Whenever I mention to folk I want to loose a few pounds I always get the response "You don't need to loose weight".  If I was cheeky enough I would reply "You haven't seen me naked".  I get it though, I have always been tall so I can gain a stone and nobody but myself can see it.  But the trouble is that as I am 1/2 an inch off 6 foot, when I gain a stone or even just half a stone I can't fit into a size 12.  Size 14's just dont fit me.  They may fit around the waist, but they are ill fitting elsewhere. So for the past couple of years I have been living in leggings.

What annoys me is that many people over the years have called me skinny.  But I have not been skinny since I was a teenager when I was first living in a bedsit at 16 and partying too much and not eating enough.  Calling someone skinny is as much as an insult as calling someone fat.  I guess people make comes based on what is relative to them.  If they are quite a bit overweight, then even when I am overweight I would be thin or skinny to them.

Being tall isn't that great to be honest, clothes dont fit unless I am a size 12 and I get a lot of jealously from women. As a young woman I hated it and wished i could chop some of my legs off.  I hated being taller than boys and standing out like a sore thumb.  But over the years I have learnt to live with it.

The weight has crept on since I started working from home back in 2009.  Not having to walk anywhere and being able to get biscuits and the like from the kitchen next door hasn't helped.  Also from time to time I suffer with depression and anxiety which has stopped me keeping up my exercise.  I used to always be a member of a club or doing some form of exercise but resent years this seemed to had dwindled.  I have been pushing my artwork so spending most evenings creating my flower people. But I haven't been happy so I decided to so something about it.

I have since joined BodyFit in Wellington and have been going to regular classes.  I did join a year or so ago with a friend but when my friend stopped going so did I.  I decided this year that I missed her classes and saw on facebook the club had moved and they run a clubbercise class.   This sounded right up my street as I love to dance and looking at the videos it looked so much fun, plus they do it to all my favourite dance tunes.  So I took my daughter-in-law along and started the classes.  When my daughter-in-law stopped going, so did I for a bit until I thought why am I not going just because she isn't..  So I got brave and went on my own. Best thing I ever did.  The lady who runs the classes is Elisha and she is just a bundle of energy and a lovely girl.   She is young so with that as her job has an enviable figure.  I think just because we reach our 40's doesn't mean we have to put up with the middle age spread as my mum calls it. Recently Elisha has been selling the Forever Living products which I have come across before. She had a talk about the products and mentioned the C9 detox and thought this might be worth a try.

In the past I have lost weight using Slimming World which I do recommend, and to be fair I do follow the diet to this day but also forgetting it and pigging out at the weekends, hence not loosing.  Being a target member I could have gone back to Slimming World, but fancied the sound of this detox.  In fairness I only did it because I wanted to give back something to Elisha, she works so hard and I know that you really have to sell a lot of Forever Living products for her to make any real profit.  So it was part to kick start my weight loss but also part to support her.  I only have about half a stone to loose and after hearing that weightless is a added bonus to this detox I decided to give it a shot.

Now many people believe that you need to do exercise to loose weight.  I totally disagree with this.  A few years ago I gained a couple of stone and I lost it in a few months by going to Slimming World and not doing any exercise.  It was when I was in my lazy period.  So I know that you dont have to up the exercise to loose weight. When we are overweight it is simply because we are eating too much of the wrong foods.  On slimming world you end up eating more of the good stuff, fruit and vegatables and just a few snacks or syns. Also remember the more we put into our body, the more the body has to work.

Exercise for me has always been about boosting my serotonin levels.  If you dont know about serotonin levels, there are many researchers who believe that an imbalance in serotonin levels may influence mood in a way that leads to depression.  I whole heartily believe this because the only time I get down is when I am not getting regular exercise. Since joining body fit and going to classes each week I haven't felt down at all and in fact have felt better than I have in a long time.  It was just the fact that I was still eating crap at the weekends that stopped the weight coming off.  So here is my review of the C9 Detox which I completed this Saturday.

C9 Detox Review

You are supposed to drink 8 glasses of water a day and can have free feeds such as strawberries and other fruit and veg in moderation.  My bladder didn't know what had hit it!
Before you start C9 you measure your waist and stuff.  Here were my measurements:

Weight 11.4
Chest 93cm
Biceps 28ch
Waist 93cm
Hips 96cm
Thighs 56cm
Calves 34cm

Days 1 and 2

On days 1 & 2 you only have what comes with the programme but are allowed some free foods in moderation.  Also you are only supposed to so low impact exercise like walking.  I just walked the dog a couple of times a day.

Breakfast 
 2 x Forever Garcinia Plus Softgels
120ml Forever Aloe Vera Gel
1x Forever Therm Tablet

Snack
1x packet forever fiber

Lunch
2 x Forever Garcinia Plus Softgels
120ml Forever Aloe Vera Gel
1x Forever Therm Tablet
1x Scoop Forever Lite Ultra

Dinner
2 x Forever Garcinia Plus Softgels
120ml Forever Aloe Vera Gel

Evening    
120ml Forever Aloe Vera Gel
250ml of water

I stuck with this and just had an apple and some strawberries each day.  I found it quite easy but they do say the first two days are the hardest.

Days 3 - 9 

Your supposed to step up the exercise which i did a bit not most majorly.  I just walked the dog and went to lots of classes at BodyFit. Food wise you can now add a 600 calorie meal. The full plan you eat is below: 

Breakfast 
 2 x Forever Garcinia Plus Softgels
120ml Forever Aloe Vera Gel
1x Forever Therm Tablet
1x Scoop Forever Lite Ultra 

Snack
1x packet forever fiber

Lunch
2 x Forever Garcinia Plus Softgels
1x Forever Therm Tablet
1x Scoop Forever Lite Ultra

Dinner
2 x Forever Garcinia Plus Softgels
600- Calerie Meal

Evening    
250ml of water

Again I just snacked on apples and strawberries as they were the only things I really like out of the free food list.

On day four I had a tired spell but in general i felt great all the way through it.  My energy levels were rasied and by the end of it I could see and feel the results. I didnt loose as much weight as I'd have liked however they do say that the amount of weight loss depends on a number of things.  For me I wasn't that much over weight.

This is what I dropped to at the end of it:

Weight 11.0
Chest 93cm
Biceps 26cm
Waist 91cm
Hips 94.5cm
Thighs 52cm
Calves 33cm

However I'm not sure if these measurements are accurate as I only realised the tape measure doesn't start at the very end of tape. So they could be 2 cm out. Can't remember whether I realised this on first measurement or not.  I also used my scales to check fat, bmi etc:

Fat 23.5- 22.8
Body water 56.0-56.4
Bone mass 6.5-6.3
BMI 22.1-21.6

The only thing I missed on this detox was a cup of tea and salt.  I am a big salt fan I must say and do put it on everything.   Below are some before and after pictures: