Happy new year everyone, welcome to 2016!

This year I said to myself I would set myself a true challenge, over and above the standard New Years resolutions (you can see mine here). And after being off travelling for at least a week a month from November to February plus Christmas, the pounds have piled on! I thought, Dry January? No, too long. Anyone who can make that commitment for 31 days I take my hat off to but for me, I know I would be setting myself up for failure – not a great way to start the year! However a nine day stint, that would be just about right to totally detox and if I shed some of the winter warmth, getting ready for summer then what a bonus. 

I’ve been drinking Forever Living’s Aloe Vera gel for the past year and experienced many benefits, such as a boost of morning energy (everyone needs one of those!), radiant skin, better digestion, and a great sense of wellbeing. The company, based out of the US, also offers the Clean 9 cleanse – the beginning process of their famous F.I.T 3 stage programme. It’s been undertaken by many celebs but also many of my work colleagues who are looking for a quick way to shed pounds before, say, a wedding or summer holiday, with dramatic results.

Therefore this year, I decided to give it a go and say goodbye to alcohol, caffeine, and sugary treats for nine days. My willpower over Christmas had taken a serious toll, it’s a time of indulgence and I was hitting it hard. I was mindlessly eating chocolate, grabbing at glasses of wine, eating all sorts of unhealthy things for breakfast and our trip to America simply did not help. The portion sizes were out of this world, and by the time we were back home, I’d finally acknowledged my eating was out of control, my clothes were tight and my weight had piled on, leaving me feeling frustrated and disappointed with myself.

The start of the Clean 9 asks you to set three goals. Mine were easy. Simply take back control of my eating habits, live a healthier lifestyle and become more disciplined with my food choices and if I lost half a stone (the weight I’d put on over Christmas and holidays), then that would be a bonus.

The package starts at around £100 (I was lucky enough to cash in on a January deal from my distributor, who was great by the way and very supportive, check her out and buy your Forever Living Aloe products here: Charlotte Kelly). It sounds pricy, when you break it down, it’s really not. I usually buy my lunch and coffees every day at work, totally up to around £12 a day – the same cost for this package and this covers all meals, not just lunch and drinks!

Everything you need comes in the box:

• 2x Forever Living Aloe Gel 1ltr jugs
• A variety of supplements such as Forever Therm, Forever Soft Gel Garcinia and Forever Fibre sticks – you take these daily
• Forever Ultra Protein Powder
• A tape measure
• A log book

So how does it work?

Two days: These are fast days where your calorie intake is drastically reduced, in fact scaled back to nearly nothing. You’ll start in the morning with the Aloe Gel, supplements for breakfast, lunch and dinner and lots and lots of water throughout the day. It’s been nutritionally designed to really kick start your weight loss journey so best to stick to it. There are a list of ‘free foods’ – fruit and vegetables with a low GI index which don’t effect your blood sugar levels, you can eat any of these in moderation at any time across your Clean 9 journey. Get to know them, they are your best friends!

Seven days: These days bring in the protein packed shake to substitute two of your meals (breakfast and lunch) and incorporates a 600 kcal meal at the end of the day as well as taking the daily supplements from days one and two.

So think you could do it? I’ll be writing about my journey in another post, so do watch out for that. Do get in touch below, or alternatively visit Charlotte’s page here to explore all of the Forever Living Aloe Vera products available to buy.