Product Reviews - Maxitone Sculptress & Definity Shakes

So it's probably about flippin' time I talk about these two fabulous products eh?! Actually, three if you count the shaker, which is a super little thing as it's so cute but also useful too!

I've found that those qualities tend not to be compatible in most products, and I often have to sacrifice function for form... or vice versa. But not in this instance, which is a total result!

So apologies for how long it has taken me to write but I really wanted to give these shakes a thorough testing before I wrote about them!

Firstly, being of the honest persuasion I must confess to my failings as well as successes on this blog, and I have to admit that when I first used my Maxitone Shaker I hit a great big FAIL!

This was because I'm so used to using the boy's shaker of which I have many, in which there's a ledge/ridge where the 'mixing grid' (which is far superior to any other shaker I've tried... *zero* lumps as a result!) just rests.

So, into the Maxitone shaker I popped the grid, gave it a jolly good shake and then wondered why it sort of disappeared into the mixture!!

Noooo... this mixing grid is more advanced than that ladies!

It has a long spear on the end of it which attaches directly into the lid like so...



...and stays firmly in place - *much* better :-)

Right, onto the shakes themselves.

As some of you will already know, I've been drinking the men's version of Maxitone, Maximuscle Promax Diet, for well over a year now and I still love it, especially banana flavour which is why I adore! This is why I chose to try the banana flavour in both the Sculptress and Definity in order to compare :-)

Maxitone Sculptress shake



I love the name of this drink. I didn't at first because I thought it sounded too much like a TV Gladiator, but now I think it's ace as that's exactly what I'm doing to myself at the mo - sculpting my ideal physique and every time I drink this shake I'm reminded of this fact!

Sculptress mixes incredibly well in the nifty little shaker and tastes delicious. I'm not sure how/if the recipe has been altered at all but it tastes creamier and smoother to me than Promax Diet and I like the smaller serving size which means it's under 180 Calories and less than 3g of fat per serving! You do get less protein as a result (although Sculptress has slightly more protein per 100g), but to be honest, most women doesn't need a large amount of protein and 2 servings of this a day will give you 64g of protein in addition to your usual intake - more than adequate!

Onto the fat burning stuff... well, for a start it's a low GI food which, along with the protein, guarantees that you'll feel fuller for longer as it releases its energy nice and slowly... there's none of those instant *kerrzing!* sugar hits followed by energy slumps that you get with the likes of Slimfast!

In addition to this there's the green tea and caffeine that together help to fire up your metabolism and finally there's Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) which, as well as helping keep your metabolic system firing on all cylinders, also has the added fabulous advantage of helping you to lose unwanted body fat but at the same time preserve and indeed build lovely lean muscle mass!

And girls, in case we're still unclear on any of this, if you want a trim, slim, toned and sexy physique, you're going to need to introduce a mixture of resistance, as well as cardio, into your training as:

lean muscle + nice layer of fat over the top = sexy shapely body :-)

In terms of when you should drink Sculptress. Well, as I eat 5/6 small meals a day (because no, snacking is NOT a sin!) it forms one or two of these; but if you're going to stick to less, I'd recommend you have a shake with your breakfast to rev you up for the day, and then perhaps one between lunch and dinner, say between 3pm and 4pm (i.e. classic 'afternoon slump' zone).

However, I would say to avoid taking Sculptress after 6pm as it does contain caffeine in it and might disrupt your sleep if you take it too late.


Definity shake



I can't work out which of these two shakes I prefer so it's a good job I've got both!

Definity comes in a smaller size serving of 30g which you mix with 200mls of water in your shaker to give you a large glass of yumminess. With this you get only 120 Cals but also just over 24g of protein! There is less fat per serving too at just 2g.

Definity has been a bit of a blessing to be honest and I'm gutted that I've worked my way through the tub so quickly but it's hardly surprising considering how much I'm drinking it!

