I finally figured it was time to write my Herbalife pregnancy story to inspire other woman to use or continue to use the products through their pregnancy! Another Herbalife Momma wrote: “My opinion is: THE MORE HERBALIFE while preggo and breastfeeding, THE BETTER. Why you might ask? Because, when you are pregnant and nursing, you need MORE nutrition, not LESS. Honest to God I can't think of much better stuff you can put into your mouth EVER than the Herbalife products. They are so jam packed full of scientifically backed nutrition that they make you feel and look Super Human. If you are pregnant and arguing with your Herbalife Coach as to why you can't or shouldn't take the products, just stop it and tell me for a minute what in the heck you ARE actually putting in your mouth right now. Most pregnant women are eating toast, or cereal, or junk food, or pickles and ice cream, or more junk food, or fast food, or skipping meals all together. Herbalife products are ALL super healthy foods: beans, grains, herbs, etc. They are the BEST thing you can feed yourself and your baby!!!” No Better Words have been spoken
I have been on the products since late 2002. I was 14 and saw my stepmother lose 20lbs and 6 sizes in about a month and a half so I decided to hop on the bandwagon! I lost 30lbs in about 8 weeks and felt amazing energy right away! I knew when I conceived naturally in April of 2010 I would continue the products throughout my pregnancy. I used the products throughout the pregnancy, the delivery, the recovery, and while nursing. I lost all of my baby weight within 60 days, and nursed until my son was about 9 months old.
- My pregnancy was incredible. My energy was amazing especially compared to what I had seen most women experience. The first trimester, I was dramatically more tired than normal, even falling asleep at the gym once or twice but other than that from First trimester on, energy was incomparable and I had virtually no symptoms. I had no swelling, back pain or heartburn. I had no cravings which I attribute to the Herbalife products giving my body what it needed throughout the whole pregnancy! The only symptom I had was emotional swings from time to time J I was mildly (3-4days/wk) active throughout my entire pregnancy and even worked out until 3 days before I gave birth!
- My delivery was awesome! I went into labor at 10pm on Friday night, left for the hospital at 11pm and was 6cm dilated upon entering the hospital!! My entire 8 hour labor was completely natural and I gave birth to a 9lbs 2oz. baby boy! Thinking back, the entire process was amazingly peaceful and extraordinary which I account to Herbalife. I was in the best shape ever and nutritionally energized. PS (No tearing ladies :) )
- My recovery – Overall amazing! I lost my 31lb baby weight in 60days plus an additional 15lbs. Not only did the products allow me to lose weight but to adjust to mommy hood better. Sleep deprivation, etc. is a major feat in the beginning but in the morning I would focus on shake tea, tablets to not only make it through the day but enjoy this amazing time!
- My body – Yes it’s an adjustment. My baby belly was nice and round in pregnancy so after I gave birth I was ecstatic to see the belly virtually GONE. From the moment I gave birth I wasn’t nervous about losing the weight, I knew I had lost my weight before so I could easily do it again! I can honestly say I am in BETTER shape and have six pack abs after pregnancy. THANK YOU HERBALIFE!
- Nursing – I used all the products I had before my pregnancy except Cell U Loss (regulates liquids in the body, which for nursing mothers you NEED), Total control (metabolism booster/caffeine) and Snack defense. Nursing mothers not only need MORE nutrition than before they’re pregnant but while their pregnant! So quality nutrition is key for nursing a healthy baby!! YES Herbalife and Nursing MIX :)
- Products: I used all of the products that I was already on:
Formula 1 Shake mix, Multivitamin, Cell activator, Aloe, Herbalifeline, Aminogen, Protein bars/beverage mixes, Herbal tea.
In addition to those, next time around I will add:
Garden 7, Calcium, Flora Fiber, the Herbal Tea, the Chicken Soup, Roseguard, Schizandra, Formula 1 Sport, Rebuild Strength, Hydrate and Lift Off (In moderation).
- My son: Is 14mos. old and incredibly healthy! He was crawling at 4mos., was walking at 9 months and ahead in his words. He has NEVER had a cold, and had his first stomach bug last week for about 10hrs. He is athletically inclined and very much has an engineers mind. He always looks like he is studying or trying to figure something out. He drinks the For. 1 shakes, aloe, Herbalifeline in his bottle, the Muscle/Strength/Recovery, the bars, and the Beverage mix.
