I've battled my weight ever since I became a mother 20 years ago.

I anticipated gaining a few pounds after having a child.

But I had no idea how difficult it would be to maintain a healthy weight being a mother... Even for a tall woman such as myself, I mean...

I didn't realize how bad things were until my doctor told me that my blood sugar was too high and that I could have diabetes.

It shouldn't have come as a huge surprise given my sedentary lifestyle.

Nevertheless, my doctor's warning naturally made me very afraid.

And I got frightened when I thought about the health issues it would cause.

I tried cutting back on snacking, cutting my portion sizes, and even giving a few workouts a shot.

However, I started to comfort eat because I was so anxious and freaked out about the state of the world.

Though I knew this was the worst thing I could have done, I kept trying to rationalize it in my mind.

After all, there were some things I could not control. What more could I do, anyway?

I felt that everyone was judging me because of my size when I worked out in the park or outdoors, I never enjoyed working out in public. And gyms felt very unwelcoming to me

I didn't believe a friend of mine when she told me that she was drinking this "Simple Japanese Slimming Tonic" daily, which was helping her get amazing results!

But I couldn't deny her results right in front of me, so I asked her to text me the link

I wanted to learn about the recipe and start the same Japanese routine she did each day. I was open to making changes but I was still skeptical.