You see, I do most of my cardio in the morning or at lunch time because I find it easier to lift weights in the evening after I've had a day of eating and fuelling my body. Maybe it's just psychological but I feel a lot stronger in the evening (conversely I can't do spin in the evening, I find I need to do at 06:45 and you'd think I'd need a *lot* more energy for that!! Maybe it's just because I don't give my body time to wake up sufficiently enough to argue before I hit it with a high intensity session, ha!)

Anyway, what this means is that I need some protein as soon as I get home at night from the gym and I've been previously taking this in the form of cottage cheese, tuna etc which is just no fun all the time and I often don't feel like eating anything solid at 10pm!!

So, now I have Definity! 24g of protein in a delicious glassful of shake, what more could I need? Plus, as it's a lovely milky drink with no caffeine or green tea like Sculptress, it doesn't keep me awake at night which makes it the perfect pre-bedtime recovery drink, ideal to help me sleep and repair my

Honestly, since I started taking Sculptress and Definity - at least 2 servings a day, either 2 of Sculptress or 1 Sculptress, 1 Definity at night - I have noticed such a massive difference. I'm lifting lighter than I've done in the past but my arms have never looked as good before and my abs are starting to show through even more so too - I'm so thrilled!!



Also, Definity goes fantastically well in smoothies which are a staple of my weekends as that seems to be the only time I get to blend up fruit and yogurt, I look forward for them for that reason - the rest of the time I drink my shakes 'naked' - as in no other ingredients, not without clothes!! Mind you, this might fall into the latter category...



...post-hard and intensive arms workout in the gym followed by a wonderful soak in the bath, accompanied by a lovely cup of Banana Definity and a hot steaming mug of Barleycup (which you can buy in places like Holland & Barrett), loads of flavour, no caffeine, and Tara was a relaxed and happy, mellow bunny :-)

Bliss!

Enjoy the shakes, any questions just drop me a line, :-)

TJx

Product Review: Maxitone Definity Crisp

Promax Crisp bars are the bomb, seriously, they are like a lifeline for me, a saving grace, the perfect panacea for any mid/late afternoon slump/sweet craving and they help me avoid the multitude of sweet and/or fat-laden treats that adorn every available surface area in my office!!



Nom nom nom...

Guess what I've just found out?!

I'm gonna have a bit of a rant here so sorry but bear with me as this is pretty horrific...

You know Cocoa Pops, or chocolate rice, or whatever other incarnation of these evil chocolate puffs of stripped-down rice you might have tried (I say 'tried' in the hope that this nutritionally devoid cereal doesn't feature in your kitchen cupboard), well did you know that their cereal bar equivalent, Coco Pops Cereal & Milk Bars contains 42g of sugar per 100g!!

Of course, This is hardly surprising when you consider that the word 'sugar' features FIVE times in the ingredients listing, and I've not even counted the glucose syrup - and the sorbitol... (why put a sugar substitute in if you've got so much already?!)

It really made me feel ill to read the 'enticing description' for the Coco Pops bars:

Kellogg’s have packed your kids’ favourite cereal into a soft and chewy cereal bar with a delicious milky layer on the bottom, making it a real anytime treat. Fortified with vitamins, iron and calcium, now you can give your kids a great tasting snack that you can be sure won’t come back from school in the lunchbox!

Who the hell would send their child to school with one of those in their lunch box after checking out the back of the packet for the nutritional info - each bar contains 2g of fat, which doesn't sound huge or bad at all until you read on and see that all of that is saturated fat!

I can't believe Kellogg's market it as a healthy anytime treat to send your child to school with, fume!

Anyway, rant over... but just as a contrasting comparison, Promax Crisp Bars have 20g less sugar per 100g, almost half the salt, less than half of the fat comes from saturates and there's 6 times more fibre!

And now.... cue fanfare... we have another addition to the yummy snack-tastic high protein, low calorie offerings from the Maximuscle/Maxitone company in the form of Definity Crisp Bars!!



