The 'I earned it' meal — why eating back your burn stalls you

Meena walks every morning. Forty minutes around the park, fast, with her friend Sunita. They come home glowing. Sunita's watch flashes: 285 kcal burned. Meena's phone says 312. They feel rich. They walk into Meena's kitchen, where her mother is rolling aloo parathas. 'Walkers' discount,' her father laughs, and slides a second paratha onto Meena's plate. A spoon of white butter. A tall glass of sweet lassi. One laddoo from the Diwali box, because why not. By 9 am, the kitchen has eaten the whole walk, and then asked for more. Meena logs nothing. She believes the walk paid for the plate. It did not. This short read is about that one quiet maths that stalls so many good weeks.