Why I built the Lifestyle Reset Project
In Danielle's own words.
I spent years in the fitness industry focused on the wrong thing. Shrinking bodies. Before and afters. I also spent years quietly fighting a binge eating disorder and bulimia, and eventually I stepped away from the industry altogether, because I could not keep selling something that had hurt me so badly.
When I came back, it was not for the industry. It was for me, about three to six months after having my daughter Bette. I was 130 kilos when I gave birth to her, and by the time I decided to reset, I was up to 116. I remember struggling to get up and down off the floor with her. I remember struggling to walk to and from the car with her in my arms. I just wanted to feel good in my body again.
Read the rest of Danielle's story +
I had lost every bit of motivation to look after myself, because deep in postpartum, the only thing that mattered was keeping Bette alive and well. I poured everything I had into her and left nothing for me. It took me a while to realise I could not keep pouring from an empty cup, that looking after myself was actually part of how I kept showing up for her, and for my partner Nathan too.
So I went looking for something that would help, and I could not find it. Everything out there was still about bodies and numbers, and for someone with my history, that is not motivating, it is dangerous. Numbers and restriction are exactly what send people like me into burnout.
I knew I needed to build a life I did not need a break from. So I built my own way through it, slowly, without starting over every Monday. I went from 116 kilos down to around 75. But the number was never the point, weight was something I barely even checked. It was simply what happened along the way while I focused on how I felt, in my body, in my movements, around food, in myself.
The Lifestyle Reset Project is that reset, turned into a program, with an incredible group of women helping me get the message across. Our dietitian helps you learn how to eat, not how to diet. We help you find movement that actually feels good. We help you protect sleep, even as a mother, even when that feels impossible some weeks.
One of my biggest beliefs, the one that runs through everything we build here, is that it is better to eat vegetables with cheese on them than not eat vegetables at all. It is better to move your body for five or ten minutes than not move at all. It is better to move through a hard week than to abandon everything and start again.
I loved my body then, and I love my body now. Both are worthy, both are strong. This journey has never been about changing how I look, but reconnecting with how I feel in my body.
