Skinny Coffee is a 30 Day Program to help weight loss with only one cup of this coffee a day, drunk 15 minutes before you have your breakfast. With a slogan of “Make Coffee, Not Excuses” I thought hey, why not? Now I’m not saying I am overweight so please no hate there, it’s just over the last 6 months my clothes seem to be smaller – very selfish of them…. so I thought if I can start wearing them comfortably again then that would be a great feeling for me. No excuses!

As a first, I dislike the word ‘skinny’ as I don’t see it as a positive and not particularly something to aspire to be – it makes me think of protruding ribs and being underweight… a place where I have been naturally as an early/mid teen (no disorders).  I see (mainly) women both online and in real world life aiming to be ‘skinny’ to an unhealthy level so I’m not on board with the name particularly, but it is something used frequently within this area of weight loss products so meh, what can I do… ‘slim’ is preferable if you’re looking at a descriptor of the more slender body shape. But also no body shaming here if you do want to claim a skinny status. NONE.

Ignoring the name, this does seems like a great product for January as people need a little bit of help getting out of bed with the dark Winter days still being here, the festive break is over plus nearly everyone will be more health conscious after Christmas. Even if you aren’t on a massive crash diet I think subconsciously most folks are still going to be more aware of what they’re putting in their body – I definitely am as I mentioned, but I am still going to be eating and not really restricting myself.. because eating is my life and something I love. This is also vegan/vegetarian friendly which makes it suitable for ‘Veganuary’ too – this seems to be the new ‘Dry January’ – and it’s always good to find products which cater for those with a more restrictive diet being also gluten/soy/dairy/egg free.

So what is this stuff? In each packet of Skinny Coffee (1 Month Instant Weight Loss Program) for £24.95 (free postage) it provides you with 30 cups of instant coffee which contains er..coffee, coconut milk powder, unroasted ground green coffee, acai berry, goji berry, juniper berry, garcinia cambogia, raspberry ketones powder and L Carnitine. My first thought was “is this one of those laxative drink which makes you poop your weight away? I don’t want none of that even for a blog experiment” but the Twitter team assured me that this wasn’t one of those. Products I have seen before have occasionally had tiny percentages of acai berry in and still counted it as an ingredient, which I think is a bit of a cheat.  So, what do the ingredients do? This is me researching online and also bear in mind no quantities have been given for any of these ingredients – I have provided the most unbiased links I can find for most ingredients.

• Coffee and coconut milk powder – Pretty much what they say! Coconut milk powder is sugar free and coffee will do the usual wake-up job. This is a black coffee though if you don’t add milk yourself.
•  Unroasted ground green coffee – Any documented weight loss effects from this were small and there isn’t much evidence to support that green coffee is helpful for weight loss – there have been no specific studies to prove a link.
•  Acai berry – The key berry that’s hyped up for weight loss and is a very popular word these days for selling weight loss products, but it lacks evidence to back this up. It’s rumoured to actually contribute to overall body health due to antioxidants, however, quantities used in products and drinks are usually very low.
•  Goji berry – Supposed to help immune system but no scientific evidence for this.
•  Juniper berry – Antioxidant and antibiotic benefits.
•  Garcinia cambogia – A citrus fruit which is rumoured to speed up metabolism. No evidence gathered re: weight loss or ‘making you feel full’ though these thoughts are also commonly linked to this ingredient. Liver damage has been flagged up for this one in a few places – hmm!
•  Raspberry ketones powder – Supposed to break down fat cells and aid weight loss but there are no human studies to evidence this. When studied, it helped rats gain less weight when ingesting huge amounts of raspberry ketones but this is far more than a human could manage and is not recommended to try. This product does not state the quantity used.
•  L Carnitine – A naturally occurring amino acid found in meat/dairy products and is also produced naturally in your very own muscles – well done. It helps to use your fatty acids as energy – so, a fat burner. Seems to be for athletes/gym bunnies and is used to reduce muscle damage post-workout but is unlikely to aid weight loss unless you are old or don’t eat meat (even then it’s questionable).

An interesting statement on the back of the packet states that the “statements about this product have not been evaluated by the FDA“ (the Food and Drug Administration) which means it has not been rigorously tested by the FDA for effectiveness, quality, purity or safety… interpret that as you wish.  The reviews on the Skinny Caffe website are overwhelmingly positive but I am always sceptical of reviews which can be moderated/published by the company themselves so wanted to give you an honest view here. I was sent this product but am not being paid to post a positive review – FMPH give honest opinions and I’m going to be drinking this for the next 30 days to see if it makes any difference to me.  The Skinny Caffe provide a nutrition guide which is to help out anyone who wants it, has exercise suggestions, 3 recipes along with what to, and not to eat for best results. It also advises to drink this 15mins before brekkie but I have busy mornings so will drink this once I get to work.

I’ve personally already made a decision to try and reduce my bread and pre-prepared food intake and eat more fresh stuff plus I am looking to exercise 3 times a week – most likely doing Focus T25 (love you Shaun T) as I don’t want to spend a lot of time exercising and want to maintain my social life/quality bogging about at home time. FYI I am 30 and also haven’t regularly exercised since April (tut tut), so these are all factors to take into account during the next month’s ‘results’….Apparently it’s good for bloating and I get painful bloats quite frequently so my pessimist/realist fingers are crossed. I will update this table as I go so keep your eyes on this post! Let’s see what happens anyway…

My summary is that this was a nice drink but really it doesn’t help with weight loss. Perhaps it is an inspiration for people to drink while also changing their diet and exercising, but drinking this alone and carrying on as you are (even with my diet which is pretty average) definitely will not  make you slimmer. The Skinny Caffe do have various different products on their site, including ‘weight loss capsules’, though I am unsure on the ingredients – that would be one to look into yourself if interested.

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