Herbalife - give it a try! (Herbalife Dietary Programs)

Member Name: Tiggypig

Product:	Herbalife Dietary Programs
Date:	06/08/08 (1948 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Not much meal planning, quick and convenient, great energy provider

Disadvantages: May be too costly for some, you may miss having "proper" meals

Well, what can I say? I guess I shall give you a brief summary of my past experiences really. I have always been a "big girl" for want of a better phrase and this particular time, I had gotten too big for my own liking. Even at 27 years old, I felt sluggish, was always out of breath and constantly fell asleep in the afternoon during the days I wasn't at work (although I had been tempted to go to sleep at my desk occasionally!) That's not to mention the fact that my clothes were all getting too small/tight aswell.

Now, I've tried several other weight loss methods, all of which worked at the time but I felt were not the right ones for me this time as despite my love of food, I had become bored with deciding what to have for each meal. I then saw an advert in the paper for Herbalife and thought "Hey, why not?". It is a meal replacement programme and having tried Slimfast and thought it was disgusting was a little wary of the fact. However, the lady that talked me through it was very supportive and offered to send me a sample pack to see if I could get on with drinking the shakes. Long story short, I got on ok with it and decided to take the plunge.

In my starter pack (which cost me just short of £70) I had one tub of Formula 1 in the vanilla flavour (this is the shake powder - lasts around 3.5 weeks), a pack of 90 multivitamin tablets (lasts you a month) and a pack of "Thermojetics" herbal beverage (this is a powdered herbal tea and lasts about a month on 2 cups a day). Now this may seem expensive to some people but from my point of view, I was having no breakfast and then spending at least £5-6 per day on lunch and other things to eat. (around £100 per month!)

Basically, what you have to do to lose the weight is replace two meals a day with the shakes (these are around 217 calories each) which can be made up with milk (or fruit juice if you prefer) and then have a balanced meal (1/2 plate veg, 1/4 plate lean protein & 1/4 plate carbohydrate). You should also eat two snacks a day of either lean protein or fruit.

I've found that this is keeping me full and I am not tempted to go and buy a croissant from the cafe mid morning! You take a multivitamin three times a day with each of your meals and try to have at least 2 cups of the Thermojetics a day along with your daily water quota of 2 litres.

The upshot of all this is that so far, I have lost 12lbs in 6 weeks and have so much energy that I have to force myself to go to bed in the evenings! This may not seem a lot to other people but 1-2lbs a week is the recommended limit for people trying to lose AND KEEP weight off. My body has also changed as I have lost 3 inches from my waist and 4 inches from my hips.

I know what you're all wondering, how do you maintain it? Part of the answer is that once you have dropped to your target weight, you still have one shake a day and replace the missing one with another balanced meal. Once you feel comfortable with this and have "re-trained" your brain not to scoff the wrong foods, you can then go back to eating three meals a day. Then all you have to do if you feel yourself slipping is go back to one shake a day.

I hope this of some help to you all.

UPDATE!! - 13/11/2008

Just thought I'd update this quickly to say that everything is still going ok on the programme although I cannot say that I have not had the odd craving for naughty puddings/cakes etc but that is a personal thing as I love them! I refuse to be completely strict with myself and have even been out with my friends to pubs/restaurants etc - you have to live!!

Anyway, Since being on Herbalife I have lost 24lbs (1st 10) in 18 weeks which is still averaging out at just over 1lb per week. I will say that I do not weigh myself every week, I weigh every fortnight as otherwise it can feel obsessive!

It has to be said that the most impressive thing about this product is the inch loss! I have had to shop around for cheap trousers in charity shops and supermarkets due to the fact that within 2-3 weeks of buying some, they are very loose around the waist. In the last 18 weeks, I have lost 5 inches from my waist and 7 inches from my hips! I have lost inches in other places such as my arms, bust and thighs but really only 1-2 from each place.

Mini Review on Shake Flavours

Vanilla - Tastes a little like evaporated milk if drunk on its own but great for combining with almost anything (fruit, yogurt, juice, espresso etc) Also smells like custard cream biscuits!!

Chocolate - Is good on its own but also nice with banana or coffee

Strawberry - Nice on its own, good with fruit and yogurt

Tropical - Very strange but quite likeable. It can smell a little artifical at times, almost like cheap banana milkshake syrup but is nice if you add fruit like pineapple and banana

Cookies 'n' Cream - Now I have only tried one sachet of this as opposed to a whole tub and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it as it has little cookie pieces in and I found it a little off-putting to have them swishing around in my mouth whilst trying to drink the shake! Other than that, the flavour is very nice.

I have not tried the cappucino simply because I add a shot of espresso to with a vanilla or chocolate shake if I feel in the mood for coffee!

I hope that has given a bit more of an insight to Herbalife for those of you who have thought about trying it but have not taken the plunge yet :o)

Summary: Great if you're at the end of your tether but may require some willpower at first.