I can't believe I bumped into Anneke in VENICE! She then proceeded to tell me about how I've played a huge part in turning her entire life around and I just had to bring her onto the podcast to share her inspiring journey with you.

Anneke suffered from a drug addiction for 6 months of her life, putting her into a chemical induced anorexia after going through a really tough divorce. She decided to call it quits and then found herself addicted to sugar and gaining weight rapidly over the following year.

Fast forward another year or so and she met the love of her life, got engaged and decided to turn her health around when covid hit. She found me and my recipes and said that ‘it all made sense’. She could see how reducing her calories didn’t mean missing out on life's joys or eating small meals.

She began training with a PT and lost a total of 40 kgs and is now a pilates instructor filled with confidence, pure 80/20 balance with her eating and has found happiness on both the inside and out.

Anneke shares her insanely inspiring and honest transformational story with me here, in my home (we both live in Perth!) and what an honour it was. I hope it inspires you and touches you as much as it touched me.

 

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Read This Episode:

In this really special episode, I bring Anneke on who has lost 40 kilos after overcoming a drug addiction and a really painful divorce and time of her life. It is probably the most vulnerable and beautiful chat I've ever had on the podcast. I say that every time, but I'm really grateful that Anneke shared such an honest journey and I really hope that you appreciate it too and get extremely inspired.

It's full of actionable tips and inspiration that so many of you will walk away from and feel inspired yourself. Now, before I get into the podcast too, a lot of you would have seen from Instagram that we actually bumped into each other completely randomly in Venice a month ago, but she actually lives in Perth and she came up to me and introduced herself to me and it was such a surreal moment and told me about her life changing journey to losing 40 kilos and how I played a part in that, so I had to bring her on the podcast …

BM: Welcome to Body Bites with Bec and welcome to my brand new home. 

AHM: Yay! It's so nice to finally be here and see everything in real life and it feels very weird to see you now because I still can't believe that we bumped into each other in Venice. I can't believe that the person that was sitting there was actually you and it wasn't my mind playing tricks on me going - wait, I know this person! How do I know this person? Oh, it's Bec! 

BM: It is so wild. Let's tell everyone just really quickly what happened … I went on a really quick two week trip to Italy to just keep running the business over there and get a quick adrenaline/ life boost after a crazy year. I went to Rome and then I went to Venice for five days and I think it was on my second day that I was in Venice. I didn't have any lunches or any really set plans booked. I was just like - oh, let's just stroll around the streets and then I just walked into this random restaurant where there was a table free that I could see. So it was just super unplanned and then I was sitting down having a rosé and some lunch, which is funny because that's how you recognised it was definitely me and I was just sitting there and then I heard “Bec” and I looked up and want to take it from here? 

AHM: Yeah, so the night before my husband and myself actually walked past this place and we said, Oh, this looks very cute. We should come here for lunch the next day. We had an appointment to go to and after that, we were walking back to where we knew this little restaurant was and walking in, I saw this girl who looked so familiar to me and she was eating melon and prosciutto with a glass of rosé and I was like - that has to be Bec! We all know it's her favourite when she's in Italy and said - “Bec?” Not knowing if it is her or if my mind is playing tricks on me and she looked up, very confused at who this random woman is saying her name. I said - “Bec, you don't actually know me, but I follow you on Instagram and I'm such a fan”. 

BM: It was the coolest moment. Just the fact that it was Venice of all places. It was so busy. It was just this random little street that I stumbled into and it was so exciting to me. When I see my followers and that happens, it's such a beautiful feeling, especially when your life has changed so much. We were in the restaurant and then we got chatting and your husband was like, what's going on? Who's this girl?

AHM: I'm like, I'll tell you later, let me talk to her now.  

BM: We had the most beautiful chat and we got some photos and you were telling me about how you had messaged me on Instagram a couple of years ago and then I remembered who you were because I think you asked if you ever want me on the podcast and I remembered you. So I was like, this is so crazy because that never ended up happening and then we just bump into each other in Venice. 

AHM: And we live so close to each other in Perth!

