Welcome to my new blog where I am going to share my experiences on a new journey I have stared with my daughter to improve our health. While we are generally a reasonably healthy family, we don't smoke, get a reasonable amount of exercise and eat reasonably well all without being fanatics about any particular health aspects of life, we all do need to shed a few pounds or shape up a little.
We have spent the last year travelling the world, living firstly in Moscow, then Helsinki and now in Tokyo, Japan where we are settling for at least the next 3 years. Our daughter has for the last 2 - 3 years been working with a dietician to try and bring her weight under control. We have been watching her diet, encouraging her to do exercise, etc during this time but haven't made a lot of real gains in reducing her weight to the range it should be in. She has lost about 5 kgs in the last year, which I suppose is a start and better than gaining.
I, on the other hand have managed to lose around 15kg since we left home, while increasing the amount of beer I have been drinking and not doing any more physical activity then I had done previously, maybe even less. Most of our weight loss can be put down to a number of factors we think;
- Firstly, as the meat in Russia was not the nicest, we cut down the amount of meat we were eating on a daily basis.
- Secondly, we haven't had a car in the last year, so have had to walk everywhere or rely on public transport, so we have been getting a lot more walking in as being big cities getting anywhere is a long walk generally.
- Thirdly, we have reduced the amount of softdrinks and milk we drink in general, as the milk in Russia wasn't overly appealing either, and drink water more often than previously.
Now that we are settled into a new home with a long term goal of staying here, we have decided we had better take some positive action to work on our daughter's weight issues (or as Doctor Scmirnoff in Moscow once so eloquently said "...her problem with fatness".)
First Steps
After talking to someone about a job at a Wellness Clinic, which really turned out to be a Herbalife presentation, I got to thinking, even though I wasn't that keen on the MLM business opportunity, the nutritional aspects of the business seemed to make sense and that maybe it was worth a try to help our Moo really kick those extra kilos she is carrying, and also he mentioned that it had good results with helping with sleep and a number of other health issues, so as someone who can't remember actually ever having had a good nights sleep in the last 20 odd years that sounded good enough reason to try it as well.
The Herbalife Experiment
I did the research on Herbalife and found all of the negative reviews from unsuccessful distributors and claims of it being a pyramid scheme, etc which these sort of businesses tend to garner. But while most people slag off the business structure and claim that the retail price of the product is too high, nowhere does anyone really make any valid claims against the product itself. So having satisfied myself that the product is fine we decide to go in for a health assessment and get started on the programme. I plan to use this blog to document our progress over the coming weeks and months, commenting on the effect it has on our lives and posting the numbers to verify our progress (or otherwise). I will also assess the financial cost of the programme and compare that, where possible to other options and also give my opinion of the business structure and legality, so that in the end you readers will be able to see whether Herbalife is a programme worth trying and whether it can provide you a better life, or whether it is just a scam as the detractors claim.
Disclaimer
YES, I have signed up to become a Herbalife Member, not so that I can become a prolethysing Herbalife Millionaire out to convert all my family, friends and other people I don't yet know into fellow Herablife disciples, but for the mere fact that at around 5,500 Yen for a membership pack which includes a 5,200 Yen can of protein formula, membership is actually almost free. By being a member I am now entitled to a 25% discount on the retail price of the product so who in their right mind would not join if they are wanting to use the product (just at a quick guess based on spending 20,000 Yen a month on product for our own use, that is a saving of 60,000 yen or around $US 600 per year). Sure I can on-sell the product and share the business opportunity with others, which will earn me a retail margin and potentially increase my discount levels and even earn me bonus income, but these are the last of my concerns for now, I am just looking forward to see the difference it makes for my daughter and me, anything else will be a bonus.
So check back regularly and see what progress we are making, I will post shortly with our stating figures, and update on a weekly or fortnightly basis with a graph showing our progress, or at the very least figures.
