When Ali Maffucci quit her corporate job to pursue her dream of becoming a health food blogger in 2013, the last thing she expected was to put on weight.
But lacking structure that her office job gave her, she found it difficult to find time to go to the gym and was constantly tempted by foods in the kitchen. Before long she'd put on what she calls her 'blogging weight', reaching 12 stone and a UK size 14/16.
"While I was immensely proud about my blog, I wasn’t proud of my body," she writes. "It was hard for me to get motivated to go to the gym, when I had sat down the whole day blogging or if I had stood up the whole day cooking.
"I told myself that it was more important to work on the blog than my body – that my body will always be there, but my blog only has one shot to be as successful as I want it to be."
The catalyst for change came when she landed a book deal (via her Inspiralized blog) and knew that she would have to be photographed for it. She realised she'd have to start practising what she preached and so hatched a plan to transform her body.
She decided to spiralize (turning vegetables into noodles with a spiralizer) religiously and start a new exercise plan.
Every lunch and dinner she swapped her usual pasta, potatoes and rice for spiralized veggies and in just three months Maffuci had lost a whopping 11 kilos (one stone and ten pounds) and she hasn't looked back.
"I said [to myself] I’m gonna eat healthy spiralized meals for lunch and dinner, and that kept me satisfied and kept me fueled. It’s such a fun way to eat, you never get bored of what you’re eating. It’s healthy and it makes you feel good," Maffucci told Healthista. "I felt satisfied all the time."
Maffucci isn't the only one turning veggies into noodles. According to reports by Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, sales of courgettes have gone through the roof, rising 13% and 20%, respectively.
Sales of leafy greens are also reported to have risen, with kale and spring greens among the favourites.
Something to do with world's sudden urge to spiralize, blend and juice everything in sight? Probably.
Maffucci also devised her own personalised exercise plan that involved a mixture of weight lifting and cardio.
If she were to give one piece of advice, it's not to follow the crowd.
"Find what works best for you and what’s manageable and DO IT," she writes. "Make your own plan that is tailored to you. Would you dress the way someone else would want you to dress? No! Then why would you follow someone else’s workout plan? You are the one that is going to be doing it – not that other person!"
Fancy trying it yourself? Check out these delicious spiralized recipes