BM: So Anneke lives 10 minutes away from here and I've never seen you in Perth. So Anneke’s just come over and I can see her literal bedroom of her new house. They're moving into a beautiful apartment that's probably like 200 meters from here, but because I'm up so high and that's an apartment too, I can see their entire balcony from nearly every window of the house. 

AHM: Every window and the mirror in your bathroom. 

BM: So when I get my binoculars and my telescope, you’ve just got to be careful. 

AHM: I'm closing my window shades!! 

BM: That's so funny. I gave them this idea, but I'm getting a telescope for Christmas as my Christmas present from my family, because there's just so much you can see from this house. It feels very exciting that you're here to record this. I actually went on that trip because I mentioned this in the last podcast for everyone, but it was just such a stressful year. I just said to myself - okay, it's time for more blessings to come my way and I know when I travel, I just feel happier and when I feel happier, better things come my way and opportunities come my way and I truly believe that the better you feel, the better everything gets and so bumping into you and that happening was just another blessing for me and it just made me so excited.

AHM: And literally right after bumping into you, you got the good news about that award! 

BM: Yeah. Yeah. It must've been the same day. I was like, what is going on? There were blessings all around. I was a finalist for Business Australia and I was like, I'm in Italy, it's my happy place. I've just bumped into a follower who's lost nearly 40 kilos and changed her life. When I see you all in real life I know that so many of your lives are changing but seeing you in the flesh and actually hearing it, is the most rewarding and special feeling because you know the challenges that I go through in order to just constantly run this business and grow and believe in myself.

It can be hard at times, but when I see the result of what happens, which is your life changing, which is always my dream, it is so special, so that's why it was such a blessing. Then after that we shared it on Instagram and I was like - oh my god, the craziest thing just happened and then so many of my followers were like, could you please get her on the podcast? I want to hear about her journey and so that's why Anneke is here and she's got a very inspiring journey to share. I hardly know anything about it yet, so it's just going to be such an exciting conversation for me too, because it's just going to be us chatting about where you were before you found me and then your journey and I know that it's going to inspire all of you so much because they always do. People love success stories so much!

AHM: And mine is a real raw story. It's not an easy story. 

BM: So before we get into it, I just want to say thank you for coming and agreeing to be vulnerable and real on this because people connect so much more with that. So I'm really excited to get started. Let's go back, so where were you before you found me? 

AHM: I’m originally from South Africa and I moved to Perth. In March it will be eight years and before I moved to Australia, I was going through quite a rough time in my personal life. Going through a deterioration of a relationship, a divorce, and falling into the wrong crowd and into wrong habits. Unfortunately in moments of weakness, I started using drugs quite heavily. It was a short but an extremely intense seven months of nearly constant use. When I say constant, it was like every half an hour, I would take a bump is what we used to call it. As soon as I felt like my mood was dipping, I would take a hit. 

So that was the downward spiral of my life at that time. With this, I accidentally, because I didn't know anything about food and my body or anything, I actually caused chemical anorexia for myself. So I was not eating anything. I used to feel physically sick if I had to eat anything and didn't sleep, was very social, drank a lot because you feel like you have to even out the effects of the cocaine. So you have to drink to numb the high, but then you want to get high to numb the pain, so it was a very bad downward spiral.  

BM: Thank you so much for sharing that with everyone. It's so real and it's so raw. I don't want to say normalise ….

AHM: It’s healing, because I have to tell you what I went through to explain to you why it was so much harder for me to heal. 

BM: Thank you for being vulnerable about your past in that way and your struggles in that way, because so many listeners will relate in some way when they go through a really tough period in their life. It's so common to turn to substances, and get addicted or whatever it is. There's so many addictions that can happen in the world and I just think it is good to just bring awareness to that and then obviously you have your healing story afterwards, which is  what is going to be so inspiring to so many people too. 

AHM: One day I just literally sat and spaced out. It was a night out with the friends and I was just spacing out and I looked at everybody and everybody was doing their thing. One was a restaurant owner, one was a bar owner. We had a rock band for friends and it was like this whole scene, you can imagine that scene … I just looked at everybody and I thought, where are we going? What are we doing here? I don't know if it was divine intervention, maybe changing my heart and I said to myself - okay, I know what I need to do! 