I must admit to being a little worried in case these tasted like Special K bars... which are okay at first but soon get sickly as hell!

Thankfully they're not, in fact they're really tangy and very tasty indeed! They definitely beat Special K hands down on taste alone.

With 4g less sugar and over a third less salt they are definitely a healthier choice for those who watch what they put in their bodies.

However, that isn't all Definity Crisp bars have to their benefit, they also contain the teeniest amount of Calories (only 83 - plus only 1.6g of saturated fat!!) and are also deceptively filling to boot! This is probably due to the fact that they are enriched with whey protein and so have over 6g of protein per bar the perfect afternoon/mid-morning snack, take it from me!

So, just think, if you're surrounded by kids eating sweet treats, or colleagues tucking into Calorie and saturated-fat-laden chocs, cakes and pastries, you can feel smug in the knowledge that are you helping to abate, and hopefully eliminate, any sweet cravings with a guilt-free bar of fruity yoghurt smothered yumminess.

Delish!

TJx

Official Maxitone Launch Party - Wednesday 27th January 2010

Sorry for the delay in posting about this!

Well the night began badly as, for some reason, google maps had taken the postcode I'd submitted and thought "ahh, let's play a game of 'send Tara on a wild goose chase' shall we...?"

So, instead of finding my way to INC Space (a rather posh health club/gym/events venue) on Grape Street, I ended up round the back of the Ambassador's Theatre with some lovely actors trying to assist me in looking for a road which I assumed existed between two buildings... but in fact didn't!

I would like to add that this isn't entirely my fault as I took the postcode I'd found (WC2H 8ED) when I searched for INC Space and typed it into google maps and this is where it sent me!



Anyway, I finally ditched the printed map, pulled out my Palm Pre (which I don't tend to use as annoyingly it only seems capable of searching for half a postcode at a time!!) and looked at the maps on there and realised I was in completely the wrong place and had a little bit of a walk ahead of me still!

So, eventually I turned up in a sheen of sweat (attractive!), feeling a little fed up, not to mention a lot flustered and highly embarrassed at being late!

I cooled down a bit and got changed into some sporty workout pants and a lovely Maxitone t-shirt that I'd just been given and headed to the bar to join everyone else...



...after first passing a table and picking up one of the attractively laid out Maxitone water bottles and finding that it contained the yummy Maxitone Sculptress bar I reviewed on Friday.

However, just as I was about to enter the room I saw a familiar face, but one whom I'd not seen for absolutely years - Wole Adesemoye!!



(I would like to point out that I don't usually look this red and shiny - I had just finished an intense Zumba workout... more about that later!)

Awesome!! I'm not sure exactly why I hadn't actually expected to see Wole there as he's probably one of the most (if not the most) famous and recognised faces of Maximuscle and also runs a successful Personal Training business called Wole Training, but it was a lovely surprise :-)

Next I was lucky enough to get a personal training session from a rather fabulous guy called David Perks. He took down some details about me and asked about anything in particular I wanted to address so I told him about my tight hip flexors, dodgy weak ankles and my equally dodgy constantly-injured right shoulder and he set about showing me some really effective exercises to address all these issues.

Here's me performing 'the clock'...



Which was quite a tricky move that involved me standing on one leg and then moving the other round at various angles - hence the clock reference.

...and next performing the New Zealand All Black's Haka



Heh, seriously I don't remember what I was doing here but I'm sure it was worth the silly pose ;-)

Fortunately the photographer didn't manage to capture me doing the other move for my hips which involved me kneeling on one leg and then raising the other out to the side (just think dogs and lampposts), although thoroughly unattractive looking it was incredibly tricky, tiring and made me ache a little afterwards - fab!!

I really love exercises which just involve your own body weight but have such great results and you can immediately feel working.

Last but not least, David showed me the most excellent (sorry if I sound all Bill & Ted here) move for improving my shoulder strength - not actually targeting my delts but working on improving the stability of the whole rotator cuff, specifically (I think) the Infraspinatus muscle.

