Today Tuesday the 1st of February was my first week weigh in I am thrilled to say I have lost a massive 6LBS. I followed a detox diet from Ultimate Health Clinic along with a brisk walk every day.

The diet was quiet easy to follow as you can see,
BREAKFAST;

A kiwi
Porridge flakes with water
1 slice of McCambridge brown bread
2 colon cleansing capsules
MID-DAY MEAL;

Home made vegetable soup
Plenty of water
2 colon cleansing capsules
EVENING MEAL;

Steamed chicken
Brown Rice
2 colon cleansing capsules
Supplements;

1 tablespoon of golden linseeds twice daily
1 evening primrose 1000mg
2 tea-spoons of aloe vera
During the detox I had NO;
DAIRY PRODUCTS
FRUIT OR SUGAR
SALT OR PEPPER
TEA OR COFFEE
ALCOHOL
This detailed detox is only for the first week my diet will vary from week to week.

After my week of detox today I arrived at Ultimate Health to have a colonic irrigation treatment which was great because all the toxins lodged in my colon were removed during this treatment. It was very relaxing and I had a total boost of energy afterwards. I will be having another colonic next week so I am looking forward to that.

The girls in Ultimate Health have also arranged for me to meet my personal trainer for the next six weeks to discuss the fitness side of this operation transformation and I am going to give it everything I’ve got. I am meeting the trainer on Saturday morning and I will tell you all about that next week when I fill you in on all this weeks events Mandy.

The Limerick Post and Ultimate Health Clinic have selected two readers to give them the chance to deliver on their New Year’s resolution and transform their outlook to health and well being for 2011. A six week programme comprising of Ultimate Health Clinic treatments and weekly personal trainer sessions will put them on the pathway to a new make over. The last person to take part in this programme lost 22lbs

The two winning entrants selected to take part in the programme will receive the following supports in working towards achieving their weight and well being goals:
- Series of colonic hydrotherapy sessions
- Detox and nutritional plan
- Deep abdominal massages to complement colonic hydrotherapy
- Weekly personal training sessions and fitness programme to follow each week

On completion of the six weeks, they will receive:
- A complete beauty makeover
- Two nights away in a four star hotel to celebrate your transformation.

The Limerick Post will diary their progress and keep readers informed of the various treatments and training they will undertake as they take on this 2011 challenge.

AND so it begins…After a huge response to our search for volunteers to take part in Operation Transformation Limerick, we have found our two participants – Mandy Hogan and Martin Costello. Mandy Hogan lives in Kilbranish Drive, Woodview and is the mother of five children, ranging in age from three up to fifteen. She is due to turn 40 this year and says her top priority is to lose some weight – “to look beautiful again”. “As the years have passed, my weight has crept up faster,” she says. “As they say, life begins at 40, so it’s my turn to look after me and transform my life.” She says she has started lenty of diets and other fitness programmes before but has had difficulty sticking with them. This time, however, she is confident that she will go the distance. “This is the push that I needed. The publicity side alone would make me do it.”

Our other volunteer is Martin Costello from Ballina. Martin, who is in his early fifties, says he too wants to lose some weight – “I wouldn’t mind losing a stone,” he says. Martin admits to never having been in a gym in his life, his main source of exercise being the occasional game of golf. The idea of taking part in Operation Transformation was born – like so many thers – in a pub late one evening but Martin is determined to stick with the six-week plan. Apart from the sessions in the gym, he is expecting the most challenging part to be the abstention from alcohol. “I would say not having the few pints would be the hardest. I enjoy the couple of pints in the pub of a Friday night,” he says.

Over the next six week, Mandy and Martin will work with the team in Ultimate Health to transform their health and lifestyles through their unique health, fitness and detox programme. This will include a detox programme, colonic hydrotherapy, abdominal massage, a nutritional programme and beauty treatment. They will also have twice-weekly personal training sessions with fitness instructor Brian Kennedy who will work on improving their general fitness and help them shed those unwanted pounds.

We will check in with our two volunteers during the programme to see how they are getting on and at the end of the six weeks we have the BIG REVEAL, where we will unveil the new look Mandy and Martin. “We’re all excited – we can’t wait to begin,” says Mandy.

WHEN Berni O’Hare got through the tough apptitude test to join the Garda Siochána and fulfill her lifelong ambition to join the force, she was over the moon. But minutes later, she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her as she was told she was too fat to wear the blue uniform.

“I was absolutely humiliated. I’d passed the aptitude test, I passed the medical but then I stood on the scales and she [the doctor] just came straight out with it. She said ‘You’re obese – you won’t be accepted until you lose five stone’.” With her dreams in shreds, Berni left the testing centre. A lesser woman would have slunk away and tucked into an oversized bar or chocolate but instead, Berni vowed to fight back.

“I was stunned, to have got so far and then to be stopped because of my weight. I told my friend what had happened and she said the best thing she could have said: ‘Berni – if it’s what you really want then you’ll work until you get it’.” So when she saw The Clare People Operation Transformation competition, Berni knew she had a way to solve her problem, get fit, lose weight and have another crack at fulfilling her dream to be a guard. The Ballynacally woman is five feet six inches tall and weighs 18 stone, taking a size 22 in clothes.

Working on her transformation with her will be the Ultimate Heath Clinic in the Quin Road Business Park, Ozone Health and Fitness and Anne Leavy Health and Beauty, along with The Monument Hair Salon, JR’s Hair Salon and Norma Jean Boutique. Berni, who has a 10-year-old son, Lee, had previously managed to lose a massive three stone by changing her diet, getting up at 6am and walking four miles before going to work and walking another hour each evening.