It wasn't easy. I cut off all my friends. I literally moved to another town far away where I didn't know anybody. 

BM: Oh my gosh. So you really just went cold turkey?

AHM: Before I say anything else, I've always known that I have a very addictive personality, but I've also always known that I can get rid of things quickly. Yes, I become addicted quickly, but I can also just go - okay, I'm done. I think I'm a Taurus and that's why, I've heard that's a thing that we do. 

So with that came healing and replacing drugs with sugar was probably one of the biggest mistakes that I did to my body and with this, as I said previously, I never understood that food is just an energy source for my body. Obviously if you put too much in, it's going to be too much energy and now I know all these things thanks to you, but I never understood that the more energy I put in and if I don't use it, I'm not going to lose it. I'm going to keep it, it's going to stay and that sugar is probably the worst thing that I could have done. No, the second worst thing that I could have done. I think the cocaine was worse! 

BM: And it is so common for people that come off another kind of addiction, to get addicted to sugar because it is so readily available. You can get it anywhere. It's cheap and sugar addiction is a huge thing for so many people. So when you're coming off something, that's a very easy and “healthier” thing to have. It's very common and I can see why that would happen, especially without much food education yet at the time and you were doing your best.

AHM: I was trying my best. At the time, shortly after my actual divorce, I moved to Perth. My whole family lives here, so I felt like my support system was here and I felt safe and it was going quite well for the beginning. 

After the drug addiction and the sugar addiction came, I gained a lot of the weight that I lost rapidly, I gained back tenfold. At that stage I was a size 12 where I'm a comfortable size 8 usually. I was a size 12 when I moved to Perth. 

BM: So what was the time period of you deciding to quit the drugs then getting addicted to sugar and then moving to Perth. Was it a year? 

AHM: Yeah, that was just less than a year, because I moved here to Perth in March of 2016 and I got divorced the July before. 

BM: Who were you with? I'm so intrigued. Who were you with in that year? So were you with your family in that year that you were addicted to the sugar and coming off?

AHM: No. My family were all living in Perth, that was another emotional hurdle that was paired with the divorce happening. I don't want to blame my parents for moving, but losing my core support system to another country, it made my morals really weak. I didn't know which side was up or down. It was a difficult time. So I came to Perth, then lived with my parents for the first bit and I was walking with my mum. My mum loves walking and she can walk for miles. She can just keep walking and so we used to go down to the beach and just keep walking and chatting and my healing journey started there, even though my parents at that point did not know anything about my rough journey up until that point. 

BM: Oh, really? 

AHM: Yeah, I didn't tell anybody. I was feeling so ashamed about it. I went through all of this alone.

BM: Even all the detoxing alone? 

AHM: Everything! It was a tough journey, but as I said earlier, I knew that as quickly as I can get addicted to something, I can also drop it quickly. I'm a very get on with it kind of person. Even if my pinky finger is broken, I'm like, just get on with it. Nobody's going to wait for me and so I moved to Perth, started my healing journey, but it wasn't until I met my now husband, which really catapulted my healing.

It was something that I really needed, because my now husband is a fair bit older to me. He's 14 years older and from the moment that we met each other, we just knew this is it. It's a long story, so I'll try to make it as short as possible. I had one friend in Perth before I even arrived in Perth to live here and he said - “Come on, you don't have any other friends, you're joining me for dinner to meet other people because I cannot be your only friend”. 

Meanwhile, this guy was there and two weeks later he said - “Can I take you out for lunch?” and I said - “Sure thing!” and we had three dates in one day. We did a lunch date at Matilda Bay Restaurant, and then he said - “Okay, so what are you doing now? Do you want to go to a movie?”. After that, he said “So what are you doing now? Do you want to go for dinner?” 

We went to the Chinese restaurant at the Crown, Silk's for dinner and then he dropped me home and to think I was this close to chickening out that day, because it was pouring rain, I didn't want to drive. He sent an Uber to pick me up. Since that day, I feel like we've been inseparable. 

BM: Oh, that's so beautiful. I love stories like that and so then what happened after that? What sparked your health transformation and journey? 

