Free The Making of Mia by Ilana Fox

attempting to exercise, and after a long and difficult week of cutting out the junk food and fizzy drinks, she had been ecstatic
     to find she’d lost two pounds. It was the first time she’d actually lost weight, and although she’d not noticed a physical
     difference, it affected her profoundly. She had over seven stone to lose to reach her ideal weight of nine stone, and although
     it seemed like a massive figure, Jo knew she had to do it.
    Using the diet mags as her benchmark, Jo ate only what was recommended, and submitted herself completely to their advice.
     She had toast for breakfast, a small sandwich forlunch, and chicken or meat with vegetables in the evening. Jo was starving – and the gorgeous smells that came from Michael’s
     kitchen nearly drove her mad. To supplement her diet, Jo stole cold triple-roasted potatoes from the kitchen, and made herself
     sandwiches with them when she thought she was going to faint from hunger. The guilt she experienced when she took the last
     mouthful encouraged her not to do it again, but she couldn’t help herself.
    Slowly, though, the weight kept on falling off. Jo woke up early, did some stretches, and walked to the local village shop
     and back as fast as she could under the guise of needing to get the newspapers in for the customers who sat alone nursing
     their pints of bitter. In the beginning Jo was out of breath and sweaty when she reached the shop, and then again when she
     got back to the pub, but she soon found she could walk the distance easily. Jo made a point of not buying sweets, chocolate
     or crisps from the shop and instead bought herself magazines as rewards, using the photographs of slim models to keep her
     going. She wanted to look like them, and then she wanted to create fashion shoots with them.
    Head chef Michael noticed a difference in her. ‘Gone off our food, have we?’ he asked one lunchtime when Jo had forsaken a
     pithivier of shredded pigeon with glazed chestnuts for lentil soup and a small slice of bread.
    Jo nodded – suddenly food seemed like the enemy, not her faithful friend. As Jo began to eat less and less she realised how
     eating had been her hobby, how working out what she was going to eat next had kept her entertained. The new Jo Hill swapped
     her eating addiction for a dieting addiction, but when her weight loss started to plateau she decided it was time to try and
     exercise. By October she’d lost nearly two stone, and even though all her clothes were looser, she wanted to slim down properly
     – she wanted to get to a size ten.
    At first it was hell, pure hell. Jo didn’t warm up enough tobegin with and three minutes into a light jog her legs began to ache and seize up. Jo gave up and stretched her legs out properly,
     and vowed to try again the next day. This time Jo managed to jog – slowly – for ten minutes as a light shower kept her cool.
     As a result of doing this every evening for a week she lost another three pounds, and a few weeks later Jo caught William
     staring at her.
    ‘So how are you doing it?’
    Jo looked up at William and tried very hard not to blush. Every time they made small talk she felt like she made a fool of
     herself with her teenage-crush stutters, and she’d started going out of her way to avoid him.
    ‘Sorry … how am I doing what?’ Jo attempted a casual, carefree grin and tried not to notice just how breathtaking William
     looked.
    ‘How are you managing to lose all that weight?’ William asked her. ‘You look terrific.’
    Jo immediately felt her blood turn to ice. She hated the thought of William looking at her body and, worse, comparing how
     she was now to how she’d been a few months earlier. She felt ashamed at how large she’d been.
    ‘I’ve been working out,’ Jo said in a small voice. ‘I’ve been running and watching what I eat.’
    William’s forehead furrowed slightly. ‘But when? You haven’t changed your shifts, and you’re always writing in your