Shake it, baby (Herbalife Dietary Programs)

Member Name: Andrew1911

Product:	Herbalife Dietary Programs
Date:	18/10/01 (3435 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It works! Really!

Disadvantages: Requires discipline

After being laid up for 5 months following an operation earlier this year, I discovered that I'd put on a little bit of weight. This is what you get for moving back in with your mum, who insists you eat 3 meals a day, with no opportunity to exercise.

Once back on my feet I decided to get rid of the weight. Thanks to the op, running (previously my favourite way of burning off the flab) was right out for at least a year. Ditto swimming. I wasn't to keen on joining a gym either, as I'm due to move house and didn't want to spend £40 a month on fees.

Anyway, my chiropracter (I'm a mess, aren't I ?) told me about this Herbalife malarky. Initially skeptical ("A shake in the morning....." sounds familiar) she said that she used it all the time to keep weight down, and wouldn't recommend it otherwise. So, I decided to give it a go.

Herbalife isn't a fly-by-night mail order thing that you see in the Sunday supplements. In fact, I don't recall ever seeing any advertisements, as it seems to do the bulk of its business by recommendations. An American company, it shift around £40 million a year, so it would seem to have the weight of a few years behind it. They offer a range of products in addition to the weight control stuff, but the shakes (Formula 1) and the pills (Formulas 2 & 3) are the biggest sellers.

Herbalife is distributed by way of reps. If you go the website, you'll be able to arrange ameeting between yourself and a local rep. Mine was a lovely women, who went through the whole range of options and talked me through the best practises.

I decided on Formula's 1, 2 & 3. This is the Meal replacement shake, multivitamin boosters and water retention pills, respectively.

Concentrating on the shake for this review, for my first month I went for the vanilla flavour. I used it in the morning and evening, with a sensible lunch between. The shake comes in a half kilo
gram tub, which should last a month at 2 tablespoons per shake, twice a day. Basically a soy product, it provides the same number of calories as an ideal meal, only as pure protein - no fat. The vanilla flavour is very nice : vanilla seeds are abundant in it and the taste is similar to the Frijj milkshakes. Make it will semi-skimmed, rather than skimmed and it froths up a treat. If you've got one, I'd recommend using one of those hand-held blender things as it smooths it up a treat. It can also mix in with porridge if you feel you need a hot start to the day.

It does tend to lump together, so it's not something to linger over. But I found the sheer time it gives back to you worth the effort of sticking with it. No more washing up on a evening. Yay!

Its important during the course to keep yourself hydrated, so you're given the task of drinking 1.5 litres of water a day. This may sound out, but believe me stick with it and the weight does drop off. In a month I lost a whisker under a stone and am on course to get to my target weight in about another month.

If you are committed to losing weight, I'd recommend Herbalife to anyone. PS There are some scare stories about this stuff on some review sites - ignore them. I did some digging and found the writer plugging another brand! Fools.

Forgot to put in the price - if you go with the 1,2,3 approach it's £63 a month for the first two months, then £30 after that. Sounds a lot, but then again, you wont be buying much food!

Just getting the shake will cost you £20 a month.

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