AHM: So my healing had to come first because a lot of my emotional baggage was being carried with me in my eating habits and my healing started very slowly, but it was catapulted by being with him. Him being so much older, I needed to be more mature. 

BM: How old were you at the time? 

AHM: I was 29 when we met. We fell in love fast and it was amazing. So I went through a lot to heal. I finally saw a Psychologist and we chatted about it. 

BM: When you say healed, do you mean addressing the addiction and the divorce and just all the trauma from all of that? 

AHM: All the trauma, trying to find out who my inner child is again and the one who was me before I was hurt and before I felt worthless, because I was feeling very worthless. I was married at 24, divorced at 28. We have a lovely life now. We travel a lot. At the time I wasn't working at all, so we traveled so much. He took me to Paris for my 30th birthday and Rome, so that's where the addiction to Rome started. With that, we were traveling, life was good. We had great champagne and great meals and it was beautiful, but I still didn't understand what calories meant, so it did take maybe way too long to figure that out, but with that said - my previous addiction didn't help me because it slowed down my metabolism so much because my body then saw food as - oh, I'm just going to hold on to you, I don't know when I'm being fed next. I'm going to keep this in case you feel like not eating for two weeks again. 

BM: It's like bears that go into hibernation. That's why they pack it all on as fat, so that they can stay insulated for hibernating!

AHM: I was a very chubby little bear. People say to me - “but you never actually looked that heavy!” I looked exactly what I was weighing, which was 105kgs. We were living this lovely lifestyle and traveling so much, making up excuses for not exercising. Look, every hotel has a gym. You just need to go to the floor and actually go do it. Anyway, we got engaged. We were engaged by the time we got married for about six years, but it wasn't until the day that we set our date, that I was like - things have got to change. I'm not moving any further in my life with the body that I don't love. I was loving myself. I loved myself for the person who I was, but I was never comfortable in my body. 

So, we set the date, which was September 2021, which obviously didn't happen as it was right in the thick of COVID, but he actually said to me when we were talking about wedding dresses, he said to me - “yeah, we'll probably get something made for you if you want”. I said - “yeah I have too because nothing's going to fit me. I can't just walk into a shop and things fit me, unless they're like very big things and then taken in”. I thought to myself one day - how about we give it our best shot? Let's lose weight. Let's give this perfect day your perfect self, and whatever that may entail. Emotionally, physically, mentally healthy, be that for your new life and that's what I set out to do. 

Even from that point on, it wasn't as easy, because we were still traveling so much, but I found this girl on Facebook and her name is Ella Grace. She was so good! She was posting something about Personal Training, but she said  - “I can do one on one personal training” and I said - “Awesome, can you come to me? I've got a gym in my building and can you come whip me into shape”. Anyway, just to get to the point where she came over, took so long because I was never in the country and she thought that I was fibbing and it actually took the lockdown, to get the chance to be in one place. 

I actually got her over and I was trying to hide, I was 105kgs at the time. I was even going to my doctor and saying do I have PCOS? She was like, no you're lazy and you're eating too much. That's literally what my Doctor said to me. 

BM: People can be blunt like that. and it is true. There are so many women that are trying really hard and struggling to lose weight and they always get told to just eat more and move less and there are a lot of other factors to weight loss, but in some cases it does come down to moving more and reducing your food intake. That's the principle for everyone, but then there are some other factors in there. I just wanted to say that quickly. So do you feel like you were making excuses even though you knew it was the food and the exercise?  

AHM: I was saying to her that I was exercising daily. I wanted her to give me a green flag and to say, yeah, it's not you, it's your body. I was lying to myself about this. Trying to make up excuses. So that didn't work, and then Ella Grace came over and she was not easy. She would say “okay now run” and I was not able to do anything! I was looking at her like you're an Alien because how did you do that? Meanwhile, I had massive E-cup breasts and my tummy was massive and there was no way for me to do it because I was too heavy to get up. 

She came about twice a week and I was really determined by that time. I said to myself, I don't have an excuse now. We're not traveling. We're not drinking. We're not going out to bars. We're not going out to restaurants. I'm stuck at home. Now is the time. You've got a date. You need to fit into whatever dress you choose. Let's do it.