“It was fantastic, I had so much energy and I was able to buy clothes in a smaller size. But that was in the summer and once the winter set in, it got too cold to go walking and I got lazy. So the pounds started to pile on again.” Berni – like lots of people who battle the bulge – has tried numerous fad diets and ‘quick fix’ methods, but none worked. And, as a trained chef, her current profession – working in the kitchens in St Joseph’s in Ennis – doesn’t help her to keep the weight down.From the sack-loads of entries which  came in from people eager to take part, Berni’s letter stood out. “We could see she wanted this so badly and everyone felt so bad for her when we read her letter telling what happened to her at the test to join the Garda. Her  determination shone out. We just had to select her,” said The Clare People Life editor, Aoife O’Driscoll.

In her letter to The Clare People, Berni said, “I’d love to be able to look into a mirror and not see the Michelin man  looking back at me because that’s exactly how I feel when I look in the mirror. I also hate being referred to as the fat one. Whether I’m successful or not in your competition, I’m determined to lose the five stone that I have to lose and go back and apply for the job that I was told I was too fat for. My self-esteem and self-confidence is at an all-time low because on the inside I’m thin and fat on the outside. “My eating habits are the pits. I’m a devil for chocolate and fast food and skipping breakfast. Friends and family would describe me as being bubbly but secretly I’m fighting my battle with my weight which makes me hate myself.

As a parent, I personally feel I  should be setting an example for my son that healthy eating and exercise is the way to go.” Joining her in the six-week challenge, which is being supported by the expertise of the Ozone team, is her pal Jessica Chaplin, who is already a member of the force but who wants to shed some weight having gone from being sylph-like to weighing in at 11 stone at five foot four inches tall. “She wants to get rid of the weight that has gone on because she was doing shift work and eating away to her heart’s content. It’s just put on weight for her that she doesn’t want and she’s being fabulous in coming on board with me.” The team will be adopting an holistic approach,  addressing every issue from diet to fitness and body image.

The ladies will have twice weekly personal training sessions with the Ozone trainers while the Ulitimate Health Clinic will be organising a detox programme with their special colonic irrigation treatments, abdominal massage and nutrition programmes, all in the relaxed and comfortable setting of their health suites. At the end of their six weeks, the ladies will be treated to a spectacular makeover to highlight their achievements. “I know I can do this. I’ve never refused a challenge and I’m not going to back away from this one. I want to be a role model for other people and I will achieve my dream,” Berni told The Clare People.

In the first of six installments over the next six weeks we hear firsthand about one Limerick girl’s transformation with the help of the Ultimate Health Clinic and in association with personal trainer Dave Sheahan.

Meet our candidate: Edelle O’Brien.
Edelle is probably your average 31 year old. She loves to live life and enjoys the finer things: pints, wine, cigarettes and tayto sandwiches! Last year she made the first steps to a healthier lifestyle by joining a women’s rugby team and now she’s more eager than ever to get her life on a healthier track for once and for all.
“Hi, my name is Edelle O’Brien, I am a Caherdavin girl, born and reared in Limerick. I work in Goldmine Jewellers on Catherine Street. I started playing rugby for Young Munster last August and I’m loving it. Since August obviously I have been getting much fitter but found myself eating more because I could tell myself “sur’, I’ll run it off on Friday at training”. I like to go out at the weekends, smoke many cigarettes and drink many pints! So, as you can see, I’m your fairly typical girl. I know I should be looking after myself better but I’m young and like to enjoy myself. Or so I thought.
“You see, while trying fad diets and sporadic periods of ‘being good’ I have done some damage to my insides. I suffer from chronic heartburn from a yeast intolerance (I blame tayto sandwiches) and bad digestive problems. Hence I was put in touch with the Ultimate Health Clinic who I knew dealt with digestive problems and skin problems but mostly colonic irrigations. Imagine, I thought, staring with a completely clean slate shall we say…
“I met Lisa and Caroline at the UHC on a Thursday. Can I just say the clinic is immaculate the girls are so friendly and easy to talk to, nothing is taboo and yet so professional. I knew straight away I was going to be in good hands. I have to explain one thing at this point, when I went to meet the girls I was off the cigarettes two weeks (it is January – you have to try) and I had the cold from hell. They had no sympathy for me. They were right. To get the best results they gave me a detox diet. Just to write it like that seems so easy, it wasn’t, it was hard (which is why I had wine, taytos and a wispa the night before starting!). The detox diet consists of porridge for my breakfast, soup for my lunch and because I’m not a fish person I ate mostly chicken with potatoes (thank god) and vegetables, doesn’t sound too bad? I forgot to mention NO salt NO dairy NO sugar NO tea or coffee for five to seven days! Now I hope you’re reading this sitting down because with this diet alone, which as you can tell didn’t kill me, I lost nine pounds!!!!!
“I have to admit I cried a little when they told me. I didn’t lose that much in two months at other weight loss classes. Most importantly, bland and all as the diet was, I wasn’t hungry and had no heartburn or other problems. Also, I was on a bacterial supplement, a good bacteria called acidophilus, which makes your skin glow its amazing.
“Now for the best bit‚ the colonic! Don’t worry, I’m not going to be graphic, I’ll just say that it was nowhere near as bad as I expected it to be. A moment’s discomfort and 45 minutes that fly by. Caroline is a professional and makes you feel relaxed and at ease. I expected it to be painful but it wasn’t at all, there was just a little pressure on my tummy and back, and just when you think it’s becoming too much, it’s all over. The energy you have afterwards is awesome. Just to feel that good after a week – what will I be like after all of them? That’s right, I’ll be back next week with more. Including my first meeting with local fitness expert Dave Sheahan as this is “Operation Transformation” -Limerick style!”