I’ve spent the last month or so indulging in a lot of food and drink that I’m not meant to. I’ve been exercising a bit – but not as much as I should have been. My sister introduced me to blogilates. I really enjoy those (short) workouts!
Anyway, so after all my indulgence, I’ve decided it’s time for a cleanse. So I started the Clean 9 again today. I won’t post updates as I’ve done in the past – there’s only so many times I can tell you that I’m hungry and that I ate stir-fry for dinner!
I’ll update you if I anything out of the ordinary happens!
Here’s to cleansing!
X
Tag: detox
The New C9 – Days 3 to 9
Day 3
I weighed myself first thing in the morning and saw that I’d lost 2 kg. I was rather ecstatic! But as the day progressed I managed to convince myself that I’d read the scale wrong and that I’d only lost 1 kg. Why? Because I made the mistake of weighing myself again (later in the day) and the numbers were higher. It was a silly thing to do – because they do say that your weight will fluctuate – especially on days 3 – 5.
I followed all the instructions as I was meant to – and, I was surprised that I felt quite energetic all day! I dropped Vins off at summer camp in the morning, rushed home to collect Booni, took him to playgroup, brought him back home, did my 30 Day Shred DVD, rushed into the shower, rushed to collect Vins and then went to the supermarket. I had NO time to think about food until after my afternoon protein shake. It was only once I sat down and relaxed that I decided I couldn’t wait to eat! I spent the whole afternoon waiting for 8 pm and dinner.
On days 3 – 9, you’re allowed a 600 calorie meal for dinner. I had some whole wheat pasta with mushrooms and broccoli. It was… disappointing. It was good. But it was disappointing. I didn’t weigh out all the food to make sure it was 600 calories, I just kind of hoped it wasn’t more!
I slept really well on days 1 and 2 and was surprised that it took me so long to fall asleep on day 3. I put it down to having food in my tummy!
Day 4
I woke up tired – but that’s because I hadn’t slept well. I had the Forever Garcinia Plus soft gels, the aloe vera gel (followed by 250 ml of water as recommended), the Forever Therm tablet and the protein shake.
There was no playgroup, so I was able to exercise for a bit longer. I found my Davina McCall Body Buff DVD and did the warm up, arms, abs and stretch bits.
Lunch was the same as breakfast. In the afternoon I thought I’d share an apple with Booni – so he had a slice and I had the rest!
I was ready to eat dinner very early. My tummy was growling by 6 pm. However, my children had other ideas. While putting Vins to sleep, Booni woke. After getting Booni back to sleep, I had to go back to Vins. I didn’t end up eating until about 9 pm! I had Quinoa with chicken and stir-fried vegetables. It was rather yummy! Again, I didn’t weigh any of the food. I mean, there’s no way a bowl of Quinoa and vegetables can be more than 600 calories. Right?
Day 5
I woke up feeling quite energised! This was the first day where I didn’t have to check the instructions to see what to have and in what order – it was automatic. Good, no? I dropped Vins off, came back for Booni and went to playgroup. After coming back from playgroup I did the Davina DVD again. This time I did the warm up, boxing, abs and stretch parts. I felt GREAT! I showered and got dressed. Today, for the first time in ages, maybe years, I tucked my shirt into my shorts! I’m not saying I looked better. My arse is still a mile wide. And the shirt was big! I don’t know if I looked any slimmer. But I felt good!
I also found myself looking forward to working out the next day. Who’d have thought??
Because I worked out for a little longer, I was running late to collect Vins – so I waited until we came home before having “lunch”. This was probably a mistake as I had two errands to do before coming home and the traffic was horrendous. I ended up having my shake at 4 pm and I was starving!
I had an early dinner of rice noodles and stir-fried chicken and vegetables. Delicious!
Day 6
Funnily enough, I woke early this morning. Not early, early. But Vin didn’t have to wake me. And I felt refreshed. I’m usually so sluggish in the morning, but I was up and ready to start the day (makes you sick, no?).
Day 6 is a “weigh day”. But I forgot. I had my two Forever Garcinia softgels and then remembered! I was disappointed to see I’d only lost 2 kg. Or that I hadn’t lost any weight since day 3. Or had I misread on day 3 and lost one more kilo? In any case, I was only two kilos down from my original weight. I’d read on many sites that it was possible to lose from five to nine kilos on this cleanse. Surely I should have lost more than that?
