was a time that I could be me, gossip with my friends, and not be a slave to my ordinary, dull home life of chores and paying bills. Over a period of about six months, my appetite grew from the dollar menu to the monstrous combo meals that most fast food places have for their daily special.

As my appetite increased, so did my waistline. I began to notice that my pants were getting too tight, my button up shirts seemed to get smaller, and when I finally took a look in the mirror I was mortified of what I saw. How did I let myself get this way? My chin was sagging, my cheeks looked like plums resting on each side of my nose and I had a muffin top! My girl time at lunch had turned into grazing at the trough and I was paying for it in pounds!

I knew at this point that I had to change my eating habits and quick. The next day when it was time to make the usual hop to french fry heaven, I suggested that we go to the deli down the street, and have a healthy soup and salad for lunch instead. Surprisingly my co-workers agreed and over lunch I found out that I was not the only one that felt this way. Apparently, all of us had noticed that we were getting thicker in the middle and feeling sluggish at the end of the day. We also learned that it was the social time that we really longed for, the food was mainly for comfort.

We changed our lunch outings to places similar to the deli and incorporated walking around the block into our lunch time. It wasn’t long before we began to notice the difference. I no longer felt tired and sluggish in the hours after lunch, I started losing the extra pounds I had gained, and my energy level increased as well as my feeling of overall well-being. I learned that it does not take very long for fast food to become a habit and make drastic changes in your lifestyle, however; I also learned that it could be corrected without sacrificing the social time that I needed to keep my life in balance.