Keeping Up With Your Summer Body

So Summer is nearing its end and it is time to put away the bikinis for another year, but does this mean we should stop the diet? Yes and no are my answers to this one. I have been trialing out some of the best and most well-known diet products on the market in order to find out if that Summer body is sustainable.

Before I go into the ins and outs of the products I tried out, I will say that I am not a health expert or a dietician and my opinions come solely from what I experienced and felt like during these diets.

The first diet product I tried was Lepicol Lighter, priced at £17.99. This comes in a powder form and is a high fibre product that contains 7 strains of live bacteria. Lepicol Lighter comes in sachets that you mix with 1-2 glasses of water or juice (juice is best) and consume 10 minutes before every main meal.

I found this product to be great at reducing bloating and getting you to drink plenty during the day. However, 3 sachets a day was a lot for me, especially when the taste isn’t brilliant if it hasn’t been blended with a strong flavour. As for weight loss, I only lost a pound during my two week trial period and most of that seemed to be water weight. Would I use it again? probably not but I did like that you could keep a normal balanced diet whilst on this product and still lose a bit of weight.

The next product I tried was very similar. It is called Konjac fibre from Health plus, this retails at £8.95 and comes in either powder or tablet form. I went for the powder as the thought of taking loads of tablets doesn’t appeal to me at all. You take one gram of powder mixed with water before breakfast, two before lunch and three before dinner.

Again I didn’t really see much of a weight difference on this product and it is difficult to remember to take the powder three times a day every day. However, it is super affordable and is great to take alongside a more sustainable diet or lifestyle change.

Chris James’ 12 days cleanse is the next diet I trialed and it retails at a massive £119! The cleanse divides into four easy to follow phases: day 1-3 is prep day where you should fill your kitchen with fruit and veg, then day 4-6 includes lots raw foods, getting your body ready for the power phase. Then days 7-9 you go on a liquid diet which is the worst part as it feels like your days are endless and you can’t eat any hard foods. Then days 10-12 you go back onto hard foods again but this time you keep the meals light and healthy so you don’t overwhelm your body.

Now, I am not going to lie, I did have a few cheat days on this 12 days cleanse as it was just so hard to do! I’m a huge meat fan and it felt bizarre eating just fruit and veg for a week and a half. Yes, I lost lots of weight and was feeling good in my body after the 12 days but when you start eating normal meals again the weight slowly comes piling back on. So if you have an event in the next two weeks and you have the extra cash to spend, then sure this diet cleanse works perfectly. Also if you are planning on adapting your normal diet so that you eat more fruit and veg then this is for you.

Up next was Easy detox from Amrita, this kit starts from £39.95 and is the best tasting out of all the kits. Again it comes in powder form and is to be taken with water. The kit also comes with a cooking booklet and free online subscription to help you stick to the diet.

I lost a bit of weight on this diet and it was my favorite out of all of the powder diets due to the nice taste compared to the others. However, 3 sachets a day is hard to sustain, especially when you have a job which requires you to be doing different things every day with no set meal time or structure to your day.

Last but not least was Skinny Coffee, this is specially blended coffee that aims to help you loose weight, fasten your metabolism and give you a great tasting coffee.

I absolutely loved this one as the coffee helped me stay awake throughout the day and it tasted lovely! I did feel fuller after drinking this which is one of the good side effects. As for weight loss, there wasn’t a whole lot but this is definitely one diet product that you could use in daily life along with a healthy balanced diet.

I could see myself rebuying this product in the future for a bit of extra weight loss. Plus they have regular sales, with 20% off right now using code: NEWME.

Overall, I would say these diets seem to be best for people looking to lose weight fast. But as for longevity none of these kits have them. However, almost all the diet plans I followed aim to make you eat more fruit and more vegetables and two of them came with great recipes that you can keep for life.

So yes in some ways they are worth it especially if you have the money and determination to follow them through, but in my opinion, unless you are determined to change your whole lifestyle and eating habits then these products will not work for you long term.

Keeping that ‘summer body’ doesn’t need to be difficult. It can be as simple as eating more fruit and veg, cutting carbs down or going to the gym more.

But remember to diet safe, keep your calories and nutrition up and do your research if you are hesitant to try a product or new fad diet, as no diet is worth it if you aren’t feeling better, healthier and full of energy!