And We're Off... The Start Of My Herbalife Journey!

My initial reaction to Herbalife, was probably similar to that of many others, that it was a bit of a weird diet! I could just see me forcing myself to drink a shake in place of my breakfast and lunch, that surely was going to taste no where near as good as my regular food, and hating every minute of it!
I mean what about my lovely bowl of coco pops and morning cuppa with two sugars?? And that's not even touching on my lunches…  I would take great pleasure in going to the local chippy on a regular occurrence to stink out the office full of fish (sorry girls)!
Although junk food and take aways we're a big part of my diet, I wasn't always a bad eater, I would say that roughly 40% of the time I 'thought' I was being good… e.g. I would have a nice 'healthy' sandwich!
I was lucky that I had the always been a regular at the gym and didn't mind working really hard trying to keep semi fit - Or I really could have been - as my good old gran would say 'the side of a house'

So on my first week, I was very much experimenting… I didn't think I needed to do what my coach (Lynne) was telling me exactly, I was adding in some stuff to my shake to make it taste different, missing out a snack here or there (I mean I was easting less - surly that was a good thing?) and not drinking the 2 liters of water a day that I was supposed to!

So guess you could say I was 'dabbling'!

My first weigh in came and I stood on the scales… and shocker… THERE WAS NO CHANGE!

I was insistent that I had done everything right! (Yea I know I'm an idiot! - I can be sometimes!) So Lynne had no proper feedback to give me. I was lying to her and most importantly to myself. I quickly realised I was wasting my money, my time and her time but not doing this properly!

I had a lot to learn about what I was really putting in my mouth and how it was affecting me and my body.

That night I went home and took a photo of myself in the mirror that clearly showed my ever growing Buddah belly and I vowed to look at that picture on a daily basis to encourage myself to work hard at this.
I was verging on the big 3-0 and instead of focusing on loosing a certain amount of weigh, I made myself a promise that I would try my hardest to get a six pack for my 30th birthday! It was going to be tough, I mean it was only 6 weeks away, I had given myself a goal and a half! But I don't know about you, I've always dreamed of having a lovely washboard stomach and after all dreams are there to give you something to aim for!

Aim for the sky!

"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."
Christopher Reeve

Well ladies and gentlemen... I was well and truly on my way to chasing my dream!

What do you dream of?

Px

Life 'BH' (Before Herbalife)

I've always been lucky enough that I've been what people would call slim! It doesn't mean I was fit or healthy, but when I would tell people I wanted to go on a diet or I felt I needed to go to the gym this week lots to fit into a dress at the weekend, I would get the usual nice reply of...  But you're not even fat!

I may not have been 'fat' but I definitely wasn't healthy or fit!

I always felt that my ‘Buddha belly’ and the tops of my arms were my biggest enemies! I'm sure most people out there can sympathise, but no matter how many fad diets, magic pills or crazy workout dvd's I tried... I never found anything that I could see being a long term option! As soon as I stopped what ever crazy ‘diet’ I was doing I went back to take always, sitting on the couch, general laziness and scoffing my face! The most I would ever last was a few weeks at best when I had something special to work towards!

The person who always had the best fad diet ideas going was my little cousin Lynne! she had us trying out some crazy weight loss ideas over the years! And then last September she started doing this new diet called Herbalife. It cost a bit of money and I had just bought a house, so I was going to pass on her latest fad... I’m sure she'd have a new one for me to try in a few weeks! But this one lasted her months! And it was actually working! She was losing stones... Not pounds! I was so proud of her I'd tell anyone who would listen about this new great diet! But I was dubious about it myself, I didn’t need to lose stones. I just wanted rid of my flabby belly, surely this crazy shake diet wasn't for me!

Lynne signed up to be a independent distributor for the herbalife and had a 'shake' party where people could go along and find out information. I told a few of my friends and took them along.

I was sceptical... At the start I laughed about how easy it was to lose a pound (I mean it technically is... It's just keeping it off that's the problem) so they started their talk and everything they were saying made sense! Nothing seemed too fancy, it wasn't just shakes, you were allowed to eat too and the things you were to eat I really liked!

They explained the benefit of having lots of lean protein in your diet to ensure you built muscle as well as lose fat. They had me convinced... But convinced enough to put my hand in my purse?

I worked out how much I spent on my breakfast & lunch in work and then on top of the the amount of money I spent on takeaways! I wasn't going to be out of pocket that much! I at least wanted to give it a try... I mean it would only last a few weeks, before I got bored and moved onto something else! .....TBC