Trying out detox - part one

---

I've read a lot about this when I've been reading about metabolism and weight loss. Some diets even promotes it as part of the diet to jump start your metabolism, so I thought I'd give it a try as an addition to my regular training and diet and see if has any effect.

I went to the health store and found this:

I imagine there are several different brands out there but this one looked the most appealing to me. It's called LivSlim and is a product from Good Health which is a company based in New Zealand and Australia. The product claims to cleanse your liver, help your metabolism and reduce the effects of stress. All three sounds good to me.

I started taking the liquid today and I'm suppose to take 18 ml twice per day. You can hardly see it but on the package it says, 'great tasting'...you can scrap that right away...it has a very bitter taste and I can tell you that in 10 days I will be happy for at least one reason...I won't have to drink it anymore.

Ingredients per 18 ml dose:
Herbal extracts equivalent to dry
*Camellia sinensis leaf (Green tea) 9.0 g
*Standardised to provide 36 mg of caffeine
*Silybum marianum seed (Milk Thistle) 5.8 g
*Schisandra chinensis fruit (Schisandra) 750 mg
*Calcium Hydrixycitrate (Equiv. to 457 mg HCA) 914 mg

I will update you on the progress of this.

health mode v1 - results

---

Hi guys!
So I have reached the end of my first health period since the start of this blog.
As you might remember these were my goals when I started:

GOAL:
bellybutton = 72 cm
weight = 50 kg

By the beginning of last week I told you guys that I would focus on cardio and fat burning exercises but after a rough start 3 hours of sleep in 72 hours I could not manage to get up in the mornings and the rest of the week I've been dead tired.
I've also had a fair amount of wine and other drinks and foods not matching the diet I set for myself. So I was prepared for the worst when I headed to the gym to weigh myself.

.: week 5 - final data :.

Female (yup, still female)
Age: 26
Height: 158.5 cm
Weight:51 kg (+0.45 kg)
Estimated BMR: 1300 cal

Measure points are taken with my body relaxed.
Problem areas are my waist under my bellybutton and lower back.

body part
chest:
upper arms:
waist:
bellybutton:
buttocks:
thighs:
calfs:

one week ago
83 cm
26.2/26.2 cm
66.6 cm
71.8 cm
87.5 cm
49.5/49.5 cm
33.3/33.3 cm

now
85 cm (+2 cm)
26.3/26.5 cm (+0.1/+0.3 cm)
66.8 cm (+.2 cm)
71.5 cm (-0.3 cm yay!)
88 cm (+ 0.5 cm)
49.5/49.5 cm (+-0 cm)
33.3/33.3 cm (+-0 cm)

body part
weight:
chest:
upper arms:
waist:
bellybutton:
buttocks:
thighs:
calfs:

final results
-0.6 kg
+1 cm (probably due to 'that time of the month')
+0.3/+0.2 cm
-1.2 cm
-3 cm
-0.5 cm
-0.5/-0.5 cm
+0.3/+0.3 cm

Analyze of the results:
If we start off by looking at the previous week only and look at my weight. My weight and measurements might puzzle some of you...because I gained weight but still lost some around my bellybutton. I was puzzled too but then when I measured the rest of my body it became clear. As far as I know I haven't done any plastic surgery and still my chest grew by 2 cm...it's almost that time of the month, so my body is probably holding on to more water.

So if we look at the big picture instead. Even though my health period was interrupted by a two week vacation I managed to reach my primary goal which was transforming my waist from 74.8 cm down to 72 cm...I ended up on 71.5 cm which is great!
I reckon it's not only the change of diet and more cardio that did it but also some of the exercises I did which tightened up the muscles in the abdominal area and back.

So what about my weight? I started at 51.6 kg and ended up at 51 kg and even though my goal was 50 kg I'm not crying rivers. First of all, you can't fight begin a woman...I'm suspecting that my body is holding on to more water as it is that time of the month. Secondly, I trust the measuring tape more than the scales, I've been planning on writing about why scales are devious and I will soon. But I think the results have proven my point enough for now. I gained weight but still lost fat around my waist...so do I trust numbers on something I stand on once per week or do I trust what I see in the mirror?