BM: What about the eating side of things? Where do I come in? I'm waiting on the edge of my seat … 

AHM: Bec enters when my Doctor said to me - “You have to exercise and eat less”. She said to me, how about you shock your metabolism to give it a jump start. So she recommended that I do three or four days of only eating under a thousand kilograms and for me that was like, how am I going to do that? What does that even look like? I started calorie tracking, which I've never done in my life. Your podcast wasn't out at that time, this was early 2020, ao I started listening to all sorts of podcasts and interviews with people and  some really impacted me strongly and I was like - okay, so even though I don't like running, it might change my DNA. So my future generations might like running. I can do that! 

So with all of that came the food and what to eat. I started fasting - 16/8 on some days and 18/ 6 on other days, just to mix it up a little bit, which made eating under a 1000 calories a little easier because then you only have the two meals, and some snacks in between. I'm still fasting, but I did that for maybe a week. I did less than a thousand calories and I felt really determined to do this. 

So I was looking up recipes, and what kind of eating I should follow but nothing really stood out to me. I wasn't going to give up my dark chocolate, so I couldn't do full keto. I was not gonna give up my carbs, so I did keto-ish - high fats, proteins, much less carbs and a touch of sugar. 

BM: But how did you come across me? 

AHM: I googled healthy low carb, lower calorie food recipes and it came up. I saw this girl and I did not know you were from Perth, let alone Australia at the time so I clicked on your website and I saw all these delicious recipes. I was like - oh, I could do this “zoodle” thing. I like this. I like these zoodles. So that's how I found you. Then I saw there was an Instagram link. I clicked on you and then I realised - oh, she's a Perth girl and I started following you there.

For the first time in such a long time, with everything that I came across, you made sense to me. I just felt a sigh of relief because food can be yummy and healthy and keep you full and be low calorie. You're speaking my language. You can be happy with doing it. That was like a little light bulb that went off and I was like, yes, this I can do. These recipes, I can do and so what I did was make your recipes. I probably still have them saved in my books, like on my app and making your recipes, then I would think - oh, that would be nice with this as well. I could swap this out for this and then I can make this, so that's how I like evolved my keto-ish.

I feel like since you posted something and I replied to it. I felt like I needed to tell you that you played a massive role. I had that little connection to you in that way. I think I sent you a message just to say - look, thank you so much, you don't even know me, but you have actually played such a massive role at that point. I think I got my weight down to  72kgs. I was doing a lot of cardio. I was exercising daily stretching at night. I started doing Pilates which I love now. I'm an instructor, so I changed my life completely. 

BM: That's incredible in itself. The fact that you couldn't even do a sit up and now you're a Pilates instructor. It's such a huge achievement. 

AHM: That's in less than three years, because I've been an instructor now for two years. I feel like it's weird that we never met in Perth and that we went all the way to Italy to go meet there. 

BM: So you were mainly making a lot of my meals?

AHM: A lot of your meals! Salads and the zoodles were a favorite of mine. 

BM: So were you just doing recipes off the website and my eBooks then?

AHM: Yeah, that was what really helped me because I wasn’t stuck in a rut, but I was just eating the same things every day. I was not creative at all. I knew immediately that zucchini made me feel good, so I had a lot of zucchini. Zucchini and like a Frittata with egg and bacon and your food, your recipes really opened up a whole scope of things to me where I was like, this lifestyle can actually be tasty, healthy and balanced and make my gut feel good and not bloat me up and make me feel like I'm just a little ball of fuzz. 

BM: I'm just sitting here feeling just so happy that you found me, because you didn't know much about calories. You hadn't had to diet before. This was your first time having to do this and it just upsets me. Of course, there's a lot of other amazing plans and Nutritionists out there, but there are so many diets out there that do make you eat bland food or that do make you feel starving and I'm so happy that you found me because you’ve done it and that's why I'm so passionate about it. It's the way that I eat every single day myself because I'm such a foodie, but I have to work really hard to remain the way that I am and you can have both - big meals, like the volume from all the veggies and just the clever little things and I think it's so nice that you said that because you really started to learn that you don't have to give up pasta, there's an alternative and then you can still have it once a week if you want as a treat, like I'm sure in Italy, do you have a bit more pasta than you do at home?

AHM: Oh, absolutely. I've never restricted myself from enjoying life because I said to myself and what I've also learned from listening to other very clever people, that you need to do something that you'll be able to keep up with, you also said that. It doesn't help if you do a juice detox for a week. How are you going to live like that? You can't live like that. Yeah, you're going to drop centimeters, but that's not changing your life. You need to be able to change your life while still living your life and that the big light bulb went off there. 

I still have my pasta, and still have pizza occasionally and I wasn't drinking alcohol at all from February until December, maybe even a little bit longer, just because I understood for the first time in such a long time, how much calories is in a glass of wine. I was literally at the Yacht club having a bottle of Prosecco every time we used to go out on the boat or maybe even more and I was like, I can eat food for that amount. I can actually feel good about what I'm putting in my body for that amount of calories. So I was a  bit calorie crazy in the beginning, but I felt like that was a good way to do this to learn about it all. So I was weighing everything. I was tracking everything. I still track everything, but I'm not weighing. Even if I go over my allowed calories, that's fine, I had a good day. 

BM: I'm so glad that you have this mindset. You sound like you've got the same mindset as me. When I started my sort of health, calorie counting and dieting journey.I started off obsessively too, and used the apps and all that, but looking back, that's the biggest way that I learned. Then you realise as you go along - okay, I don't want to be obsessive because I want to live life at the same time or you do eat a bit more for a few meals out and you realise - oh, I've still remained weight or I'm still losing weight, so those meals are allowed and it takes time to learn week after week and I'm so glad that you said that because now you're still conscious about calories, but not obsessive. How long do you think it took you to get that mindset and understand what your body needed? How long did it take? 

AHM: I have to also say that I lost weight quite fast, because I don't know how to say this eloquently, but if you're 105kgs, it's like carrying two 30kgs dumbbells with you on a treadmill, so of course you're going to lose weight faster because you've got that extra weight on you and everything that you're doing takes more energy. I was pretty happy by December 2020 with my weight. At that time I was about 76kgs. I'm strong. 

BM: So you lost about 30kgs from March until December?

AHM: Yeah, but that was absolutely not stopping cardio every day, as much as I could, because in the beginning I couldn't run. It was impossible for me. My body did not want to run. 

BM: Were you doing any weight training back then to lose it? 

AHM: No, and I'm really still not doing weight training. It was mostly floor Pilates and using my own body weight. Body weight training mostly and started a love for yoga as well to get in that routine of lengthening and stretching and strengthening my body, but yeah it was cardio, Pilates and yoga that really changed my life and obviously the food.  

BM: Yeah it's so incredible. I think you should be so proud of yourself. It's a huge thing. It's a huge amount of weight to lose and it's also a big thing to overcome a drug addiction and then to get off the sugar. How did you feel on your wedding day? 

AHM: Oh, magnificent. Obviously, I could fit into smaller dresses over the three years that I kept it off, but the wedding dress shopping was really special. We went to Milan and we went into really nice shops and I could actually take a dress off of a rack and fit into it and not feel like I needed to have something made from Bali that I didn't love. Mentally, physically, emotionally, I was so ready for this. On the wedding day, it was just so amazing to feel like it was finally a full circle moment.

BM: With the body that you had before, I know that you said that you loved yourself, but you didn't feel happy in your skin. Did you then learn because obviously your body wasn't feeling healthy from having the cocaine and the alcohol, and then having lots of sugar. So you weren't really feeding your body with nutrients and realising how good food makes you feel. So I'm just wondering mindset wise, when you had this big health transformation and you dropped all the weight, was there another sense of achievement, not just because of the scales, but because this is what healthy eating does and it's made me feel good from the inside out? Was there that pride too because you're like I've done this but it's from eating healthy food, it’s not just the scales. 

