I’ve hit my mid-thirties. I need no more reminder of this – but thank you anyway, for everybody who chooses to be so solititious and go out of your way to find little ways to refresh my non-failing memory. To the people who ask if my young assistant is my daughter – no, she isn’t. And *gasp* – do I look THAT old? She is a mere 16 years younger than I!

Of course that mid-thirties slump goes hand-in-hand with weight-gain. So after, yet again, standing in front of my cupboard, staring at clothes that I could’ve sworn fit me last year, I had a good long think about all this. And suffice it to say, the answer was not pretty. Somewhere over the last decade I had “let myself go”. There is no responsibility to be laid at someone else’s door. It is me, all me. I’ve have let the siren call of convenient food snare me into a trap from which I did not want to escape. Five-minute drive-through vs an hour slaving away in front of a hot stove? No contest.

Now it is all-out war. I have joined the ranks of the weight-shedders. It is a swelling rank, that swells all the time. It is a rank of people who have had enough of ugly clothes for fat people, of sniggers and mocking glares. Yes, it is also a rank of quitters. Face it – it is easy for us to quit on self-discipline and have that chocolate brownie or that slab of illicit mouth-orgasmic joy. So most of us will probably join, leave, join again, give up, rejoin…. been there – got the t-shirt. This is also not my first membership allocation. But hey, I’ve never been this ANGRY at myself. The previous times I’ve wanted to lose weight for a variety of wrong reasons. Now I have one reason – I want to lose this extra me… for me.

I want to feel awake and energetic again. I want to be able to run up a flight of stairs and not fall down, gasping for breath. I want to feel exuberant, fabulous, fantastic. I want to run and walk and swim and cycle and do all sorts of wonderful never-ending active things – all without feeling like a lump of breathless lard.

So not only have I joined the ranks of the weight-shedders – I have joined the crowds of people worldwide who use Herbalife. I’ve dug deep into my pockets and invested in my first Herbalife shake, and some other wonderful, expensive products. It’s all gone way above my head, but I can read the instructions. I may not know what everything is for, but I’m guzzling it all down. And I must say, I am pleasantly surprised. After hearing about how awful the shake tastes, I was dreading the first sip. I held my nose, tongue-tip-tasted the contents, and wow – promptly drank the entire glass.

Having embarked on my journey towards being slim and trim, I will endeavour to keep you posted as to my progress. The added expectation of readers waiting for me to stray from the path, will probably help keep me on it!