Over all I'm very happy with my results, looking back on how many times I strayed from the path I laid out for myself which includes more alcohol than usual and one or a few pizzas. I've had some side effects from being healthy too. I've gained some muscle mass and I've gotten stronger...proof of this is that when I started I could do 25 push ups and now I can do 40. I would probably have lost more weight if I hadn't added more proteins to my diet and a little bit of weight lifting...but it would have been muscles and not fat and I don't want to lose my muscles :)
So not only can I see the change in the mirror, I'm also stronger and I feel that I don't get as winded as easily as before. I've also got a much better posture...which I think you can see from the images!

I hope that I've shown you guys that it doesn't really take that much to change your body and that you don't have to be a slave under your diet or exercises...the most important step is the change itself and how your mind is set.

This is what I look like now (got 2 new bites :/):


This is what i looked like four weeks ago:

health mode v1 - week 4

---

Hi all, this is the beginning of the final week, the last week I have left to achieve my goals.
The past 2 weeks have been a bit off track with the whole vacation and all...but result wise it isn't as bad I thought it would be after all those drinks and late dinners. Luckily I remained pretty active during the day with kayaking and paragliding.

.: starting data week 4 :.

Female (yup, still female)
Age: 26
Height: 158.5 cm
Weight:50.55 kg (+0.10 kg)
Estimated BMR: 1300 cal

Measure points are taken with my body relaxed.
Problem areas are my waist under my bellybutton and lower back.

bodypart
chest:
upper arms:
waist:
under bellybutton:
buttocks:
thighs:
calfs:

two weeks ago
84.5 cm (+ 0.5 cm)
26.1/26.3 cm (+0.1/0 cm)
67 cm (-1 cm, yay! )
72.8 cm (-1.9, cm yay!)
88 cm (- 0.5)
49.5/49.5 cm (-0.5/-0.5 cm)
33.3/33.3 cm (+0.3/+0.3 cm)

now
83 cm (- 1.5 cm)
26.2/26.2 cm (+0.1/-0.1 cm)
66.6 cm (-0.4 cm, yay! )
71.8 cm (-1 cm yay!)
87.5 cm (- 0.5 cm)
49.5/49.5 cm (+-0 cm)
33.3/33.3 cm (+-0 cm)

GOAL:
bellybutton = 72 cm
weight = 50 kg
in one week from now.

Analyze of the results:
As you can see I've achieved one of my goals already, my bellybutton waist is down to 71.8 cm and my goal was 72 so that's all good. I'm not quite sure what conclusion I should make about the weight...but 0.1 kg is probably just a bit of fluctuation because of the water level in my body. I'm suspecting I've added some muscles too after a couple of gym sessions, kayaking and paragliding and since muscles weigh more than fat it could be another reason to why I've gained weight.
It will be interesting to see if I can make it to 50 kg this week :)
I will continue doing some gym sessions where I mostly target my abdominal area and with a bit of cardio at the end and I will also try and do a bit more low impact training like walking and swimming when I don't go the gym.

This is what I look like now. I'm not sure if there is much of a change:


This is what i looked like two weeks ago:


This is what i looked like three weeks ago:

I'm back

---

I'm back from my vacation and I've been very active with kayaking, swimming, walking up steep hills with 15 kgs of paragliding equipment for about 7 days getting bitten by mosquitoes and sandflies plenty of times, to give you an example, I have 20 bites on my left arm...
But the reward is all worth it, I've got an awesome tan, I worked my back muscles paddling the kayak and I am officially a PG1 rated Paragliding pilot :)

I've been fairly good with food but since it was a vacation I also had a few drinks...okay okay more than a few :)

I have loads to catch up with now, but I'll get back to you tomorrow with my results after the two weeks that has passed and maybe the next part of fitness simplified if there is enough time.