Monday, September 13, 2010

Leisure 18 Slimming Coffee - What's the Skinny

My brother gave me a box of Leisure 18 Slimming Coffee last weekend . He lost 11 lbs on the stuff after taking it for two weeks. The changes were apparent, he did look like he lost a lot of weight and his skin seemed clearer.

I’ve always viewed myself as a very overweight person, always. I’ve only come to accept my curves in my mid-thirties. It was the time when I finally realized that for the past few years, my weight has hovered within 120’s. That means I should be overweight by at least 20 lbs, at any given time. For some reason though, upon computation of my BMI, I am within the “normal” weight range. Fat is normal?

Anyway, after seeing the changes in my brother’s weight, I decided to try the Leisure 18 Slimming Coffee. I hate coffee but I tried it anyway.

I do not sell the stuff nor am I endorsing it, but, I would like to share my experiences with you, just in case you may want to try it. I couldn’t find a decent blow by blow account of what the product does and it’s side effects. All the reviews that I read were positive.

The product packaging itself is very doubtful. I was assured that it was authentic (“Look Ma, there’s a hologram that says it is!”). The reason why I was skeptical? There were grammatical errors on the packaging. It screams… Made in China!!! Even if they didn’t indicate it in the packet. China made products in itself, specially those that are food and medicine in nature are highly suspect in the first place.

Yet, my quest for an immediate and visible weight loss overcomes my doubts, after all, my brother tried it and he seemed fine.
So here goes:

First day

I took it with half a pandesal. Little did I know that I should take it half an hour before breakfast. Ooops. My brother said he took it with breakfast, so I assumed it was the “right way”. I had just come from a nasty bout of indigestion the previous day, so my tummy wasn’t up to experimenting yet.

The product promises to “curb appetite” and “coat the fatty particles from ingested food” to prevent absorption in your body. Yeah, all that hoolaballoo.

First, yes, it curbs your appetite, big time. You NEVER feel hungry. Side effect? Major major (Venus Raj, I summoning your spirit on this) headache! Why you say? Let me illustrate:

Your brain: “Body, you will never be hungry again”
Your body: “Says who? I need some friggin’ fuel to move”
Brain : "NO! You are not hungry"
Body: “Yes, I am!!!!”

Then your body will proceed with the mild shaking, grumbling stomach and the massive headache. Because it’s not getting enough fuel. Lesson learned: Eat something, a banana an apple, something! Eat very small meals throughout the day.

This is the best time for the health nut inside you to much on steamed broccoli or any other healthy food that you would normally stay away from. Keep it on hand, if you feel a bit light headed, you feel the shakes or you feel a headache coming.. pop that broccoli in your mouth!

You never get cravings, ever! (Well, as long as the “coffee” in in effect, which I estimate is 12 hours)
French fries? Yuck. Can’t even look at it. That’s how the coffee fools your brain into thinking “you are full” or “food is evil, stay away from it”

But the reality is, you body needs calories to, you know… breathe?

With this product, it is so easy to abuse your body by depriving it of nutrition and fuel.
Unless, you are a sloth that stays in your couch 24/7 and only blinks occasionally, then go ahead, starve yourself.
Another side effect? You get sleepy when you need to be awake and you’re awake when you need to sleep. How dandy!

Second Day

After getting just a few hours’ sleep, I wake up before the alarm goes off. Not only did I wake up early, I was also in such a happy mood. How lovely, hubby would love to see me like that every morning.
I did notice a few changes though: My skin was clearer, and my skirt fitted better. Although that weighing scale said “Nah, same weight!”

I am assuming (since I have no medical degree), that I have lost some of the “bloatedness” from lack of French fries and extremely salty food the previous days.

This time, I took the slimming coffee just before going to work. After I arrived at work, I had a banana. Now, bananas, I really hate, because I get more hungry every time I eat it. This time though, I felt full.

Until an hour and a half later, when I started feeling the shakes. My body’s probably telling me “you’re feeding me just a hundred calories for this morning” So, I appease my body by eating one boiled egg white. The shakes stops until it was 12 noon.

My body, it has military precision timing.

