Anyone use a cleanse product that worked?

[canuckscup]

Hey guys just wondering if anyone has use a cleanse/detox product that actually worked in helping them lose weight. I am primarily looking at NSP Nutritions 'Ultra Ab Trim' 5 day cleanse. I don't know if any of these type of products actually work so any input would be great before I go and spend the money.

 

[MAXAMEYES]

View attachment 25265

This has worked great for me in the past.
I usually buy mine from vitacost or amazon.

 

[canuckscup]

Did you notice any changes in belly fat or weight loss during the time you took the detox? If you can post your results that would be a great help.

 

[MAXAMEYES]

No real change in external belly fat, but an incredible change in the feeling of "bloated" or distended.
Go on a cycle of this, up yer veggie and/or fruit intake and mind the water and you'll just plain feel better.

I feel lighter, more energetic, more willing to be active, less leaden and sluggish.

I find that if I don't keep the water intake high I tend to get headaches and cramps.

 

[canuckscup]

No real change in external belly fat, but an incredible change in the feeling of "bloated" or distended.
Go on a cycle of this, up yer veggie and/or fruit intake and mind the water and you'll just plain feel better.

I feel lighter, more energetic, more willing to be active, less leaden and sluggish.

I find that if I don't keep the water intake high I tend to get headaches and cramps.

I already actually am pretty good with that I drink a minimum of 3 liters of water per day and sometimes up to 4 on days where I am really active or do a hard workout. I eat at least 3-4 pieces of fruit along with veggies as well so I am good there. My main problem is trying to lose excess fat around my stomach and so I am trying to find an extra edge in losing that fat. I have lost over an inch though in the past few months so I will keep trying it just has always been a hard spot for me to take the weight off of.

 

[MAXAMEYES]

"Cleansing" products like these are not really designed to rid you of belly (or any other) fat. But, I believe-based on my use of this particular product here, that they'll help you digest and assimilate your nutrients in a litlle more efficient manner.

I bought my first box with the thought, "Hell, I've spent double that on a good night of drinking, even if it's useless; what could it hurt?"
And now, I go on a cycle about once a season.

Might just be the placebo effect...but you do get rid of crap you ate in second grade, I'll tell ya.

 

[polishedbrass]

"Cleansing products" will not help you lose body fat.
There are a couple of products that will slightly increase your daily expenditure, these are based mostly around stimulants like caffeine combined with some synergists that offer marginal benefits.
The strongest fat burning products that are safe to use (If adequately dosed and tolerance is established, and one doesn't have any other medical conditions...etc.) is a combination of ephedrine and caffeine with the possible addition of aspirin (the possible benefit of aspirin in this stack was only established for obese individuals I believe).
Though true ephedrine or ephedrine HCL is now illegal in a lot of countries.

There are other strong substances like clenbuterol and some steroids (although with the use of clen there are potential damages to ones health)


But even the stronger substances will only be supplemental to diet (and exercise)
There are no shortcuts to becoming lean except maybe liposuction...

 

[REDZULU2003]

Cleans all the shit from your colon as I understood it. Is it true the stuff is like jelly and stringy?

 

[canuckscup]

Cleans all the shit from your colon as I understood it. Is it true the stuff is like jelly and stringy?

I have heard some people notice that and others just notice the stinkiest and nastiest sludge like poo they have ever experienced. I have looked into stuff and it seems like a good way to consider going is doing a Liquids only cleanse where you drink only freshly squeezed vegetable and fruit juices all day. You can vary in times from 7 days up to a month. I might try and find a good one and try for a two week period of time and see how it goes. Lots of people have said they lost anywhere between 5-20 pounds doing this and people who did a month of it have lost up to 30 pounds. It would be tough but well worth it in the end.

 

[MAXAMEYES]

Just google image search "colon cleanse", and prepare for more medical "grossosity" than you ever imagined.

Cleans all the shit from your colon as I understood it. Is it true the stuff is like jelly and stringy?

 

[REDZULU2003]

Horrible stuff just checked. Think I do like the sound of this UK based product http://www.colondiet.co.uk/

 

[polishedbrass]

I just looked at those images http://www.colondiet.co.uk/mucoid_plaque_photos.html Pretty bad stuff...

Through a "cleansing diet" or juice fast, 3 forms of weightloss will occur:
1. Your intestines will be emptied.
2. Water weight.
3. Fat/muscle loss
Most of the time the majority of the weight lost will consist of the first two. This is why people regain most of their weight after they start eating again.
The problem with longer juice fasts is the lack of protein, combined with (very)low calories which will cause muscle breakdown. 50% or more of the weight lost over prolonged fasts may be muscle (this also depends on current levels of bodyfat for one, Men with a bodyfat% of 15% or lower will lose muscle at a faster rate than at 25% bf) And remember a pound of fat equals about 3500 calories, losing a true 2 pounds of fat per week on a diet is already quite an achievement for most people and will require a pretty(very) restrictive diet. Claims about losing 10 pounds or more the first week are never due to great fatloss, only a small percentage of that will be fat.


