DE-CYCLE - by The M.A.S.S. Project - 7 Day Cleanse

DE-CYCLE – by The M.A.S.S. Project – Cleanse Review (B+)

Price: $49.99 (Retail)

Duration : 7 – days

Stats – Started 253.4 and ended 255.4 (+2 lbs)

Review:

At the end of the last cycle, I was a little hesitant to really go into a full fledge detox.  The main reason was, I had just complete an intense cycle consuming upwards of 600 grams of caffeine a day from multiple sources, and by the end of the 30 days I could tell that I had quickly become accustomed to it – as my energy had plateaued from it, and so did my results.   (This was the Cellucor products reviewed right before.)  So I was nervous that I would have a killer crash with crack like withdrawal symptoms – which I had had before.

This time I walked into a Complete Nutrition store and talked with them about what I was doing.  They recommended this product, as it was specially formulated to help people come off of intense cycles.  It was supposed to increase detoxing, give the adrenal system a rest, support it to heal, and generally reset in between cycles.  In addition to that, it is loaded with a comfortable and gentle quantity of vitamins intended to help support the lack of energy that is expected.

So I thought I would give it a shot. 

Regimen:

You get exactly seven days of pills. And take three in the morning, and three in the afternoon.

Results:

The first day was the hardest.  I noticed my energy drop pretty heavily – but I still seemed to have the mental power to keep going, and I didn’t need to lay in bed all day.  I got a little bit of a headache, and made sure to go to be early.  With that said, I remember thinking how impressed I was that all I needed to do was hit bed early to really make it through the day. 

The second day I could tell I was still recovering.  I had the energy to go – but found myself yawning.  Yet there was no real exhaustion at all.  I started to increase my bowel movements, and the volume increased slightly – but nothing that was uncomfortable.

By the third day I felt totally recovered.  I didn’t have the energy I had when I was jacked up on the previous supplemented, but I felt like I was back to normal.  From that point on – I found that I really enjoyed it.

I did gain two pounds in the process, but I attribute that more to my lifestyle at the time.  I was slower, didn’t work out as often, and honestly I think there was some bounce back from the previous supplement.

I loved it for what it was – and I felt like it really worked!  I was super impressed.  To be honest with you I would give this an A – however, it wasn’t a perfect cleanse.  It really was only a cleanse to rest and cycle through my adrenals – which I feel like it did really well.  But I don’t know that it did much more than that.  That is the only reason why I wouldn’t give it an A.  If you are looking for a good cleanse generally – you should probably find something more intense and involved; but if you are looking for something to use between cycles on product – I think this is perfect!

SUPER HD EXTREME and CLK - by Cellucor - RESULTS (B)

SUPER HD EXTREME and CLK - by Cellucor - RESULTS (B)

NUMBERS IN A NUTSHELL:

-          30 days

-          Starting weight 259.0; Ending Weight 253.4

-          Starting Body Fat 35.48%; Ending 35.74%

-          Total Weight Loss 5.6 lbs., with 1.33 lbs. of lost fat

THE REVIEW OF WHAT HAPPENED

So despite it being around the holidays I was rather proud of myself and my ability to keep with the program pretty strictly.  There are a few days that I missed going to the gym, but even during those weeks I still went five days a week, and found other opportunities to keep myself physically activity (like shoveling snow for three hours).

My goal was to test Super HD Xtreme combed with CLK both made my Cellucor.  For more information on the project and the project see the “Introductions” page on this project on the blog.  I was planning on following the directions to a T (which I did), of one Super HD Xtreme and three CLK – twice a day (morning and early afternoon).

My experience was a complicated one for me to wrap my head around how I actually feel about the products; and I hope you will see why.

First of all – as it related to my energy level – my energy went through the room (especially at the beginning).  From day one, I was able to run to the gym early in the morning and rock out an hour of cardio a day.  Not only was I able to up my average cardio time to an hour (instead of 30 to 45 minutes), I started focusing on the high intensive settings on all of the machines, and started testing out new machines I would never have thought of before.  I was easily averaging at least 800-1000 calories of burned activity each workout.  Also – although the energy was high and intensive it was not “jittery”, at least for me (and I do have a high tolerance, so take that as you would).  It was a smooth and natural feeling energy through the roof.

As for energy level I would give this product an A+… but the energy did start to wane a little bit as the month continued on – so maybe more of just an A.

Second – it curbed my appetited  pretty aggressively – which was nice in one aspect but horrific in another.  I’m going to be as clear and transparent as possible – I loved the energy, but I hated the nausea.  I almost had to quick the product a couple of times (but I am desperate enough to try anything). 

I was so nauseated the first week I couldn’t eat anything.  I felt like I was going to throw up all the time.  I really just wanted to lay in bed, and that didn’t help.  By the second week I could handle it – and I was really good about only taking my pills with food that was somewhat dense (with some fat in it).  If I took it with some eggs I was okay, but if I took it with just a protein shake I was screwed – and if I missed that window eating later didn’t help.  By the third week, I was better, but still struggled with my stomach.  By the fourth week and near the end I think I had gotten it figured out with minimal issues – however that was also when any productivity in weight-loss plateaued and so did the energy spikes.

If I consider grading this product on “comfort level” it would be an F.  As I mentioned above, I could handle the energy because I am a little accustomed to this – but at the same level, my body is accustomed to it and it still threw my body into a nauseated teenage girl.  I can’t imagine what this would feel to my wife who can’t even have a Coke without it jacking up her system for a day or two.

Third – as for the actual weight loss I guess I am a little disappointed – but I shouldn’t be.  Within the first week I dropped nearly 8 lbs. and I was thrilled – I was willing to try and suffer through the hell to maybe get to ten.  But after that first magical week, I started to balance out.  I actually plateaued and gained a few back, which I am not worried about.  I ended up only losing 5.6 lbs, which is good – something that on paper I am satisfied with. 

Hypothetically, as I was tracking my nutrition (1000 calorie daily deficiency, 250 gm of protein, less than 10g of sugar, and less than 35 carbs a day – counting fiber) I should have been able to drop nearly 10 pounds – but the bench mark for healthy weightless is 1.5 a week – and so the magic threshold officially is 6 lbs.  With that in mind, we didn’t hit that magic threshold (and for no reason that I can see), and so we won’t give it an A, but move it into B range.

So I am going to give it extra credit for the energy level, but take punish it for the stomach issues – and we will settle with a B score.

A guess for me, if the question were to be raised if I were to do it again – I think I would, but only after a few cycles of other products so that I can get some efficiency from it.  I think the longer it is in your system the less it does for you. 

Now I work on cycling off it with a 7-Day detox, and we will see how hard it is to really come off of it.  I sometimes get nervous because these haven’t always been positive – especially when your body gets used to 600 mg of daily caffeine in two quick fixes.

I may start doing Detox Updates at the end of each of these.