**Warning: This post contains some mildly graphic discussion of bowel movements**

Last month I did the TeaMi 30-day Detox. The program costs $50 (although they always have sales going on). For that price you get one bag of TeaMi Skinny Tea, and one bag of the Colon Cleanse Tea. I also purchased the tumbler because I love nifty gagets, and I knew I would be drinking my tea on the go most of the time. The tumbler is a double-walled, insulated cup with a strainer that fits under the lid, so you don't have to drink tea particles from your loose leaf tea.

The program:

First thing every morning, drink one cup of the Skinny Tea. (One teaspoon of tea leaves in a cup of water)

Every other evening, drink one cup of the Colon Cleanse Tea. (One teabag in one cup of water)

TeaMi also suggests eating a fairly healthy, clean diet while doing the detox. (which I was doing anyway)

My Experience:

The Skinny Tea was a pleasant, non-descript type of tea. I added honey to mine, and it was a very nice start to the day. TeaMi claims that the Skinny Tea boosts your energy and helps you metabolize more quickly throughout the day. 

I did not notice at the time, but now that I have been off of the Skinny Tea for a couple of weeks, I think it must have been boosting my energy. Either that, or I have lost a bit of my motivation. Both possibilities could be true. I have been having more trouble getting up and getting to the gym in the morning since my detox ended. However, I've also been working very hard for a few months, and I am probably also just losing steam, as I tend to do when I'm acively trying to lose weight. I've also been having more cheat days, which I didn't really do at all when I was doing the detox, so the poorer diet might also be contributing to my lessened energy.

The Colon Cleanse Tea smelled horrible. It had a very sickly odor that made me really dread drinking it the first time. My roommate did not think it smelled bad, so maybe it was just some olfactory memory I have of something unpleasant. That being said, it tasted fine. Again, pretty non-descript. I added honey and drank it right before bed.

The Colon Cleanse Tea REALLY did its job. I had very regular bowel movements before I started the detox, so adding the colon cleanse was a bit of a shocking experience for me. On the first morning after I drank the Colon Cleanse Tea, I was awoken in the wee morning hours with horrible stomach cramps. Having had food poisoning before, I knew what was happening. I road out the cramps for about 30 minutes before I was finally able to use the restroom and get back to sleep. I awoke again an hour or two later with cramps and went through the whole ordeal again. 

Once I woke up for the day and went about my regular schedule, I did not experience the cramps again, but throughout the day I would be suddenly hit by the urge to "go," and I would have to stop whatever I was doing.

One very memorable time this happened was the morning of my first 5k. I thought I had gotten everything out before I left for the race, but 5 minutes before the start of the race, I was hustling to the bathroom. I missed the very start, but when I came out of the bathroom, the hoard of people were still trying to cross the start line, so I was able to slip in with everyone else.

On average, on the days I drank the colon tea, I had to use the bathroom about 5-7 times throughout the day. After the first time, the cramps slowly lessened until I wasn't getting any cramps when I drank the tea. I found that if I drank the tea as late as possible (10-11pm) I wouldn't have to wake up any earlier than normal the next day. (I typically wake up around 7-8am) 

Yes, the Colon Cleanse Tea definitely cleared me out on the days I drank it, however, on the other days, I couldn't "go" at all. Half of the time I was doing the detox, I was walking around feeling bloated and awful, and the other half of the time I was running to the bathroom every couple of hours.

It has taken me a couple of weeks to get pretty much back to my pre-detox regularity, and I'm not really back to normal yet.

Other Considerations:

I have considered all of the contributing factors to my difficulties, and come up with several things I was doing at the same time as the detox that may have compounded with the effects of the teas.

1. I wasn't really drinking coffee in the mornings. Since I was drinking the Skinny Tea every morning, I didn't really have time to add another hot beverage to my morning routine. So, on the days I didn't drink the Colon Cleanse Tea, my body was also missing out on that flow of coffee to get my innards going.

2. I was eating a very low-calorie diet. Considering how much I was "going" on the days I took the Colon Cleanse Tea, there might just not have been enough left in my body for me to "go" on the off days. 

3. I was still very motivated to eat right, and go to the gym regularly. Although the Skinny Tea may have been contributing to my overall energy and efficiency, I was still only in the second month of my Transformer, and still pumped to work hard. Now that the fervor has worn off a bit, I'd be interested to see if the Skinny Tea could help keep me going.

My Results:

I did the TeaMi detox during the second month of my first Transformer. I started on the day I did my round one weigh-out. I lost 9.2 lbs during my first round. (Of course, the first month is always the easiest because you are motivated and have the most weight to lose at that point) I lost 8.2 lbs during my second round, while doing the TeaMi detox. I'm not sure if my results would have been less if I hadn't been doing the detox.

Now that I am on round 3 of my Transformer, I am noticing a major drop off in the rate I am losing weight. I have already surpassed my goal for the entire 6 month dietbet, so the slow down is probably just my bodies natural reaction to weight loss. Also, I have been more relaxed in what I eat and how often I exercise than in the past couple of months.

For the sake of satisfying my curiosity, I am tempted to do another 30-day TeaMi detox in round 4 of the Transformer, just to see if it can kickstart my weight loss again.

My Reaction:

Other than to satisfy my own curiosty, I would think twice before doing this detox again. The discomfort caused by the Colon Cleanse Tea was bad, but manageable after a few days. The worst part, was how badly the detox messed with my regular body functions, and how long it has taken me to recover.

If I did do it again, I would start by drinking half a cup of weakly-brewed Colon Cleanse Tea, and work my way up to a whole cup of fully brewed tea. 

On non-Colon Cleanse days, I'd be sure to drink lots of water (which I did anyway, but I always like to remind myself to drink!) and probably have a cup of coffee. Also, I'd time it so that my round weigh-in days coincided with Colon Cleanse days!

**update: After writing this review and thinking about the experience some more, I have let my curiosity get the better of me. I am going to try the TeaMi detox one more time and see if I still have good weight loss results with it now that my motivation has decreased a bit and my rate of weight loss has slowed down.**