Lunch came and after taking a bite, I immediately felt full. But I tried to finish my half pan de sal and half a cup of sautéed amplaya. I’m anemic so I have to eat vegetables high in iron. I need protein too so I will try to incorporate that in my daily intake.

I also noticed that drinking a lot of water helps ease the shakes and the headaches, just a tad. I have a 700ml water bottle at work. On a normal day, I consume two or three bottles of water. I was on my third bottle by lunchtime. It is a conscious effort on my part mostly because I don’t want to be dehydrated. Some product users said that they feel more thirsty than usual.

I had a realization come 7pm. The coffee magic wears off after 12 hours of ingestion (that’s probably why some recommend taking it twice daily for obese people, so that you won’t ever eat again). I had a normal dinner because I cannot by sheer will power alone, make my brain think that I am not hungry.

Also, my body is probably suffering from carbohydrate withdrawal since I am so used to having bread and rice in most of my meals and by suddenly decreasing it’s consumption by more than half, the body was screaming for mercy!

Another side effect that I hate is sleeplessness. I couldn’t sleep! You know what that means… midnight cravings (the coffee magic already wore off after 12 hours, remember). Hubby happily indulged me to a drive-thru at McDonald’s for some fries. I finished it off even be before we reached our subdivision gate. Dang, talk about falling off the wagon.

Third day

Alright, I know that I had given in to the monster that had plagued me my entire life, self control.

This time, I took the coffee around 8am so that I won’t have any cravings after 8pm (12 hour magic validity, remember?).
One thing I like about the coffee though is that it’s like taking a magic pill and your mood suddenly perks up. Must be the caffeine. I hate coffee and coffee makes me so perky and talkative and louder than I usually am (which is loud I've been told countless times).

I felt a tingling sensation on my right arm. I am not sure if that’s normal. I’m a little bit scared. The internet reviews did not mention anything about tingling sensations nor twitchy eyebrow (which I also experienced the previous night).

Just a backgrounder, I write this article in real time, as I experience things (on a word file, to be posted on a later date). Right now, the tingling sensations are bothering me and quite scaring me a bit. I upped my water intake by another 700 ml, to try to flush out whatever toxins or “natural drugs” that may be in the coffee.

You know when you go to the emergency room and they inject you (intravenously) with some medicine to help you feel better and eventually send you over to dreamland for a few hours. This is exactly how it feels. I can feel some sort of cold fluid travelling my veins. My throat is a bit constricted as well.

Gosh, I think I’m going to stop using this thing. It’s so scary!

Come afternoon, the coldness and numbness has spread in both arms, which really frightened me a bit. It’s not a very pleasant feeling. Words cannot describe it.

I suspect (since there are no actual ingredient list printed on the box) that Leisure 18 Slimming Coffee has some sort of narcotic on it, to trigger these reactions.

4th day

I decided to stop using the product for the obvious side-effects that I wrote above.

In fact, I still feel some numbness on my left arm as I write this.
This product may be effective for some but in my own personal experience, I highly discourage people from using it.

To reiterate, I will not use this product again due to:
1. Body shakes
2. Cold sensation on my arms
3. Sleeplessness
4. Numbness on the arms
5. Twitching muscles
6. Constipation
7. Throat tightness
8. Migraines
9. Coffee after taste that lingers in your mouth the whole day
10. Product is highly suspect with regards to its origin (where it is made), absence of list of ingredients, grammatical errors on the packaging (probably made in China, right?). Even if the product is “authentic” and has the hologram seal of authenticity, there are no indications where it was made or processed.

Despite the many products available in the market today, nothing beats daily exercise and a balanced diet in keeping your weight down.

But then again, if it was that easy, everybody would be traipsing around in their bikinis and speedos.

4 comments:

Socky said...

Any product that doesn't list its ingredients and source is suspect. It could be another version of those infamous Bangkok pills. Please tell Jacob to lay off this product. Exercise and diet - yeah, nothing beats that!

Leica said...

Hi Tita! Yes, we told him to lay off it. He stopped using it already even though he didn't have any adverse reaction like I did. He already lost 11 lbs on that stuff, that should be enough.

Leica said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Be mindful of slimming products that is a hoax. Might as well try Prescription Diet Pills