Mrs Ayenkea tells BaretaNews that clothes she once struggled to zip now feel loose. She has yet to weigh herself again, but says she already notices a change in what she wears and how she feels in front of a camera.
At an industry night in late August, Mrs Ayenkea remembers holding in her stomach and looking straight at the camera as someone took her photograph. Looking back at it, she says, even her smile felt forced.
Roughly two months later, someone photographed her at a promotional event. This time, she was looking elsewhere. What she remembers most is how comfortable she felt letting someone take her picture.
That confidence has carried over into her choice of clothes. Whenever she had an outfit made, she used to ask for sleeves that covered her upper arms. She now feels comfortable going out in a strappy top.
“I can show my arms now,” she told BaretaNews.
Why she gave the coffee and tea a try
Mrs Ayenkea said her weight had concerned her for some time. She experienced backache, leg pain and occasional breathlessness. During a hospital visit in August, she recalled weighing about 96 kg.
She first heard about a slimming coffee and herbal tea on Facebook. Having tried several teas without seeing the changes she hoped for, she was sceptical. She kept scrolling, looking for accounts from people who had used the products for a month or longer. By September, she had decided to try them herself.
“It was like my last bus stop,” she said.
Mrs Ayenkea said she paid for the products through a colleague who bought them from a supplier. Asked whether she had a financial interest in sharing her experience, she said she earned no commission and did not know the supplier.
What she noticed over two months
Mrs Ayenkea began with the coffee, buying two packs containing 24 sachets in total. She drank it in the mornings and said she often felt little hunger by lunchtime. At work, the 1pm break became her reminder to eat. She also recalled drinking more water. She did little regular exercise during September and October, although she took part in a 10-kilometre walk.
It was when she tried on familiar clothes that she noticed a difference. Some garments had been tight across her stomach. Others she had been unable to zip up. By the end of October, she said, some of those same clothes felt loose.
Mrs Ayenkea said she feels lighter and would prefer to wait a little longer before weighing herself. Without a follow-up measurement, she cannot say how much her weight has changed.
An unexpected effect of the herbal tea
Mrs Ayenkea also described a rumbling stomach and more frequent trips to the toilet after drinking the herbal tea. The frequency surprised her, and she worried that taking it late in the day would keep her awake.
Her experience alone cannot establish what caused the change in how her clothes fit. The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health cites a review that found no compelling evidence supporting “detox” diets for weight management.
For Mrs Ayenkea, the most personal part of the story is in the second photograph. In August, she could remember exactly how she had stood and why. At the promotional event, she let the moment pass without adjusting her pose. As she put it, “I’m carefree.”