So if your goal is to 'cleanse' your intestines, go for it. But if you want to lose weight get on a proper diet with adequate protein levels, and not a juice fast.

Though 'cleansing' is not at all necessary for healthy individuals who are eating well. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/colon-cleansing/AN00065
I would only consider it if I'd been leading a very bad lifestyle and/or was heavily constipated.

 

[canuckscup]

I just looked at those images http://www.colondiet.co.uk/mucoid_plaque_photos.html Pretty bad stuff...

Through a "cleansing diet" or juice fast, 3 forms of weightloss will occur:
1. Your intestines will be emptied.
2. Water weight.
3. Fat/muscle loss
Most of the time the majority of the weight lost will consist of the first two. This is why people regain most of their weight after they start eating again.
The problem with longer juice fasts is the lack of protein, combined with (very)low calories which will cause muscle breakdown. 50% or more of the weight lost over prolonged fasts may be muscle (this also depends on current levels of bodyfat for one, Men with a bodyfat% of 15% or lower will lose muscle at a faster rate than at 25% bf) And remember a pound of fat equals about 3500 calories, losing a true 2 pounds of fat per week on a diet is already quite an achievement for most people and will require a pretty(very) restrictive diet. Claims about losing 10 pounds or more the first week are never due to great fatloss, only a small percentage of that will be fat.


So if your goal is to 'cleanse' your intestines, go for it. But if you want to lose weight get on a proper diet with adequate protein levels, and not a juice fast.

Though 'cleansing' is not at all necessary for healthy individuals who are eating well. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/colon-cleansing/AN00065
I would only consider it if I'd been leading a very bad lifestyle and/or was heavily constipated.

I do agree with some of what you pointed out but there are lots of vegetables that contain protein that you can include in a juice cleanse to help maintain muscle. It also makes a huge difference that you continue to work out during the detox period. If you still continue to workout on a regular basis, at the very least you will maintain the muscle you have for the most part. The key thing is not to do a fruit juice only cleanse but one that includes vegetable drinks high in fiber and that also have protein for it to work properly. Most places I have read recommend you supplement Omega 3 and also Calcium as well to make sure you have all the nutrients you need. If I decide to do this it will be at most for a 2 week period of time. I used to eat way too much fast food all the time and I feel like a good cleaning of my intestines and colon would really help my digestion and metabolism and help me in losing weight coming out of the cleanse as well.

I believe that this isn't a miracle weight loss cure but a good basis to follow up with a healthy clean diet to continue to lose weight afterwards. It gives your whole digestive system a refresh and I know I will lose weight while doing it. The a lot of that weight might be due to crap coming out of my system but that's a good thing. Right now my body fat is up st about 22% so I should be fine and I think my body is more likely to eat away some fat more than muscle and hopefully in some of the areas I want. I plan to continue a good workout routine through all of this to help the weight loss and prevent muscle loss or at least maintain what I have. Ideally I would like to get down to around 12-15% BF and I would be happy with that.
I will likely start this juice cleanse next week unless something happens that I can't make it work. I will post up my results as I go along. Wish me luck because I know it's not going to be easy to stick with it.

 

[polishedbrass]

I do agree with some of what you pointed out but there are lots of vegetables that contain protein that you can include in a juice cleanse to help maintain muscle. It also makes a huge difference that you continue to work out during the detox period. If you still continue to workout on a regular basis, at the very least you will maintain the muscle you have for the most part. The key thing is not to do a fruit juice only cleanse but one that includes vegetable drinks high in fiber and that also have protein for it to work properly. Most places I have read recommend you supplement Omega 3 and also Calcium as well to make sure you have all the nutrients you need. If I decide to do this it will be at most for a 2 week period of time. I used to eat way too much fast food all the time and I feel like a good cleaning of my intestines and colon would really help my digestion and metabolism and help me in losing weight coming out of the cleanse as well.

I believe that this isn't a miracle weight loss cure but a good basis to follow up with a healthy clean diet to continue to lose weight afterwards. It gives your whole digestive system a refresh and I know I will lose weight while doing it. The a lot of that weight might be due to crap coming out of my system but that's a good thing. Right now my body fat is up st about 22% so I should be fine and I think my body is more likely to eat away some fat more than muscle and hopefully in some of the areas I want. I plan to continue a good workout routine through all of this to help the weight loss and prevent muscle loss or at least maintain what I have. Ideally I would like to get down to around 12-15% BF and I would be happy with that.
I will likely start this juice cleanse next week unless something happens that I can't make it work. I will post up my results as I go along. Wish me luck because I know it's not going to be easy to stick with it.

