The Trials & Tribulations of the C9 Diet – An Introduction…….

I am currently undertaking a detox…… for those people that know me well, this fact will be no surprise.  Having grown up as quite a porky teenager and feeling very conscious of my size, I have been quite stringent in managing my weight.  In fact I would almost say I am verging on obsessive!  My life revolves around dieting from the minute I wake up to the minute I fall asleep.  Actually, I’m lying.  My life revolves around food!  Food glorious food!  I love food!  I am a typical Cancerian who thinks with her stomach.  I am perfectly able to visualise plates of food 24/7…….none of it remotely healthy or good for me of course.  You are talking to the person who can clear a packet of rich tea biscuits in one sitting, a box of chocolates in one evening (I’m talking a big box!), the person who will always incorporate visiting a cafe or food outlet during excursions, even if all I’ve done is nip out to buy a pint of milk!  Hence my obsession with dieting.  How else am I meant to manage my needless but immensely pleasurable daily binges???? 

Outside of my binges, I generally eat quite healthily.  This is my way of generally maintaining my weight……be good during the day, then make up for it by eating as much crap as I can in the evening!  Three years ago (almost to the day) I gave up smoking.  I didn’t plan to give up, just woke up one morning and decided that was it.  It worked.  Other than an occasional cigarette following a few gins, I have no wish or urge to smoke again.  But the downside was that I slowly put on a stone in weight.  Three years later and after trying numerous fad diets, I am still to lose that stone in weight.  I am not technically overweight and have a BMI of approximately 22.3.  But this extra stone I’m carrying doesn’t sit well with me and being a general depressive, my weight heavily affects my mood (which duly impacts on those around me, especially my long-suffering husband).  To say I have a lack of self control is an understatement however, and I have come to realise that significantly reducing my food intake has a negative effect on my body which seems to think it will be more fun to go into starvation mode!  Consequently, the weight loss plateau’s and I become even more grumpy and demoralised.

But enough’s enough, and I have decided drastic action is required.  Hence the C9 (Clean 9) Diet.  Forever Living (the originators of this diet) make it perfectly clear that this is a detox, not a weight loss diet.  Weight loss is a bonus but may not occur for some people.  Aloe Vera forms the basis of this detox which is undertaken over a 9 day period.  The first 2 days consist of a total detox where only liquid is consumed, including 4 lots of Aloe Vera gel/liquid mixed with 250ml of water, plus a ‘milkshake’ once a day (available in either chocolate or vanilla flavour – of course, I opted for chocolate!).  A number of tablets are also taken at breakfast, lunch and dinner together with a fibre supplement which should be taken separately to the tablets to prevent binding.  On days 3 to 9, food is re-introduced via a 600-calorie evening meal.  Breakfast and lunch consists of a ‘milkshake’ (together with the tablets).  One glass of the aloe vera gel/liquid should also be consumed during the morning in addition to the fibre supplement.  On all 9 days of the detox, approximately 30 minutes of exercise should be undertaken.  The C9 Diet comes with an explanatory booklet which is very user friendly and allows the user to record their goals, feelings, concerns during the detox and ‘tick off’ the relevant parts of the diet for each day.  In fact, I think this is one of the most comprehensive and useful booklets I’ve ever received with a diet giving simple ideas for exercise you could undertake and suggestions for 600 calorie meals for days 3 to 9 (which I have been studying with intent!).

At this point, it is worth stressing that I am not a representative of the diet company, I do not sell their products (nor have any intention of doing so), and I sourced the diet via a Forever Living Outlet rather than directly from a representative for cost saving reasons.  I am a regular middle aged housewife trying to kick-start a manageable weight loss regime by undertaking a detox which, according to the many reviews I have read,  has resulted in significant loss of lbs for many users during the 9 days.  Unfortunately, I have found that it is very difficult to determine whether reviews I have read are those of representatives as oppose to regular individuals like myself who have no ties or links to this particular detox.  Hence my wish to write an honest and personal review of the C9 Diet……..I am currently on Day 3 (and bloody hungry!) and would like to provide the reader with an unbiased account of my actual experience and results throughout the course of the detox. 

I hope the above provides a bit of background information, and I will be following this up shortly with a blog of my experience of the detox over the last 2 days (the liquid diet stage!)………….

Until then, Anthea xxx