I've been trying to find a picture of this move to show you guys but have been unable thus far - if anyone knows the exact name of the move then please do let me know as I'd be thrilled to hear of it!

I'll describe the move:

1) Grab a pair of *really* light weights (seriously, 2kg or less - David got me to do this move with 1kg weights and I really felt it working despite the fact that I use 9kg weights for my dumbbell shoulder press!)
2) Prop a bench up so it's at about 45 degrees, then straddle it so you're facing the wrong way - like you're about to do a seated rear lateral raise.
3) Hang your arms over the back of the bench and then bring the elbows up and out to the side as if you were about to launch into the 'Scarecrow' dance move.
4) Holding both weights with the backs of your hands facing up towards the ceiling, slowly rotate your arms upwards until they reach shoulder height.
5) Slowly lower again, then repeat.

After my fabulous PT session we were all invited to try out a Zumba taster class which was taken by the beautiful and inspirational Lindsay Jay.
I soon discovered that I truly have two left feet and am *much* less co-ordinated than I thought - there's a reason why I only dance when I'm drunk!

As Lindsay writes about Zumba on her site:

"Latin and international music are fused to create an explosive, booty shakin’ party of a workout that will target all those problem areas, burn 400 to 1,000 calories a class and leave you on a high!"

Lindsay managed to condense a whole class - incorporating all elements of a typical Zumba class - into an intensive 20/30 minute 'blast' which was the most fun I'd had for ages - as you can see from this picture!!



I would like to point out that, although you can see David taking part in this picture, he soon skipped out after the first few minutes - wuss! ;-)

Wole also didn't join in having hurt his hamstring while taking part in one of the Wasps Rugby Club's training sessions (or so he says... it could just be that he didn't want to look daft... ;-) )

Us girls are obviously made of sterner stuff though and we stuck it out. In the pic you can see gorgeous Laura Muirhead - who was the worthy winner of the 'Motivate' category in the Maxitone Body of 2009 competition. Also there is equally lovely Nicky Edwards who was also a finalist in the 'Motivate' category and looked fab!

From the 'Inspire' category that I entered, it was only myself and the fabulous Lucie Anslow.

Unfortunately our category winner didn't come along as she was quite busy having recently moved into a new place and changed jobs. It was a real shame as I'd have loved to see her again and I don't think hell or high water would have prevented me from attending the launch, especially if I'd actually won our category!

I know that it was particularly difficult for Lucie to get away from work so I hope she didn't get into too much trouble and that she has as much fun as I did!

After the Zumba class there was a presentation on the new Maxitone products, the brand and the vision for the women who use it.

As I mentioned in my post the other day I find it so encouraging and refreshing that there is a diet and nutrition brand that actively encourages you to go out and exercise! There's so much focus nowadays on simply eating less food, and not enough on actually doing MORE!! Maxitone is not aimed at people who want a quick fix in return for more sofa & soaps time, they're a company who want you to improve, enhance and ultimately elongate your life by getting active and engaging in physical activity.

I'd got engrossed in the presentation and forgot that I had a camera but I managed to whip it out in time to capture this slide which gives you a broad idea about the aim of the nutritional advantages of the products.



After the presentation, Lucie and I decided to go try out the lush cocktails that were on offer



Here Lucie is drinking a 'Definity Mojito' while modelling one of the Maxitone T-shirts we got...



And here I am with one of each also :-)



I also couldn't resist the 'Sculptress Martini' - how fab does this look?!!



While propping up the bar sampling the yummy cocktails (well, it would have been rude not to!) I got talking to Lindsay and persuaded her, despite having just taken a Zumba class, to have her picture taken:



She still looks great mind, although here's her looking even more amazing in one of the pics on her profile page - She was a runner up in the World Sports Model 2009 competition!!



