AMUSE BOUCHE
Cheat days
On Fridays, some of the girls in work bring in treats. For sharing with everyone else. Alison thinks it’s a bit mean, on some level. Friday is a cheat day for almost no one. Except the guys, who just can’t get their heads around good days and cheat days. Alison has tried to explain it to them. They sort of glaze over.
Alison reckons her cheat-days thing brings out the bitch in some of the girls, though. She reckons that one of them, who shall remain nameless, is just jealous.
She’s the one who brings in the most treats and, who, now, just in Alison’s opinion, to which she’s entitled, needs the treats the least. At last year’s Christmas party, that girl wore the same Zara dress as Alison to the office party. But a different size, so it looked different, Alison said, trying to reassure her that no one would think they were dressed the same.
Now, if Alison wanted some of the Friday treats, she would just have them. There’s no point in feeling guilty about food, that’s what Alison always says. If you want it, then have it. But Alison finds it works best for her if she doesn’t have it. She doesn’t feel guilty, but if it’s not a cheat day — Sundays, since you ask — then she feels sort of bloated if she eats any bad stuff. It’s like her body has got used to a certain way of living.
Alison reckons it’s a good sign; a message from her body that what she’s doing is right. And it’s definitely keeping her slim. She feels bloated on a Monday, but she does a semi-fast by not eating until lunchtime, just having that healthy slimming tea and plenty of water. By Tuesday, she’s right as rain and back to being good.
Sundays can be a bit mental, though. Sometimes, Alison has two takeaways on a Sunday. And she does a big sweets shop on a Friday on the way home from work, but she doesn’t touch them until Sunday. They definitely taste better after looking at them for a couple of days.
She’d have pizza for lunch, and then, for dinner, she’d have chipper food, or maybe Chinese chicken balls and curry chips (extra sauce). Sometimes Alison has a headache on Sunday nights.
She made the mistake of telling this to that girl at the Christmas party last year. “I think that’s called bingeing, Alison,” said that girl. So, so jealous.