AHM: Oh, absolutely. I don't think I've weighed myself in the beginning at all. It was only when I hit 83kgs that I actually even bought a scale. Up until that point, it was just really nice to feel healthier, to feel like I can walk for kilometers and kilometers to see myself run stronger and not be puffed after one kilometer of a six kilometer per hour run, which is not really a run, it's a walk. I felt like I could go faster and I could move better and I was never craving anything anymore, which I feel that sugar made me always crave more food and understanding that now. 

My body craves sugar when it's thirsty, like when I'm thirsty, I'm thinking - oh, I really want sugar now and I'm like - no, you don't, you want water, go have some water. I’m addicted to water now. So that's a good addiction. 

BM: Oh my god. Iit is a full circle. It truly is and you have said so much stuff that I say all the time on the podcast, all the time on my Instagram, all the time on my website, so maybe a lot of this has come from what you've been watching and absorbing and that's so good to hear because you said life is about enjoying yourself at the same time You can't maintain your weight loss or lose weight unless it's something that you can see yourself doing forever. 

The fact that you didn't really go on the scales you actually thought about all of the other benefits that this lifestyle was bringing you, all of those things are so important. So you lost all the weight and you've kept it off and that's another huge achievement as well, because it's so common for people to re-gain their weight, but it must be a testament to you saying all of those things that you've shared today. Thank you so much for sharing that. 

AHM: It's such a big pleasure. It's so lovely to actually be able to sit with you and tell you in person how much your recipes have changed my life and everything that you keep telling all of us. It sinks in and it sits with you daily, especially calories in calories out. I do believe in, calories out, but that is not the be-all-and-end-all of weight loss or healthy eating. It’s that, but it's so much more as well. 

BM: So much more! Are there any final things that you want to share with anyone that's feeling like they're struggling? If you think back to your younger self and thinking that maybe you should start a health kick or a health journey, do you have any words of inspiration to leave everyone with? What would you tell yourself if you were that girl? 

AHM: Don't make excuses for laziness. Be honest with yourself. Look at yourself in the mirror, not your body. Look into your eyes and say to yourself - am I not doing this because I'm scared it's not going to work? Am I not doing this because I'm lazy? Be honest! 

A lot of us are lazy and we just don't want to do it or is there something else? Is there something mentally or emotionally that's holding you back? I feel like that was a very integral part of me changing. My life was changing my soul from the inside out. 

BM: Oh, that was the best advice. You're so right. I think the fact that you healed yourself first and did that mindset work and then you made the changes, I think that is really vital and important for people to hear as well and then I love that point about really asking yourself questions because a lot of it does come down to excuses at the end of the day and if you want something enough, you've got to sometimes look at yourself and think - okay, what excuses am I making? At the end of the day, it's us who makes the decisions to change our lives and reach goals. So, well done. You are so incredible. It's been an honor to have you on the podcast. 

AHM: It’s so lovely to be here and I still can't believe we had to travel all the way to Venice to meet each other. I hope I see you in Italy again sometime soon, and Perth!

BM: Thank you, Anneke. 

How beautiful was that chat? I hope that you took a lot away from that and I hope you are inspired and enjoyed it as much as I did. I felt so grateful that Anneke was so open in her journey because I truly believe that vulnerability is the key to connection and to inspiring others and that's what I always hope to do with you. 

So if you would like to get started with checking out all of my free recipes, because that's how Anneke started, you can head to my www.healthwithbec.com. I've also got my 5 Day Detox out for a very limited time. It'll be gone again in mid to early January, so if you just want to get a taste for my approach for five days and you're not ready to invest yet in my programs, that is such a great start. 

If you want to jump straight in and learn how to eat 80/20 and have all of the guesswork taken out of calorie counting and really see how a week looks with a lower carb diet, just like Anneke, then you can get started with my 3 Week Body Reset. Finally, if you enjoyed this episode, please let us know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. I know that Anneke will appreciate the feedback too. It would mean the absolute world to us and don't forget to hit subscribe so that you don't miss future episodes.

Also, if you're not following me yet, I am @health_with_bec on Instagram, come and say HI over there and follow me for lots of behind the scenes tips and action, actionable advice and motivation for you on your weight loss journey as well.