1066 All Stars

Background

Having struggled with my weight for most of my life, in October 2014 I embarked on a healthy living campaign, reducing the amount of junk and snack foods in my diet and implementing a regular exercise regime.

From my starting weight of 12st 4lbs, I managed to reach 11st by Christmas 2014, representing 18lbs lost in 3 months.

Now a year later, with the healthy living regime embedded into my daily life, I have maintained my weight at or around the 11st mark, checking in for my final pre-Christmas weigh in at 11st 1lb.

This lifestyle change was driven in part by a desire to see what impact it would have on my mental health, documented in this blog series. But despite the improvements to my figure and mentality, there remain underlying issues with both body and mind.

And so 2016 represents a good place to try something different.

Current Diet

My eating routines are a self-devised plan of relatively balanced eating combined with exercise.

The key aspect is a change to my daily meal plan. Rather than a heavy dinner, I switched my main meal to lunchtime, followed by a brisk walk, ensuring that carbs are consumed during the day and intake limited post-3pm, an admittedly arbitrary deadline. Dinner is then a lighter meal, often containing many of the same elements as before but with the carbs stripped out, pasta or potatoes replaced by salad or extra vegetables.

Exercise normally consists of a lunchtime walk, a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. In the event that this is not possible, I replaced it with a pre-work session on the exercise bike.

With this increased level of activity, I have been conscious that my calorie intake must be maintained lest the pangs of hunger lower my mood and increase the desire for unhealthy binge eating. As such, my morning routine includes regular intake of fruit, fruit bars and low calorie crackers.

Fluid intake consists of a minimum 1 litre of water whilst I am partial to several cups of tea. Soft drinks are consumed on an exceptional basis only.

The plan is broadly followed throughout the week, although the structure of the working day makes it easier to follow Monday to Friday, weekends presenting more of a challenge.

Clean 9 – What is it?

The Clean 9 pack from Forever Living is a 9 day cleansing plan designed to cleanse your body and provide a starting point for improved diet and fitness habits.

Based around Forever’s Aloe Vera Gel drink, the pack includes gels and shakes that form the bedrock of the dietary element of the plan together with tablets, tape measure and information booklet to support you throughout and beyond.

It is important to stress that this is not a weight loss programme. The plan is designed first and foremost as a system cleanse and a means by which to kick-start healthier living. Those specifically seeking a weight loss plan should look elsewhere; whilst weight loss may be a happy side effect, it is not a stated objective of the plan and is in no way guaranteed.

Objectives

With these considerations in mind, what am I hoping for from the plan? There are three core areas that I hope to address;

Skin – My skin is horribly greasy and I am prone to frequent outbreaks of acne. As a 37 year old man, this is embarrassing to say the least. These flare ups usually occur on my neck, back and chest and are often both unsightly and uncomfortable. I will often dress in a way that offers maximum coverage, such as wearing high collars or even adding an extra layer, even when unwarranted by the weather. I am embarrassed to remove my shirt to go swimming and am even somewhat uncomfortable being topless in front of my partner.

These skin issues have had a fundamental impact on my self-confidence and undoubtedly played a role in my ongoing issues with depression and anxiety.

Mind – Perhaps as a side effect of the mental health issues noted above, or simply a standalone symptom, on a daily basis I find myself tired, lacking concentration and motivation. Whilst there are certainly external factors within my life, principally my twins and young son, these are long standing issues and not so easily dismissed.

Body – As satisfied as I am with having shed 18lbs, at 11st I remain just inside the ‘overweight’ category, as defined by the height / weight chart on the NHS website. With the disclaimer stated above duly noted, my target weight is 10st 6lbs, or 65kgs, which puts me squarely in the middle of the ‘ideal’ weight for someone of my relatively diminutive stature (5’5). Ideally I would also like to drop a waist size, from my current 34” to 32”.

Forever Living / Aloe Vera Dreams

The Clean 9 plan has been designed by US based Forever Living, a producer of health, wellness and nutrition products, distributed globally via a network of sellers.

In the interests of transparency, I was introduced to the product by my wife, a seller of Forever’s product range under the business name Aloe Vera Dreams.

Notwithstanding, one of the cornerstones of my writing has been an unflinching honesty, something to which regular readers of my blogs, not to mention this opening post, can no doubt attest.

As such, this blog will be a genuine, honest account of my experience with Clean 9 during each day of the plan; the good and the bad, the successes and the failures, the times the path is followed and any times I may slip.

You can order the C9 pack, and explore the full Forever range, by visiting Aloe Vera Dreams on Facebook, or on Twitter @AloeVeraDreams.

Join me on the journey, starting January 2016.

New year, new me.