Honestly though, this week marks six years since Covid arrived and turned the world upside down, and six years since my daughter became ill. Six years of doctors, appointments, referrals, blood tests, waiting lists, more waiting lists and still the same unanswered question.

Was it Covid, did that virus flip some mysterious switch in her body, will we ever actually find out.

Because here we are six years later and we are still waiting for answers.

And yet life just carries on in the most ridiculous way possible.

Take Thursday for example.

Honestly though what a day.

First stop, drop my daughter at college, normal responsible parent behaviour, nothing dramatic yet. Then obviously a very important pit stop to see my boyfriend, purely for morale purposes you understand, essential emotional support, possibly tea, maybe a biscuit, extremely necessary.

Then I popped over to my friend Michelle for a blow dry, which felt glamorous for about ten minutes until I remembered the rest of my day involved dentists and driving around the country like a slightly stressed Uber driver.

Next stop the hygienist, which is essentially half an hour of lying there while someone aggressively power washes your teeth and asks you questions you absolutely cannot answer.

Then I drove another 21 miles to my special dentist who looks after my implants, which always sounds very glamorous until you remember implants are basically very expensive screws living in your head.

Teeth checked, screws confirmed still attached to my skull, excellent.

But the driving marathon was far from over.

Because next I drove another 44 miles back to collect my daughter from college and then straight to another appointment so she could have yet another blood test.

Six years into this mystery illness and blood tests have basically become part of the weekly entertainment.

After all that driving and medical life admin I finally got home thinking perhaps I might sit down for five minutes.

Absolutely not.

First job, put the bins out, because nothing grounds you back in reality faster than dragging wheelie bins to the curb after a day of pretending to be a professional chauffeur.

And then of course I started making the Mother’s Day cookies because clearly the day was not chaotic enough and baking seemed like the logical next step.

Now here is the interesting part.

Yesterday I ate over 110g of protein.

Now this might not sound revolutionary to most people but for someone who has spent months battling headaches, dizziness, constant hunger and a digestive system that behaves like a moody teenager, this felt like a scientific breakthrough.

And guess what happened.

No headache, no dizziness, no feeling like I might faint if I do not eat immediately.

Honestly though I nearly fell off my chair with the shock.

Then this morning something even stranger happened.

I woke up and I was not starving.

Normally my stomach wakes up before I do and immediately starts shouting feed me now or we will deploy the menopause headache.

But today it was calm, peaceful, civilised.

I actually managed to wait until 11.30 for breakfast which for me is basically the equivalent of completing an Olympic endurance event.

Breakfast ended up being eggs, beans, toast, rocket salad, broccoli and red pepper, which sounds like a slightly confused brunch buffet but apparently my body loved it.

And then after watching a video from Eric Berg something in my brain finally clicked. His concept was quite similar to The Fast 800 which I have done before and actually lost 27lb on, but this time it explained things in more detail about how certain habits can help the body mimic GLP-1, the hormone that drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro target.

Now I will be honest, when I see Vanessa Feltz looking fabulous advertising those injections it is very tempting.

But the idea of injecting something into my body that I cannot undo slightly terrifies me.

The funny thing is yesterday I ate over 1500 calories which technically breaks the diet rules.

And yet somehow I woke up two pounds lighter overnight.

Two pounds.

Which proves something I have been suspecting for a while.

Sometimes the body does not need less food, sometimes it just needs the right food.

The reality is I cannot do the Fast 800 again right now, even though it worked brilliantly before, because I am two years into menopause and honestly though it feels like someone has quietly changed the operating system inside my body.

The old rules do not work the same.

The hunger is different, the headaches are different, the dizziness is different and the scales seem to have developed their own personality.

So for now my plan is simple.

More protein, less chaos, listen to my body.

...And then today it was Mother’s Day.

And honestly though I did something completely outrageous.

I spent it entirely on my own.

No busy restaurants, no brunch queues, no crowded cafes where everyone looks slightly stressed while eating overpriced eggs.

Just me doing something I love.

I spent the day recording music for my YouTube and TikTok channel, Charlie's House Tunes, pressing record, playing around with tracks and getting lost in the music.

Peaceful, creative, calm.

And honestly though it has been delightful.

Because sometimes the best Mother’s Day is not flowers, lunch bookings or big plans.

Sometimes it is just a quiet day doing exactly what you love.

Even if the rest of the week involved dentists, blood tests, 65 miles of driving, wheelie bins and a sudden protein based scientific breakthrough.

Honestly though, if chaos burned calories I’d be at my goal weight by now.