I wanted to share my pregnancy with others because I was inspired by Kristi Roberts and her birth story. I want other Moms (soon to be Moms) to KNOW there is no better nutrition for themselves and their kids than Herbalife. I want at least 1 more child and will again give my baby the BEST start in life!!
THANK YOU HERBALIFE
PS One thing Herbalife has not given me is the ability to write better, so I used Kristi’s story as an outline for me to write this! So Yes same format. But My Story :)
*The weight loss testimonials presented are applicable to the individuals depicted and are not a guarantee of your weight loss nor are they typical.
An extensive questionnaire generated responses from more than 200 U.S. Herbalife Independent Distributors about their weight-loss programs and results. They reported weight loss ranging from 4 pounds to 167 pounds and a reduced body mass index (BMI) of 1.5 points to 24.1 points, suggesting that consumption of Herbalife® products is associated with weight loss and improvement in BMI in those ranges.
On January 19, 2010, our lives were changed.
A friend from church posted a note on facebook saying, “It's still not too late to participate in the Weight Loss Challenge Classes”. I wanted to lose weight and thought...okay, I need to do this and signed up for the class. I asked Kevin to go with me to learn about nutrition; he is our cook at home and didn’t want him to sabotage my weight loss.
It was an amazing class! By Week 4, I had lost 10 inches in my waist! As of today, I have so much energy and feel incredible! I have lost 38 pounds and over 30 inches overall and went from a size 26 to an 18…and still losing!! But that is only part of the story!
To give you a little history, Kevin was hurt at work in 2006 which injured his back in multiple places from his neck to tailbone as well as his left shoulder. In 2008, he had two vertebrae fused in his lower back. After the surgery, his back muscles were in complete spasms all the time and could only function approximately two days a week and had to double-up on his pain meds to do any normal activity. I had to dress, shower, and wake him to give him his pain meds on the days he couldn't move. His intestines stopped working completely on their own; he knew he was dying from the inside. His body was filled with toxins. I was a scared wife not knowing if he would wake up in the morning. The doctors (several of them) gave us no help or hope, telling him to sign up for permanent disability. They gave him an application for permanent handicap plates for his vehicle, gave him meds, and said you'll never work again and will never have full use of your left arm again.
During the wellness profile for the class, we learned that Kevin had 23 pounds to lose (he was a body builder before the accident and had been in bed for two years, and four years with no exercise and his body was a mess). After the first day of two Herbalife nutritional shakes and supplements, he got out of bed for the first time in four years without screaming out in pain. We thought it was just one of those good days the doctors kept telling us about. Every day since January 19, 2010, he has been getting better and better. He has had ONE day in bed, only because he shoveled five inches of snow! He has been FREE of all medicines (methadone, flexeril, xanaflex) since March 1, 2010!! He lost all his excess weight and in May started lifting weights again and now can drop and do 20 push-ups at any time! His intestines are working again! He still has pain and injuries that may not heal, but is able to function like a normal person again. Herbalife products themselves don’t do the healing BUT, the nutrition is allowing his body to heal itself as it was designed to do. Now, anything Herbalife is our best friend, especially Relax Now, Niteworks, Herbal Aloe Concentrate and Florafiber!
We joined a weight loss challenge class to help me lose weight, my husband came along for support, he had incredible health results that we never thought were possible! We have our life back, a very bright future and are forever grateful to God, Mark Hughes and Herbalife and their awesome team of doctors who created their products, and Michelle Staneart who blessed us by helping us get started. We are now distributors for Herbalife and our new mission in life is to pay it forward and help as many people as we can to look and feel great with the high-quality nutrition that Herbalife provides. I cant even imagine a better life to live, can you?
Many Blessings,
*The weight loss testimonials presented are applicable to the individuals depicted and are not a guarantee of your weight loss nor are they typical.
An extensive questionnaire generated responses from more than 200 U.S. Herbalife Independent Distributors about their weight-loss programs and results. They reported weight loss ranging from 4 pounds to 167 pounds and a reduced body mass index (BMI) of 1.5 points to 24.1 points, suggesting that consumption of Herbalife® products is associated with weight loss and improvement in BMI in those ranges.
