Completion of 10 Day Detox Diet

Completion of 10 Day Detox Diet

Yesterday was the last day of the 10 Day Detox Diet which I started when I got back from my holiday and I made it, sticking to it for the full 10 days with some really surprising results. I thought I would write a post giving you the highs, lows and exactly what I achieved and also whether I would recommend trying it.
Let's get started with the positive:

• My weight has fallen from 65kg to 61.9kg meaning I lost an amazing 3.1kg or just under 7lbs in only 10 days.
• I also lost an inch off both my hips and my waist which is pretty good going.
• One important thing to note is on my blood sugar, there is a history of diabetes in my dad's side of the family and I tend to suffer with my blood sugar dropping too low iff I haven't eaten for a while so monitoring it in the morning was of real interest to me. At the start of the 10 days my blood sugar was under 3.5 mmol/L and was actually only 3.1 mmol/L on day 2 which is only just healthy. However by the end of the week I was getting readings of about 4.4 or 4.8 which was meaning I was waking up with way more energy and not needing time to wake up.
• I need to mention my skin, it looks better than it ever has done before, it has completely cleared up and the biggest difference is I no longer need to put make up under my eyes to cover horrible dark circles which I think I have been doing since I was 15 and if I don't people always commented on how tired I looked, not now!
• Then there is my energy levels, they are amazingly high. I have been monitoring my calorie intake during the 10 days and have been eating between 1100 and 1300 calories per day, running for 30-60 minutes and doing 45-60 minutes of yoga. Normally I would have expected to be exhausted, not now, I have plenty of energy and have been feeling better than when I was eating more and exercising less.
• It is also worth mentioning how lovely the recipes were in general, especially the lunches and dinners and there were a lot of different flavours, spices etc that were used to keep things tasty.
• One of the things that I will be taking from it is I am going to stay gluten-free to see if that keeps my energy levels up. If not I might need to start a food elimination process.
• I really enjoyed the UltraDetox Bath as well but maybe having one everyday was a bit much. I do think I might take this forward and have one a week though as they made me feel amazing and my sleep after was perfect.

So as you can see there are a hell of a lot of positives, but it is always good to balance things up and after all nothing is perfect, so hear goes:

• My first complaint is that the diet is very much written for meat eaters and so as a vegan I had to make a few subs, the problem was it then felt extra limited as the only protein I had was tofu or tempeh plus there was nuts and seeds. However when you are eating a slab of tofu for dinner for the third day out of 4, however lovely the recipes are you just wish you didn't have to eat another piece of tofu ever again. I am sure I will get over it but it was a bit samey, but then it was a detox!
• Now I need to mention the PGX supplement and this is partly my fault but I bought what I thought was powder but it was granules. If you decide to do this diet, please get capsules, drinking the granules, that don't dissolve was probably the most horrible thing I have done, it was always led but a slightly sick feeling which did have the advantage of making me less hungry but I definitely wouldn't recommend it.
• The other minor quibble I have is on the smoothies for breakfast, this was probably my least enjoyable meal and shows how much I like sugar. I did find one smoothie that I enjoyed but for the most part I found them tricky, especially one that just tasted like pureed kale, really not for me but everyone has their own preference.

So my overall conclusion is that I really enjoyed this diet and would recommend it to anyone that wants to kick start their weight loss. There are some important points that I want to share with anyone who is looking to loose weight that I have learnt over the years of being on numerous diets:

1. All diets work on calorie restriction, whatever they say. I know there is a lot of theory about not all calories are the same and not everyone responds the same and this is only from my point of view but if I eat less than 2000 calories a day I lose weight, if I eat more I put on weight it is as simple as that. The reason why when you eat healthy you can lose weight without eating calories is that good, whole, natural foods will fill you up for less calories. Simple really.
2. The first week of a diet is not real loss. I can hear you all now thinking "What are you talking about?" Well the truth is when you first restrict your calories your body sheds water, a lot of it and you lose weight. Then people get frustrated because they reach a plateau, and don't lose any weight in the second week so they come off a diet. However this second week is vital as the water comes back into your body and you now start losing fat and they are just balancing out. I have often found when on a diet I lose about 6lbs in the first week and nothing in the second, then if I stick at it I lose a steady 2lbs a week (which is healthy). It is for that reason that you should always stay on a diet more than 2 weeks, unless you only want to lose 6lbs.
3. You will be hungry on a diet. Don't believe the hype, whatever the diet there will be points when you are hungry and the decision to eat is down to you. This does not mean it is torture but you will have days to times in days when you think you could eat something else and it is just a matter of perspective, do you want to lose weight or stay as you are. It is important to go through those hungry moments to the point when you have your next meal and then when you get on the scales you will thank yourself for it and that will ensure you stay motivated. The more you cheat the less you lose. Just so you know my biggest weight loss was 28 lbs or 12.7kg in about 8-9 weeks.

Now you know about this particular diet, some overall diet tips and my details giving you an all round picture and this is actually one of the easiest diets I have followed so can highly recommend it.