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Diets tried and tested!

Weight.

That has got to be one of the most single talked about words in the English language; closely followed by dieting. We all have our own goals: whether it’s a summer holiday, a wedding, a special occasion or fitting into that little black dress (or kilt!) As a budding bride-to-be I’ve been playing around with several different diets all year, eventually dropping a stone on the diet that finally worked for me. There is absolutely nothing wrong with dieting short term for an occasion, sometimes there’s nothing else for it if times against you! But ideally you should find something that works for you and your lifestyle all year round – to maintain a healthy weight that you’re happy with.

The three main diets’ that I tried were the Clean 9 detox diet; The Amanda Hamilton diet and Weight Watchers. Each had totally opposite principles and approaches to weight loss. I found the Clean 9 the most successful as the other ones really didn’t fit into my hectic lifestyle; time management was the main thing I had to be careful with as I don’t have much time during the day to prepare meals!

The clean 9 detox diet

This is the first stage of dieting with the’ forever’ brand. It’s a 9 day programme designed to kick start weight loss whilst cleansing the body of unnatural chemicals – Yes, that means that no alcohol, smoking or take-aways are permitted! Typically a day would consist of drinking 3 Aloe Vera gel drinks, a vanilla shake, x6 garcinia tablets , x 4 bee pollen tablets and a 600 calorie meal at night.

The main base of the diet comes in the form of an Aloe Vera gel drink – this is apparently the closest thing to drinking Aloe Vera from the leaf – well, that sounded like it must be good for you. But the bad news was that it tasted blimin’ awful. The first day I had it I had to inspect the bottle and sell-by-date for a good ten minutes before deducing that it’s meant to taste like that; this reality was quite alarming considering you drink 3 big bottles in 9 days! But since it’s excellent for the digestive system and for energy levels (and because I’d already bought it) I stuck with it.

The tablets that are used in conjunction with the detox are Garcinia tablets and Bee Pollen tablets. The Garcinia tablets help to aid natural metabolism as well as lowering cholesterol and fatty acids. They also promote healthy hair, nails and skin and are typically taken 20 minutes before the meals to help digestion. The bee pollen tablets contain vast amounts of vitamins, amino acids and minerals. They help to boost stamina levels as well as maintaining a healthy circulatory, digestive, immune and nervous system – always test a small amount of any product like this incase of allergies! These are taken after 2 meals each day.

Days one and two are tough. You don’t have your 600 calorie meal until day 3 so it’s all liquid that you drink – but it’s amazing how quickly your body adapts to not having so much food. After day 2 I’d dropped 3 pounds and 2 inches on my waist – I was extremely impressed with the results after just 2 days and could already fit into clothes that hadn’t gone near me for a year!

After day 2 it’s an absolute breeze. It was great because I didn’t have to think about preparing any meals during the day and that I had a nice healthy meal to look forward to at night. It encouraged me to up my water intake and ended up drinking 2 ½ - 3 litres of water every day. The diet suggests 20 minutes of light exercise daily – I found this more than manageable as 20 minutes is no time at all! My headaches started to clear, my skin started to brighten up and my energy levels were the best they’d been for a long time. All in all I lost 9 pounds on this diet and 6 inches in total – friends and family both commented that I was looking healthier and more confident – all after just 9 days!

But as you will have gathered these are brand products and not products you will be walking past in the Co op or Tescos! The clean 9 kit is around £108 and includes all of the products I’ve mentioned. The follow on plan is £160 – unfortunately this diet is not a cheap option. I feel that a 9 day shop wouldn’t amount to much more though!

For more information on this diet option check out www.clothesfit.myflpbiz.com for the island’s distributer!

The Amanda Hamilton Real results diet

I attempted this diet back in March of this year and am still cooking some of the gorgeous recipes I got from it. This is an online option which delivers specific breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes for 28 consecutive days. It includes all of the essential food groups over the course of the day so you never go hungry and blood sugar levels are constantly being topped up; so you never have that energy dip half way through the day when the chocolate/crisp/coffee cravings set in! It was a diet that was unattainable for me to finish though as I simply didn’t have the time to cook all of the yummy soups and salads that were expected during the day – and the main meals were sometimes fish based which is difficult when your other half screws his nose up at the mention of a prawn!

I had come across the diet through a special offer in a newspaper so only paid £10 – it’s generally £39.95 to sign up for this through www.amandahamiltonweightloss.co.uk

Weight watchers ProPoints

I tried this popular diet at the end of last year after hearing of success stories but sadly to no avail. I have zero willpower when it comes to time consuming tasks such as filling in everything you’ve consumed (from a tsp of margarine or a glass of orange juice) to determine how many points you have used up each day. But as with everything practise makes perfect, and I think if you actively stuck to this diet and online food diary you would see results!

The ProPoints plan is quite clever. This plan has certain foods such as fruits, vegetables and yoghurts that are unlimited or are ‘zero’ in terms of points – this encourages you to eat your five a day and enables you to stretch your points over the course of the day! The points values are quite surprising in some cases, I remember there being a considerable amount of points in something as innocent as ribena – I thought that was meant to be healthy, it has grapes on the cover!

Tasty, low-fat recipes are provided meaning that you can have a bit of what you fancy every day! I loved their korma curry and the sweet and sour chicken dishes. The supermarkets provide some weight watchers meals as well which tell you the point’s value on the packet – very handy, as a home-made chicken salad can take a bit to calculate if oils or dressings have been added.

I didn’t lose a pound, an inch or dress size on this diet, and yes, that’s because I basically tried and failed at it – it wasn’t for me!

But if you have more willpower than this fellow Leosach go to www.weightwatchers.co.uk The standard monthly rate is £19.99 but this site tends to offer a free trial for first timers.

All in all I definitely found the clean 9 the best diet for me. As you may have noticed I slip on and off the diet band wagon if it’s too much hassle or if I get bored! Weight watchers and the Amanda Hamilton diets are full of great, tasty recipes however so this may be the best option if you’re after a more satisfying, long-term diet plan.

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