My poker buddy Rick Redding had been talking to me for a while about checking out this weight loss something or other he was involved in for a few months already. I had seen the results he had gotten and they were pretty amazing. He had dropped out of the poker scene for about 3 months or so and when I saw him again he lost enough weight that I thought he was sick or abusing something. He explained that it was a program he joined that allowed him to get those results and he said I needed to call him about it. I was sort of blowing him off as anything I had tried before had never worked for me and I really had resigned myself to the idea that I was born this way and always would be fat. May as well enjoy it right?
Now my perspective had changed. In the back of my mind was always that my father had died of a heart attack when he was 40 (I was 3 at that time). All the male members of my paternal family had or had died of heart disease. Being 36 myself I heard that clock ticking and felt afraid that I would leave my three daughters (10, 5, and 2) fatherless as I had been. The prospect of dating at 435 lbs also seemed bleak.
So I gave Rick a call. He got me started on a customized program that was somewhere between an Advanced and an Ultimate kit. Normally a weight loss challenge is 12 weeks but I joined on week 7 so only had 6 to go. We had no thoughts of my winning, just possibly getting me below 400 lbs. I did everything exactly as Rick told me or better. I also called him several times a day for the first couple weeks to be sure I was doing this exactly right. I stopped eating anything unless it was on the example meal plan, started drinking at least 256 oz. of water a day and frequently had over 300 oz. Exercise was four to five times a day which I didn't mind because I got heart rate monitor right away and made sure I stayed between 60% and 70% of my max heart rate. For the first month that meant not much more than a stroll through the park, and I didn't even have to break a sweat. Now I have to move a bit faster but still not that strenuous.
In 6 weeks (42 days) I lost 47 lbs, 17.25 in., and won 2nd place. I was within a percent of first place who had the full 12 weeks to work at it. An amusing footnote here. After about my second or third weigh in the person leading the class actually questioned my eligibility to win since I had started so late in the class. I am a very competitive person but I managed to keep quiet here. I thought I would let my results do the talking and this really solidified my resolve. I do remember thinking "That's right, I'm coming for you" at the time though.
Not too long after that I found out that when you are on medications and you lose 10% of your total body weight it is mandatory to go to your doctor to get checked out. My doctor had seemed disinterested and skeptical when I initially consulted with him about the program I was joining and the supplements I planned to take. He said "Come back in four months and brag about how much weight you have lost". I could tell he didn't really expect me to report much of anything. So when I saw what I could do in six weeks I was thinking "Just wait until he sees what I can do in four months. BIG MISTAKE.
One day at work, I happened to bang the funny bone on my knee pretty hard. I stood right up and winced through the pain. Next thing I remember is waking up lying on the floor with my coworkers standing around me. I was carted off to the hospital and told that my blood pressure had gotten very low. They tried to tell me it was a lack of food that would make me pass out. Since I eat six times a day and I knew exactly what I eaten that day I was able to dispel that theory. Then they suggested I was dehydrated. I almost laughed out loud. At an average of 275 oz. of water a day there was no chance of that. I then told them of my recent weight loss and they actually repeated to me what I had already learned in class (although I should have followed it better) that when you have a 10% weight loss you can see health benefits like lowered blood pressure. They called my doctor, who put me on a week long test run with no meds with a followup appointment at the end of that week. At the end of the week I tested normal and was taken permanently off the Benicar (thankfully just before I sent my check to the insurance program for my next refill).
To date I no longer need blood pressure medicine and have lost 153 lbs. in 198 days (4/08/2009 is my start date). I feel great and honestly I don't think I will get tired of people telling me I look great
*The weight loss testimonials presented are applicable to the individuals depicted and are not a guarantee of your weight loss nor are they typical.
An extensive questionnaire generated responses from more than 200 U.S. Herbalife Independent Distributors about their weight-loss programs and results. They reported weight loss ranging from 4 pounds to 167 pounds and a reduced body mass index (BMI) of 1.5 points to 24.1 points, suggesting that consumption of Herbalife® products is associated with weight loss and improvement in BMI in those ranges.
