Involuntary Illness

I stare down at the scale

The numbers are my enemy

I set aside the unhappy meal

Fries, burgers, unhealthy

Almost five months in

I've lost only ten pounds

Loss of motivation

I just want to laze around

Then I start getting sick

At every single meal

Not even soup does the trick

Comfort food doesn't heal

All it takes is one breadstick

And then I knew

I wasn't "sick" sick

I was sick of the glue

No more wheat, rye, or barley

Malt Powder too

Disease swept in too early

Gluten and I are through

It started off as avoiding the obvious

Then my symptoms grew

Couldn't just "remove the bun"

Had to buy separate food

I've always struggled with body image

Contracting Salmonella opened my eyes

Why eat healthy

When I could just toss the fries?

Now present day

Weight loss for nine months

I've lost 25 pounds

But is it enough?

I keep getting sick

Spending days in and out of the bathroom

Is gluten the trick

To lose obesity's doom?

This isn't what I wanted

Please stop falling ill

For I love the dramatics

But I tire of my immune system's will

Dropping weight left and right

More from disease than exercise

Drop bad pounds

Like dead flies

Will it ever stop?

Will it ever end?

Will I stop being poisoned

By wheat contamination?

"It's really not that bad"

"At least you're losing weight"

This is not what I signed up for

To be at the Celiac Disease gate

Departing soon

I will arrive

At my dream of seeing 128

On the scale by New Year's Night

For the scale reads 270 now

But not for much longer

The sicker I get

Away goes the hunger

It seems like after two bites

I'm already full

Vegetables, rice, chicken

I can only finish half the bowl

I may be full-figured

But this isn't what I signed up for

Involuntary Illnesses triggered

And I can't stop contracting more

If I must pick my poison

It is gluten I choose

For the inches on my waistline

Is more enticing than the nutrients I lose

-Mistress