Why am I not losing weight?

Some of you may be asking why you could not lose weight. Well, for one, the company’s formula is 3-2-1 (3 teas, two shakes, 1 colourful meal a day). So if you could not reduce your weight with just one shake a day, you will have to stick to the company’s formula.

John and I could lose weight even though we took the Herbalife shake only once a day, instead of twice, on most days because:

1. We were very discipline in not snacking. And even if we did, it was bird size portion, just for the sake of pleasing our taste buds.

2. We avoided sweetened drinks. Our drinks were usually plain water or juice kosong (without added sugar) with our meal. We figured that if we don’t get enough exercise, we don’t deserve to drink sweetened drinks because we would be taking in more calories than our body could handle.

3. At tea time, we either had a shake, a fruit, or milo kosong or chocolate protein bar, muesli snack, and for me, once a week, either one goreng pisang or hum chi peng or a small piece of cake, if I wanted to break out of the regiment, to tie over until dinner.

4. We avoided deep fried food as much as possible and choose steam or grilled or gravy or soup dishes (the less oily ones).

5. We avoided coconut milk as much as possible. But when we decided to have a bowl of chendol once in a while, John and I shared one.

6. We have been eating half rice even before we went on the Herbalife programme.

What really helped me was that I found the ideal and healthy breakfast in Herbalife. I always wanted a big and healthy breakfast but could not have them unless I am away in a hotel where they would prepare salads and fruits and all the best choices available, which I don’t always have the time or energy to prepare them on my own in the morning. So, I had often ended up eating nasi lemak, roti canai, mee hoon goreng, porridge and milo. I believe that was how I kept putting on weight and it became unmanageable.

It was John who told me about Herbalife when I told him I had yearned for healthy breakfasts every morning and could hardly find it in the Malaysian diet. I could not take milk and cereal because it would make me sleepy and I found oats too boring although I did and still do, take it once in a while. Half boiled eggs and bread with butter was splendid but I was often hungry within an hour, so that was also not adequate for me.

It was through Herbalife that I learned we need to take adequate protein to begin our day besides adequate water and fibre, to maintain our blood sugar level. I thought the shake would not be enough since I need a big breakfast, otherwise, I might end up with hunger pangs and could not function well at work. So it was a total paradigm shift when I was told that it was the lack of protein and nutrition that caused me to be hungry and that was what I needed. It was initially very hard for me since I was so used to a high-caloried breakfast, but I soon found that I didn’t have hunger pangs anymore. I feel so alert every morning even on days I did not get enough sleep. I could take on the world. Nowadays, when I have nasi lemak in the morning, I find myself feeling sleepy, hence, I favour the shake more.

Some people think that they can lose weight through dieting, but more often than not, it is not sustainable. It is best if we can familiarise ourselves with the amount of calories that we take in daily and make a more conscious effort on selecting healthy food choices until it becomes a habit that we don’t even need to think about, rather than avoiding food to a point of starvation.

Some people said such careful eating habits is not really "living" because they don’t get to eat all the fried and oily stuff all the time. But we need to ask ourselves, would it be worth living if we end up being obese and with it, comes a whole range of health problems and our family members have to constantly take care of us if we end up with a stroke, heart attack or lose our kidneys or sight due to diabetes? We also need to take care of our health for the sake of our children. Basically, it should be about having a balance.

The yearning for oily food also indicates that our body needs healthy oil. There are always other options such as flaxseed oil or olive oil or taking fish oil supplements.

Here is a sample of a regular Malaysian diet compared with a diet during Herbalife weight loss programme.

Before weight loss (calories figures are just an estimation)

8am - Roti canai and teh tarik = 600 calories.

Noon – Nasi kandar or economy rice - one fried meat + two veges + teh ice limau = 900to 1100 calories.

4pm - Milo/coffee with sugar and kueh/snack = 400 calories.

7.30pm - Home cooked food rice, 1 non-fried meat, 2 veges and soup = 600

Total calories a day = 2,700 calories when one may need only an average of 1,500 to 2,200 calories a day depending on height, and less for women.

Programme while losing weight:

7.30am Wake up and take Herbalife tea

8am – plain Herbalife shake (two scoops of F1 and one scoop of F3 protein unless advised differently) = 180 calories (220 if blended with a fruit)

Noon - Colourful meal – palm size rice + one non-fried meat + two stir fried veges + plain water = 700 calories.

Herbalife tea

4pm – Herbalife shake without protein OR light snack with drink = 200 to 300 calories

5pm – Herbalife tea

7.30pm – Herbalife shake OR light meal/lean meat and vege soup = 200-400

11pm – Sleep.

While losing weight, you need to take less calories than what your body needs, but once you have achieved the ideal weight, you increase the calories intake and eat according to the amount of calories your body needs and not how much you want, otherwise, your body cannot handle it and will end up putting on weight again.

