I never used to believe in shake diets. I just thought shakes were a drink and they wouldn't fill you up and that using shakes for a diet was starving yourself. Well, was I wrong! This blog post is all about my journey with Herbalife so far, from finding out about it, to doing a trial to actually taking the challenge on.
£1 Fit Club
Me and my mum have always been into fitness. Every year she does the Great South Run and I did they junior one (before I got to old) and any sort of fun runs that come up in our area we go and take part. It's just something we love to do together.
One day, my mums friend told her about a circuit training session she went to every week on the field of the Mountbatten Centre at the end of our road. It was £1 to take part each week and it was a whole hour of exercise, run by Herbalife coaches. It sounded really good so we went along, and we loved it! The coaches gave routines to do and every one encouraged each other to carry on and it was so much fun! There was nothing serious about it. It was all about having fun whilst exercising in the sun.
We started going every week. The first few weeks were extremely difficult, to the point I thought I was going to pass out half way through, but as the weeks went on, my body got used to it and it got easier. It's still a challenge now and I still go home with my arms and legs shaking, but I'm able to get through the hour without feeling sick or faint.
Wellness Assessment
When you go to fit club, you're able to have a wellness assessment with your coach. We didn't have a coach as we went along due to my mums friend, so we spoke to the main lady who runs it, Sadie, and she invited us round her house for a wellness assessment.
In these assessments, they measure your body fat percentage, your lean muscle percentage, your visceral fat (fat around your vital organs), your hydration, your metabolic age and how many calories you burn at resting rate as well as your measurements of your arms, thighs, bust, hips and waist. These assessments happen once every four weeks if you're just attending fit club, and once every two weeks if you're using Herbalife products and they help you keep track of your progress in weight loss or just generally keeping fit.
In my first assessment, all my measurements were good for my age and fitness level apart from my hydration. My hydration levels were really low which I wasn't surprised about. Sadie suggested an app for me to use to log how much I drink each day and to help me drink more. It's called WaterBalance. During the day, you put in what you drink and how much you drink, and a little body on the screen fills up with each drink you add. When the level in the body reaches the top of the head, you've drank the right amount for the day. You can also view the last 30 days in a bar chart to see if your drinking is increasing or decreasing. When I first started using it, I couldn't even drink a litre. I was only filling the body up to about the knees. Overtime, my drinking has improved and I'm drinking between 1.5 litres and 2 litres every day and some days I'm even completely filling up the body! I feel so much better for it too!
In the assessments, Sadie also gives us advice on things to eat which have high levels of protein and the best things to eat for breakfast and lunch, as they were the worst things for me and mum. We're cereal lovers, but cereal just gives you a high in energy for a short while before completely dropping due to the amount of sugar found in it. Now, thanks to Sadie, we know the best things we can eat, and we've definitely noticed a difference in energy!
Nutritional Workshop
After fit club one night, the coaches ran a nutritional workshop. As well as promoting the Herbalife products, they taught us all about the importance of a balanced meal, high protein snacks and eating five times a day. As well as giving examples of normal foods to eat, they linked their information to their products and we heard stories from people who have used their products and changed their life by changing their diet. It was actually really interesting and I learnt a lot about what I need to eat and why.
The most interesting thing I learnt was how fruit and vegetables aren't as good as we think they are. Most fruit and veg now-a-days are picked before they are ripened and instead ripened under artificial UV lights in the back of trucks whilst they are being transported to shops. This means that they don't grow as big as they would and they certainly do not provide the nutrition they would if they were naturally ripened. So whilst we really think we're getting good nutrition from them, we're really not. And that's what makes Herbalife products so special. They provide the nutrition our body needs that we just don't get in real food anymore.
3 Day Trial
During the time going to fit club, I kept hearing the term "3 day trial". I started to get intrigued about what is was, so at the nutritional workshop, I asked Sadie about it.
The 3 day trial consists of 6 meal replacement shakes and 8 energy tablets to help get you through the day. It can be done in two ways. The first way is having a shake for breakfast and lunch every day for 3 days, or having the shake just for breakfast everyday for 6 days. The shake contains everything you need for a balanced meal and the trial pack shows you in a short time the energy you can have and the healthy feeling you can have just by eating the right things.
After Sadie told me about it, I wanted to try it! So at the next wellness assessment I had, only a few days later luckily, I got a 3 day trial pack. Breakfast is my biggest flaw as I live (or should I say lived) by cereal, so I did it for the 6 days and only had the shake for breakfast. I noticed the difference by around the third day. At first it was hard because the shake didn't feel me up as much as cereal did, but I got used to that, but the energy it gave was amazing! I was able to get to lunch time without having a sugar low and that's never happened. I felt so much more awake in the morning as well and had the energy to do anything. Not only did the shakes help, but they taste amazing as well!
After my trial had finished, I had lost body fat, my lean muscle percentage had gone up and the calories I burn at resting rate had also gone up which was great news! I knew straight away I wanted to do this long term, so although I had to wait until my next pay day to afford it, I knew I would order a whole tub of shake and use it for breakfast every day!
Opportunities Meeting
Once every month, Herbalife coaches go to an opportunities meeting where they learn how to progress in their individual Herbalife businesses. Coaches are able to take people along with them so Sadie took me along one night.
I didn't really know what to expect, but I was excited to learn more about something I had begun to love. The meeting taught me so much about Herbalife as a company and what nutrition is all about, and I also learnt about the business opportunities Herbalife offers which was really interesting and something I definitely want to consider once I gain results myself from the products.
Starting My Journey
Finally, I got paid and I was able to purchase my first lot of Herbalife products. In my first purchase, I got a tub of shake, Chocolate flavour, fibre and herb tablets and multivitamin tablets.
I use the shake every morning for my breakfast whilst I take the tablets with breakfast, lunch and dinner. I then have high protein snacks mid morning and mid afternoon.
I've noticed so much difference using the products! Before using Herbalife products, I was sleeping in until at least 10am everyday, I would have a lazy morning every morning because I didn't have any energy and I just wouldn't feel like doing anything all day because I would be so tired. Now, not only have my energy risen to an all time high, which is amazing because I can literally do everything I want to which I couldn't before, but I'm also waking up between 7:30am and 8am not feeling tired and being able to go straight to the gym before doing what I want for the rest of the day without feeling tired once. Having the right nutrition in my body and drinking around 2 litres of water a day really makes a huge impact on your daily living, a positive one that is!
What I've Learnt
Herbalife isn't a diet, it's a healthy and nutritional lifestyle. Yes it can help you lose weight, but it isn't just for that. It's a nutritional lifestyle which can help with weight management, muscle gain and body toning, and even gain weight in the right way if you're really struggling eating properly.
It also doesn't just come in the form of shakes, there's so many more products which I have yet to try!
I can't wait to continue my journey and see what results it brings, and even begin to help other people! There may come a month where I don't have the money to order the products, but Sadie and all the other coaches and the opportunities they have given me have taught me how to eat healthy too, so when I don't have the shake at hand, I will never turn back to my old ways. I know what I need to eat to maintain my energy levels, get the right nutrition in my body and get to the goals I have set myself. I can have a bowl of cereal here and there and I can have a take away with my family on the weekend, I don't have to cut the bad things out, I just know how to control what I eat.
If you want to follow my progress or find out more, you can find me on Facebook and Instagram.
Everything I have learnt is thanks to my amazing coach, Sadie!
I can't wait to see what the future holds!
Make every day worth it,
xx
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