really going well for you now, but to make it better you need to bring in some exercise. Start with ten minutes a day. Exercise is a good solitary activity. Your competition is all those other fat and lazy people who aren’t doing anything. Imagine them all lying on their sofas while you are succeeding, slimming and winning.
Tactic 8: BANG. BANG. I’m here. Can you hear me? I am the winning spirit. The voice to take you beyond the place you currently inhabit. Can you believe that we have become such close friends already? Thanks for inviting me in. You know that I’m not going to leave. I can’t possibly leave. You opened a crack and I shifted my way into place. I am there every morning, all day and all night to help you win this. We can do it together, against them all. Best keep everything on the outside clean and tidy so no one can get through to you. I won’t let them. Let’s make sure it all looks spick and span. Dirt penetrates just like food, and we must keep it out. Keep the control. Don’t slip. Don’t make one wrong move now or it will crash BANG down. BANG BANG BANG BANG. I’m here, Grace.
Tactic 9: OK, so we need to keep this quiet. People are looking strange on the outside now. Just fold up. Folding up makes us smaller, and that can only be a good thing. That sick feeling which is permanently inside, that’s me keeping the crap out. The one thing they always get you to try, especially the girls, is alcohol. Just think how bad you will feel in the morning with all that slosh inside the pit of your stomach. Become the ‘friendly driver’ of the group. That will make everyone like you. Stick to Diet Coke with lots of ice. Just better make sure you locked the car door. Did you lock the car door? Is it locked? Do you want to go back and check and double-check? Can’t get it out your mind now, can you? Best plan the route home, and again, and have a backup, and second backup. Is it time to go already? You haven’t said a word. Just keep chewing gum and playing with your mouth and your packets of cigarettes. Stop the thinking.
Tactic 10: They have got their eyes on you. You thought this was going to be easy. They were miles behind, but now they are starting to really play. You could do with taking a step back now. Move your pieces. Get out of their sight-line. Already you have to make concessions, taking the slices of toast that they offer you with a big smile. That smile really hurts. The numbers are starting to go up. They must be. It might not show on the scales but they are bound to climb if you don’t keep an eye on things. Already they are trying to break the routine that you have so carefully planned and implemented. Pah. There is no way now. Not a chance. They are all too frightened of saying the wrong thing. Their hand is weak, they aren’t going to show. You can carry on with your next move. They don’t believe you. They don’t make the connections. Congratulations. Phase one over. It is all black or white.
Black
Now it’s starting to show. You feel good, don’t you? There is the odd compliment, a special glance to the safety pins holding up your baggy trousers, the gaping waist of your jeans that hang from your hips. Just keep focused on the numbers. Don’t worry about what people think. Keep the numbers down. Don’t let them go up. Do anything before they are allowed to go up. Up leads to up and up, and suddenly you are spiralling out of control and the thought isn’t possible. It is not in this game plan. THIS IS A GAME, you know. You can stop … if you wanted.
Just keep an eye on the others who are on the fringes of this board. Look at the girls all around you who are small and compact. Look! You are still bigger than them all. Simply compare the outlines of their forms to the obtrusive lines of your own shape: look at their small thighs, their tiny waists. Now see your curves and bumps and lines and reassertthat willpower. Dig deep, Grace. Raise your game. Monday morning is a