After dropping Vin off at camp I came back to my Davina DVD. I did the warm up, legs and core, arms, abs and stretch bits. I was very pleased with myself. It was much more than I normally do!
After showering, I took my measurements. I was going to wait until day 9 before doing this, but thought I had to see that this was all worth it. I’d lost one inch from my waist, one inch from my thighs, one inch from each arm and one inch from my neck. This was good. But not good enough. Shouldn’t more inches and kilos have come off?
I had my “lunch” on time and felt pretty good. I started to feel a bit peckish by late afternoon, so decided to have an apple. I think it made me hungrier!
It was also my in laws’ wedding anniversary on this day. I ordered them the most gorgeous chocolate cake. We cut the cake together. And I cut a slice for Vins. But I didn’t have any. I didn’t even lick my fingers 🙂
Instead, I had an early dinner of stir-fried tofu and vegetables (yes, again) with rice noodles. I think it was during dinner that I realised I’d bought the wrong noodles. I was meant to buy whole wheat Udon noodles. Oops. Will it affect my weight loss?
Day 7
While pouring my morning aloe vera gel, I suddenly realised that there wouldn’t be enough to last me through to day 9. Now what?
I had “breakfast” as usual, and after dropping Vins off and doing some stuff around the house, I did the Body Buff DVD again. This time I did the warm up, boxing, abs, arms and stretch. I had a good ache in my legs for the rest of the day!
I had my softgels, aloe vera gel and water, Forever therm and protein shake on time. The aloe vera gel finished. Oh dear.
One thing I never mentioned before is the Forever Fiber. It’s a small sachet, which is meant to be mixed with water as a ‘snack’. I had this every day after my workout. It didn’t taste of anything, but it was annoying because it never dissolved properly and there were bits floating around in my water!
My in laws had a dinner at home on day 7. I did what was expected of me and hung about downstairs, offering people drinks, etc. I had my own dinner before the guests arrived, so I didn’t feel too tempted to eat the onion cakes, kebabs, red pepper cheese and all the other very yummy looking food that was served! I was pretty proud of myself!
The nanny was off, so it was a long night with Vin and Booni. They both woke at 1 am and wouldn’t go back to sleep. They both wanted cuddles to go back to sleep – and I couldn’t manage them both at the same time. Vins didn’t want to sleep in his bed and Booni refused to settle in his cot. So at 3 am we all ended up in my bed. Just as well LagosDad was out of town!
Day 8
Booni was up at 7 am and I was exhausted! I handed him over to the nanny and got back into bed. But I couldn’t get back to sleep. Vins woke at 8 am and started demanding breakfast, so we went downstairs.
As soon as he finished, I got into my gym clothes, had my Forever Garcinia Plus and went down to have my protein shake about thirty minutes later. The aloe had run out the day before, and I kind of missed it. Strange, huh?
I was feeling pretty lazy and didn’t actually do my workout until about 1 pm. Instead, I fed Booni grapes and a pancake. And did some catching up on season 4 of Homeland! Also, I spent my time thinking about which workout to do. I was feeling too lazy to do a ‘proper’ workout. In the end I did Davina’s Body Buff DVD again. I surprised myself by doing the warm up, boxing, abs, arms, abs again and the stretch!
I spent the rest of the day relaxing (in bed) and in the late afternoon I treated myself to a massage. I hadn’t had one in ages and my legs and shoulders were aching. It was so good!
I had an early dinner of Quinoa, chicken and vegetables (Chinese style).
Day 9
I couldn’t believe the last day had come around so fast! I slept well the night before, and woke up ready to work out. I weighed myself first. I have lost a grand total of… 2.5 kg. What a disappointment!
After that I was feeling a little unmotivated and took my time getting dressed and sorting myself out.
I finally got my workout in. I did Davina’s Body Buff again. I did the warm up, boxing, abs, arms and stretch. I wore my Zaggora HotPants for the first time in a very long time (they’re not actually hotpants, by the way!). I’d forgotten what they felt like – it was kind of difficult to move around in them, but I sweated a lot more! I wish I’d thought of them sooner.
I was planning to continue having the shakes for breakfast and lunch – but the formula ran out at breakfast. I’ve already ordered another from Jumia (chocolate this time), but I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get here! They actually recommend having a 200 calorie meal (on day 9) for lunch instead of the shake (I was trying to take the easy way out!). Now that I was shakeless, I had two apples and five grapes instead. I was quite full afterwards and then started worrying about how many calories there were in apples and had I gone over my two hundred calorie limit!