To calculate the amount of calories that you need to maintain your weight according to your height and gender, I have found this website that calculates it for you:

http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm

So if you need to lose weight, you should consume less than the calories that maintains your weight without starving yourself and ending up with gastric.

All the best to great shape and good health!

Eat adequately for better weight loss

I came across this article below, 17 Cheap Ways to Jumpstart Your Metabolism, which could help you increase your metabolic rate, which you can add to your good health or Herbalife weigh loss/weight gain efforts.

It is important to have a good metabolic rate, otherwise, it would be difficult to lose weight. Besides doing some exercises, it also involves eating adequately and that means try and eat adequate healthy food instead of not eating. Yes, crash diet doesn’t work.

On the caffeine bit, replace coffee with Herbalife Lemon and Hibiscus botanical tea mix. That’s because Herbalife tea has high anti-oxidants (miniscule caffein), keeps you awake without the heart palpitations and helps flush out some toxins.

Those prone to heartburn or suffering from gastritis should avoid coffee.

Also, I would caution on the advice (in the article) on snacking the whole day. One should have something in the stomach every four hours but not constant snacking. Here is a healthy example of how one should eat:

8am – Shake breakfast
12noon – Colourful lunch
4pm – Shake (without F3) or light snack
7.30pm – Light/decent dinner or Herbalife shake (for those on Herbalife programme to lose weight)
11pm – Sleep

Below is the article, 17 Cheap Ways to Jumpstart Your Metabolism:
http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/17-Cheap-Ways-to-Jumpstart-usnews-651306142.html?x=0

Overcoming the odds in weight loss

Some of you have expressed to me the challenges you face while taking Herbalife shakes. Here are a few tips that I hope can help you achieve your targets.

Hunger pangs
A few of you may experience hunger pangs while taking the shake. I did when I first started to consume it but not John who is bigger in size than me. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that the body is taking less bulk and hence, you would, initially, experience hunger. Usually this is overcome within three days as the body gets adjusted with less bulk. Although there is less bulk, the body is receiving adequate nutrition with Herbalife F!, so you don’t have to worry thinking that you are starving yourself because you are not starving yourself.

Each shake (2 scoops of F1 and 1 scoop of F3) should last you three to four hours. That means, when you take it for breakfast, it should last you until lunch.

In the event that you feel hungry within an hour like I did (one of the rare ones), add another scoop of F1 to the shake or plain Nestum. Or you can make another 200ml shake with another scoop of F1 with sugarless or extremely low sugar soya milk after a couple of hours if you are hungry.

I was told that when the body lacks nutrients or protein, it tends to be very hungry. So that could be the other reason for the hunger. I had mild dizziness and hunger pangs for three weeks but they subsided and vanished after a month. I understand that the mild dizziness and hunger pangs are part of healing crisis. Not everyone experience this. However, different people may experience different symptoms depending on the lack in their bodies. Most people I know don’t have any problems.

These days, I seldom feel hungry until my main meal hours and I eat colourful meals of decent portion (minus oily and fatty food). I eat three to four times a day, including having a shake.

Difficulties due to travelling
If you have difficulties having a shake because you are a sales person and on the move, it is understandable that you cannot not find a suitable place or time to have your shake. Actually, there are creative ways to work around that. When eating with a client, you can order juice of your choice without sugar and put the juice into your shaker cup and add the F1 and F3 and shake it and pour it out into the same glass and drink it. So there is no excuse that we have to eat unhealthy food.

Some of you may initially feel as though you need to go to toilet all the time because the body is in the process of removing toxin. Moreover, you may not have drank so much water before.

Well, if there is a will, there is a way. Petrol station and fast food chain outlets are places you can visit. So that could help, until your body gets adjusted and you don’t need to go pee so often. Nevertheless, we should do it once every three or four hours.

Constipation
Remove F3, drink lots of water, eat one or two fruits a day and sleep before 12 midnight. No chillies, fried or oily food because that will aggravate the condition. Papaya and prunes help relieve constipation and I think yoghurt helps too. And so does exercise - at least brisk walking in the park or in the gym for 20 min to half hour a day.

Dizziness
Reduce the amount of tea mix until a comfortable amount. Then gradually increase it until comfortable amounts. Initially, I had mild dizziness even when I took only one teaspoon a day but now I have no problems taking up to two teaspoons a day. For those who are more well-endowed or tall and have visceral fat, three to four teaspoon a day in three or four mugs/glasses of water is recommended. Alternatively, you can put two scoops in a big water bottle and drink it while at work.

Please consult a doctor if you have other underlying medical conditions or when symptoms persist even when you don't take the shake/tea.

If there are any other problems, please email me at healthpossibilities@gmail.com