Look at that stomach, I don't remember ever being as envious of a tummy before that night, ha! :-)

Aside from looking great and being a fabulous instructor, she is also lovely to talk to and we had a good old chin-wag. It turns out that, as well as being a Zumba instructor and presenter - representing the brand globally as well as in the UK - she is also running a fabulous brand new exercise class called Disco Health Club, based at the Green Carnation in Soho, London - honestly I don't know where she finds the time!!

WHY JUST EXERCISE - WHEN YOU CAN PARTY!

Launched on Wednesday 13th January 2010, Disco Health Club is an innovative concept that allows girls and guys to keep fit while dancing along to their favourite disco classics, all in the surroundings of a West End club

This class looks hugely fun and exciting so I'm hoping to pop along one day and check it out - if only to get the opportunity to dress like something out of a Jane Fonda video - long-term blog readers will *know* how much I like dressing up!!

It was great to chat to Lindsay, I love meeting people as passionate about sports and fitness as I am and I think it was quite a coup that Maxitone were able to secure her for the evening as the Zumba class was fantastic and I also can't wait to try one out again. That being said, I think I might buy a DVD first to get used to some of the moves - although everyone can do it, I doubt there are many as uncoordinated as I am, I want to practice at home!!

I also had a good chat with Maxitone's nutritionist whose name annoyingly I didn't take down, we were having a chat about using Maxitone products in food as I use protein powder both in my savoury as well as sweet treats, here are some recipes from the Maxitone site. She had some other great ideas that I'm looking forward to seeing appear on the website, especially the one for quiche. She's been a vegetarian for 20 years now so getting enough high quality protein from other sources in her diet is something that's very important to her.

Finally I got to talk to Wole later after he'd finished giving a PT session to a lucky lady from Women's Fitness Magazine (one of the women's few women's sports magazines I actually rate as it's not patronising, gossipy and I haven't yet seen an article encouraging you to do biceps curls with baked bean cans).

It's fantastic to see that

a) he still looks just as good as he did when he was 18 because, as much genetics obviously play a large part in how you look when you reach maturity, if you don't take on adquate nutrition and put the hours of training in as you age, then genetics will only carry you so far and there'll be a very limited timeframe during which you look your best!



and b) he's still as passionate about his training and getting results.

Whatever he's doing, it's obviously still working and, to top it off he's keen so show others how to reach their potential, which is just fantastic!

I'm hoping to get a training session in with Wole at some time soon, which would be superb :-)

For those of you who think that Wole looks that way just because he he drinks a few protein shakes and maybe lifts a couple of weights then think again! You don't get to look that good unless you train well, take on correct and adequate nutrition and have a great work ethic to boot!

Wole gets up early, trains people until around the middle of the day, then has a few hours which he devotes purely to his own training before he starts his firefighter shift later that day.

He works hard and he looks great, he puts the time in and he gets the results out, simple but *definitely* not easy!!

Oh and he runs six miles EVERY day. As Wole says "Cardio is King", and you're not going to get to look like one unless you're willing to do some! It's that kind of thinking that secured him a sub 4 hour time in last year's New York Marathon! Finishing in under 03:51 is amazing for a fella of his size and he was deservedly very pleased :-)

I left INC Space with a fab sports bag containing a Maxitone Shaker, snazzy new waterbottle, (though unfortunately no hoodie which was a shame as we thought we might get one), a whole box of yummy Definity Crisp Bars! (review to follow), and a renewed appreciation for the benefits of exercise and good nutrition!

I love being sporty and enthusing over sporty matters with equally like-minded sporty people. What a fabulous evening, still grinning, thank you Maxitone!!

TJx

Introducing Maxitone!

Some of you eagle-eyed readers may have noticed me mentioning Maxitone, as well as Maximuscle, some of you may even have seen the ads on TV or received a catalogue...

Well, I just thought I'd talk briefly about what I know of Maxitone so far.