Oke, I do not want to bash your plan and all I wish you is a succesful endeavor, but I do want to point a a couple of errors in your thinking.

Anaerobic training does promote muscle sparing stimulus but only when adequate levels of protein are consumed to allow the body to recover from the workout. Every workout there will be some small muscle breakdown followed by repair, for this to occur your body needs a minimum of protein coming in, this minimum is even higher when on a kcal deficit.
Your protein requirement to stave of muscle loss on a diet will actually increase significantly when you keep lifting. (this is not at all to say lifting on a diet is bad, quite the opposite, but you do need the protein to back it up)

Of course with vegetable juices there will be a (very) small amount of protein coming in through the juice (although most will actually stay trapped in the pulp so the small amount of protein that is actually present in the veggies will not really end up in your stomach) To see this I advise you to look up the data on the actual veggies you'll be juicing. You'll need quite some protein to stave of muscle loss while lifting on diet, especially a high deficit diet. Veggies will probably only deliver you a couple of grams really.
Vegans do not get their protein from broccoli and celery and the likes but from beans/oats/nuts/rice/soy...etc. These are not the foods you'll be consuming.
Add to this that most vegetables do not contain all essential amino acids

Of course you can still pursue this diet, but to continue lifting on a juice fast will actually increase your muscle loss.


If you want something to kick start a more moderate diet maybe have a look at Rapid Fat Loss Really the only approach to short term high deficit dieting, athletes (or really anyone) should consider. This approached is also specifically for people to kick start a more moderate diet. I have used it on occasion to cut some bf with great results and zero or negligible strength/muscle loss.

 

[canuckscup]

That's good insight for me to think about and I will definitely take it into account. When you did the Rapid Fat Loss program what kind of results did you see and in what period of time? I really want to get started on something next week but I gotta decide what's going to be best.

 

[polishedbrass]

My results were about 2.5 pounds of true fat loss on average per week. But results vary per individual based on a couple of factors including bodyweight and maintenance calories. The whole diet is set up around protein intake, so the amount of food you'll be eating is actually measured according to your protein need which depends on the following factors:

1. Bodyfat% (the diet is set around 3 diet categories depending on bodyfat%, levels of bodyfat determine the speed at which diet induced hormonal changes will take place, this is why it's important and will decide how long you can stay on diet, when you need to take a diet break/refeeds and how much protein you'll need)
2. Exercise: Sedentary people will need less protein than weight lifters. Cardio is only recommended in small amounts on this diet as they will speed up hormonal changes (metabolic slowdown) for one. Alot of cardio will not be necessary because of the large deficit from food.
But weightlifting is recommended on diet though with heavily reduced volume, but high intensity. This comes down to about 2-3 sets for the major compound movements 1-2x a week, 1-2 sets for smaller movements.

3. Body weight: The diet and exercise category will decide the amount of protein you'll need per pound of fat free mass.

These factors combined determine how much protein you'll need but also how long you can stay on diet before you need to take a break to let hormonal levels return to normal. Refeeds and free meals are incorporated into the diet and are also determined by these factors.


This means that a large, heavy, sedentary, individual with high bf% will be able to create a much larger deficit than a small active individual who is already relatively lean because he'll need a lot less protein and his maintenance level is a lot higher.

Some people will only need to eat 500-600 calories a day on this diet, with a maintenance of 2200 this means a daily deficit of 1600-1700 kcal a day > a little over 3 pounds of true fat loss per week. (though initial weight loss will be a lot higher due to water loss)

A couple of things to keep in mind with this diet are:
1. You'll be eating nothing but very lean protein and fibrous veggies with the addition of 6x1 gram of Omega 3, multi-vitamin, and calcium/magnesium supplements.
2. It's not really pleasant, though because it's relatively short and because of free meals/refeeds/diet breaks it's certainly do able.
3. You have to follow the guidelines in order for it to work well.

 

[canuckscup]

Thanks a lot for your insight. I certainly think I am capable of doing it just gotta get the book and get started (or find a free download ) I am 6' tall and currently weigh 234 pounds with about 21-23% BF. I would love to shed my excess belly fat and small amount of fat on my chest. I figure if I lose about 30 pounds, maybe a little more I will be pretty lean because I am naturally a thick solid build and have good muscle mass. It's jut all the fat around it I wanna lose to be healthier and happier. I have the will power to stick with it once I start, I was up at 285 pounds about a year ago and I am down 50 pounds already. I finished a break for the last while to let my body get used to the lower weight and now I want to get the rest of the way to my goal. I also like that during the diet period it doesn't require you to do a ton of cardio work, right now I am taking a break somewhat to let me knees recover and so only doing light strength workouts is perfect for me right now.