I thought I would share with you a few of my ramblings and musings about The Reset. I finally plucked up the courage to participate. Why courage? Because I was afraid to try something and fail. Because I didn't want another unsustainable damn diet and because I didn't want to turn into a weirdo hipster vegan :D

I fully expected to be given a list of things I couldn't eat and be gently "told off" for my lousy diet and my weight. As you know that didn't happen and clever old Anna suggested ways I could ADD things to my diet that would make me feel better. She also suggested that I google some smoothie recipes. Lots of them contained broccoli so I quickly text Anna to let her know that broccoli for breakfast was wrong on every level! (there is a point to this, honest) At this point I was overweight, I was 10st 4 and then some, (I stopped looking after I hit that). I'm only 5ft 1 so that was quite chunky. 

Well I liked the added veg and occasional bit of chickpeas but I really didn't know what to actually cook. I've been cooking the same meals with meat for over 30 years and I just didn't know where to start. My husband has health issues and needs a healthier diet and I was struggling to know what to feed him. 

Anyway cut a long ramble shorter I signed up for the Reset. A meal plan and easy to follow recipes for every day. I need easy cos frankly I'm no Delia! Week one arrived and Annas signature breakfast smoothie is bright green with spinach and broccoli! Thank God it tasted better than it looked! :D

Plant based, I have had to learn how to cook strange beans, quinoa and lentils. I have wandered helplessly round Tesco looking for flaxseed and pak choi. Not to be indelicate I farted constantly for the first week to the point my husband started calling me Pumba! :D

Here's the good bits: 

Since May I have lost over a stone!

I have not felt hungry

I have not been on a diet

I feel comfortable in my skin and even wore a swimsuit to the beach

I have not felt I was denying myself anything

I have not turned into a hipster!

Anna's suggested meals are all plant based but she emphasised personal choice. I missed cheese, so I had some. Just a little bit, not the slab I used to have. Anna gives compelling reasons why eggs aren't really good for us, but I like eggs so I have some once a week. Thanks to Annas loving encouragement I have not felt guilty about tailoring this to suit my needs and my circumstances. Anyway soz for the long ramble, well done if you read this far! If anyone is on the fence about this, do this with Anna!

So for me, it was like having the best friend I needed at that time who had answers that my own best friend couldn't provide (I could speak to her but she didn't understand why I was feeling like I was). I am not sure if you remember but when I called you it was a choice between speaking to you or contacting a Counsellor (mental health). I wasn't happy, I was overweight and I didn't feel worthy of anything which was why I was in the "relationship" I was. So you were my satellite navigation person. You guided me through my own thought processes and I ended up at the right destination - loving me. You always believed that in me, you told me I was amazing and awesome and even though I saw myself totally differently to the way anyone else saw me, including you at the beginning you have guided me and gradually I have started to reclaim me with your help but through my own heart. I have a better relationship with my family, especially mum (because of you). But more importantly I have a better relationship with ME! I also loved our chats on a Friday evening, you gave me purpose and I was always so full of positivity and purpose after we spoke, I miss our chats still. You didn't tell me what to do but you did guide me to my own answers. You did teach me to believe in myself, to eat properly (via the food plans, which I still use - love the recipes and being plant based), to love myself and to be kind to others. I even loved doing my homework (my school-teachers would have been amazed 🤣). One of the best things you said to me was that I was a work in progress and that there was no quick fix. Now I understand that I know that I won't fail because there is no failure only straying off the path and using what you taught me to find my way back on it (like a sat nav). I found you motivational, kind, gentle inspirational and a really good friend. I look forward to meeting you in person one day. I wish you all the love in the world and I cannot really see how you hope to improve but I guess there is room in all of us x