Today will be the day

She knows. The moment she wakes up she knows. Today will be the day. She tries to ignore it, would love to slip back into semi-unconsciousness, but the urge is too strong. She has to get up. Now.

Last night she carefully chose her outfit after a fitting session of nearly an hour. She laid out her clothing on the bedside table. Looking at it makes her eager and nervous at the same time. It takes just a few minutes to get dressed.

She opens the windows to let the fresh air flow through the bedroom, getting rid of the heavy smell of sleep and dreams. She takes a deep breath, sighs, stretches and heads for the door. 

No time to cook a proper breakfast. Just a glass of lukewarm water and a dry piece of toast will do. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, they say. It is. But she won’t have it now. She will have a postponed breakfast afterwards. 

She examines her phone and in particular the app she intends to use. It works, meaning it will record her every move. She puts on her running shoes, grabs her key from the table and walks out.

This is her cue. This is when her new, healthy life begins. She will refrain from eating candy and cookies. She will exercise every day and she will love it. Her reward will be a beautiful, slender body, ultimately leading to an adoring lover.

Running appears to be tougher than she expected it to be. It is hard work. In her wildest fantasies she would look like a supermodel during the exercise, with hair blowing elegantly in the wind, but when she checks her reflection in a shop window she is shocked to see that her body resembles that of a sea lion. Including the lumps of fat, which throb with every step she takes. But still, she is happy and proud to have taken the first step.

Some hundreds of meters from her house, panting heavily already, she is almost run over by two cyclists wearing tight lycra in screaming colours. She has to jump to the side and lands on her buttocks in the grass. She hears the one man telling to the other “didn’t help her much, the running” and her brave attempt is over. Her energy leaves like electricity in the muddy ground. And at home a bowl filled with candy waits for her in a secret drawer.