During the Maximuscle Body of 2009 photoshoot, myself and the other girls were privy to some information concerning an exciting new addition to the Maximuscle family - Maxitone.

So, what is Maxitone?

Maxitone is a standalone product, separate from the Maximuscle range, though of course under the same umbrella.

So, I guess you might have some questions along the lines of - why has Maximuscle felt the need to do this? Why not stick with the Maximuscle Promax Diet line? They're already popular, taste good and work well!

To be honest I was a bit unsure about the name... the word 'tone', and indeed expression 'get more toned' seems to cause controversy wherever it's used.

When a woman says "I want to get toned up", she really means:

"I want to lose body fat and look better".

When a man says "I want to get toned up", he really means:

"I want to get bigger, better-defined muscles"

neither is technically correct as a) you can't 'tone' your body and b) you can't 'tone' your muscles... muscles either do one of two things - get bigger/stronger, or get smaller/weaker.

People get really uppity about the ostensive 'misuse' of this word, but maybe we should all lighten up ;-)

'Tone' appears to be one of these words that takes on more than one definition... like the words 'bad', 'sick', 'gay', 'wicked', 'mint' etc - you know the word 'girl' used to once mean a young person of either sex?! The meaning of words change over time, any Etymologist will tell you this - one thing we're all agreed on though is that when a woman says she wants to get more toned we *know* that she just wants to shape up, so perhaps we should all remember that and appreciate that this word is recognised everywhere to mean just that :-)

Anyway, now we've dealt with the name, why again do we need a separate product, and indeed brand name to Maximuscle?

Well, I guess the obvious answer is that the very word 'muscle' in 'Maximuscle' is enough to put most women off the products altogether.

Like the word 'tone', 'muscle' is also misunderstood by women trying to lose weight. They assume that the minute you pick up a pair of dumbbells you are going to turn into some muscle-bound freak, or just a square blob!

In fact, muscle is more metabolically active tissue than fat, the more you build, the more calories your body burns when you're not even moving about, how awesome is that?!

It is true that if you are overweight because your diet is rubbish, and you embark on a programme, for a long time, which consisted of a lot of heavy weight lifting, and do nothing to address your eating, it is entirely possible to build muscles *underneath* your fat (in effect adding another layer to your size), which will make you appear larger (albeit a firmer kind of 'large' ;-) ).

I see plenty of guys in the gym who can lift a hell of a lot, very impressive, but who have little to no definition (or what they'd consider 'tone' ;-) ) because they have such a large amount of fat covering their hard-earned muscles!

I realise that I am not exempt from the above observation, I know I have 'wicked' definition *somewhere* under there ;-)

It also really does annoy me when women come out with "I started exercising and I thought I'd lose weight straight away but instead I put on weight... but that's because I've obviously put on muscle and muscle weighs more than fat right?"

WRONG! A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, it's like the old tonne of bricks vs tonne of feathers riddle... what usually happens is that when a lot of people start exercising they either a) get hungry and eat more or b) think that as they've exercised they can therefore eat what they like, or, and this is killer... they drink 'energy' drinks while doing minimal exercise.

If your goal is to lose body fat, unless you're going out on a run where you'll be on your feet for over an hour, or are heading off on a 3 hour cycle ride which takes in a few hills, you really don't want to be taking on extra carbohydrates in the form of sugar, seriously - just drink water! What happens is that your body uses these drinks for fuel, instead of tapping into your body fat reserves - PLUS, any carbs that are not required for energy, i.e. if you're not working hard enough that your body actually needs the extra fuel, you will just store it... as, yup, you guessed it - FAT - bummer!!

You also don't need to be drinking these drinks *after* you've finished light exercising, that's not to say that you need *no* carbohydrate, but what you should be focusing on getting down you after exercising - especially intensely where you've put stress on your muscles - is protein.

This is where Maxitone comes in. 1 serving of Sculptress contains a huge 32g of protein, that's pretty good huh?