By mid-afternoon I started feeling peckish again. Now I could have gone and had some more grapes. Or another apple. Or even some cucumber. But I decided that popcorn would do. Homemade salted popcorn. One cup is 55 calories. I know I shouldn’t have done it – but I did. I had a cup of popcorn.
LagosDad came back from his work trip in Amsterdam (pfft) and unpacked about a million packets of chocolate biscuits, cheeses and chocolates. I’m so glad he wasn’t here while I was doing this – I don’t think I’d have been able to stick to it!
We had dinner and watched Homeland until 1 am.
I forgot to take my measurements on day 9, so I took them this morning (Monday – the day after day 9 instead). I’ve lost two inches from my tummy and two inches from my chest, one inch from my thighs, each arm and my neck. I’m not totally happy with my results. What did I do wrong? I probably should have weighed my food every day – to make sure I hadn’t gone over 600 calories.
Anyway – so disappointed was I, I had a (thin) slice of that chocolate cake from my in laws’ anniversary. And then I felt guilty.
So that’s that. That’s my New C9. All over and done with!
Forever FIT 1 next.
It’s Time
I look around at my friends and acquaintances, people I see regularly and not so regularly – and I wonder at how they look so fabulous all the time. I wonder about it – especially since most of them have at least two kids. I wonder about it – even though I know the answer already. They exercise and they watch what they eat.
When I say they ‘exercise’, I mean they really exercise. Every day. Whether it’s cardio, yoga or with their personal trainers – they do it. One or two of them do it twice a day (why they’d put themselves through that, I don’t know).
And, as I said, they watch what they eat. And I mean they really watch what they eat. They count calories. Or they only have soups, salads and wraps. They don’t eat carbs. They don’t eat white rice or white bread. And they definitely don’t eat anything fried. Or dessert. Unless it’s a special occasion.
So while I marvel at their willpower, I wonder why I can’t do the same. I envy their skinny jeans, slim thighs and lack of pot belly. I HAVE to have a Coke if I go out to eat. And I WANT to have the French fries. And I WON’T deny myself some dessert – on any day. Why? No really, why? Why can’t I just say, ‘Right, today I won’t have a cupcake’ and actually not have a cupcake? Or a KitKat. Or a Nutella sandwich. Mmmm… A Nutella sandwich!
Last month I decided to start going to Zumba classes with a couple of my friends. I went twice a week. For two weeks. I enjoyed the music. And I didn’t mind too much about getting extremely sweaty. But I hate jumping around. First of all there’s no sports bra in the world that will stop my girls bouncing around. And secondly, I’m so heavy I just can’t move fast enough! My other excuse reason for not going any more is that between taking Booni to playgroup three mornings a week and then going to Zumba the other two mornings, I’m not at home on any morning. And therefore, I’m not getting anything done!
I’m getting a bit tired of the digs LagosDad is making about my lack of enthusiasm for exercising. Just because he’s super slim, he goes on about how ‘I don’t eat bread’ and ‘I exercise at home’ blah blah blah. What he doesn’t realise is the more he goes on at me, the less likely I am to trade in my Havaianas for trainers.
So it was after my last conversation with Vins that I decided it was time. Time to start doing something.
I went onto Jumia and ordered my Clean 9 detox kit (N24000). I’ve done this detox before – about two years ago, and I’m ready to do it again.
So it arrived on Wednesday. And I decided I’ll start it on Saturday. LagosDad is going away for work on Saturday, so I thought it might be easier to do it while he’s away.
I opened the box and saw that while the whole detox thing is basically the same as when I did it before, some changes have been made. It’s now called C9 FIT. I had to go online to find the instructions on what to do and when to do it because… The instruction booklet wasn’t in the box. (I have emailed Jumia about this twice. But I’ve still not heard back from them.)
Anyway, so I’m ready to start on Saturday. I just have to go and buy some almond milk tomorrow. And some brown rice and whole wheat pasta or noodles or whatever – and I’m good to go. I think. I can’t remember what the aloe vera gel tastes like – but I do rememer it being absolutely disgusting. I’m dreading that part.
Oh – and once you finish the C9 F.I.T., there’s a 30 day programme called Forever FIT 1 (N42000 on Jumia) followed by another 30 day programme called Forever FIT 2 (N45000 on Jumia). I’d like to try the Forever FIT 1 later in the summer (and maybe even FIT 2 after that) – so if you sell it for less, or know anyone who does, please let me know!
So, it’s time.
Wish me luck!