Alternatively, if you wanted to create a decent post-workout drink which incorporates good healthy carbohydrates as well as a decent amount of muscle-repairing protein, you can try blending some low fat greek yogurt with fruit and a scoop of Definity (only 120 Cals but over 24g of protein!) to form a yummy recovery smoothie - perfect! :-)

To summarise, I guess I've really come round to the thought of the Maxitone standalone product because

1) if I start using it at least I may get less funny looks/odd questions from colleagues about my protein supplements, using words like 'steroids' and 'mighty-muscle' and 'arnie'!

2) I do quite like the packaging, although the red and black from Maximuscle is dramatic and pretty cool, my favourite colour is purple and there seems to be a decent amount of that about, including the shaker which, apart from being shorter and less obtrusive (therefore more discreet!), is also pretty damn cute ;-)

3) Most important to me though is that I think us women DESERVE our own product! The world of sports nutrition is such a hugely male-dominated world. So should we have to 'share' our products with men who might have entirely different fitness goals and whose bodies are very different to our own - we are worth so much much more than just being an 'afterthought' in a previously male-oriented company.

I think it's great that Maximuscle have recognised that there are women who take their training and nutrition as seriously as men and don't want to be fobbed off with lower grade sports products. Maximuscle invests a lot of time and money into researching what goes into their products and the proof of this is evident in a) the results achieved by people taking the products and b) the caliber of people who do - have you seen the sportsmen and women who are happy to put their name to the brand?!

Ultimately that makes a difference right? You can't say it doesn't. Sportsmen and women or 'sports personalities' tend to have greater weight than regular celebrities when it comes to people who take their training and nutrition seriously.

For example, in 2004 when I first became interested in Triathlon I decided that wearing glasses and/or contact lenses was probably not what I wanted to do when transitioning from water to bike to running... So I looked around at my options and decided that I wanted to correct my eyesight permanently - I only became shortsighted at around the age of 12 so I really had time to become used to not needing corrective means to see and I missed having the peripheral vision that is denied to you when you wear glasses (unless you get a pair of wrap-arounds!).

So I decided to shop around for places that offered corrective laser surgery. Obviously by this point there was a plethora of choices out there and it was hard to know who to go with.

Then I saw an advert with Sir Steve Redgrave, Olympic Gold Medalist rower and he said he'd his eyesight corrected by Ultralase.

Bingo! Respected sporty person inspires hopeful fellow sporty person to have her vision totally restored and in 2004, a wonderful man called Mr Vinod Gupta made that possible.

The ONLY regret I have about the whole procedure is not having had it done sooner, it totally transformed my life. Races like Tough Guy just would not have happened for me as I'd have worried about either glasses breaking or contact lenses getting infected or losing one in the mud!!

Anyway, have gone off on a bit of a tangent there, my 'summary' ran on a bit too long, sorry but you know what I'm like!!

In short (I promise!) it appears that women's nutritional needs are finally being taken seriously in this country and addressed in their own right. It's about time too, I don't wear men's underwear and I don't eat man-sized food portions so why should I consume energy and recovery products designed solely with men in mind?

I think that a female-specific brand like Maxitone will provide women with perfectly balanced high-quality products and I can't wait to try them all out and report back to you with my verdict!

Oh, and one last thing...

I have my own page on the site!



Check me out ;-) http://www.maxitone.com/tarastevens.html


----------------------------------------------

I wrote all the above yesterday but didn't get a chance to post as had to head out to the Official Maxitone Launch Party which was taking place in London last night.

I had a really rather fun time, especially as an old friend I'd not seen for absolutely years was there so that was a nice surprise :-)

I will update you all about how the evening went and try and post some pics too so keep checking back for more news...!

Off out tonight to a 'Hollywood' themed night with lots of glitz and glamour, apparently there's going to be a red carpet and paparazzi, plus casino tables, free drinks and food too - can't wait for that either, have my camera for that so expect a double update soon!

Hope you're all well and healthy

TJx