Herbalife - An explanation

Herbalife is a Network Marketing (Multi-Level Marketing) company that was established in 1980. If you've ever seen an advertisement for home-based business (street sign, newspaper classified, web site, flyer in your mailbox) - the chances are a Herbalife distributor was behind the ad.

You make money by recruiting other distributors and selling herbal-based weight loss products.

Herbalife for weight loss

Herbalife has two primary weight loss products - diet pills and diet shakes - under the brand name Thermojetics. These products are based on herbal extracts and appear to fall into the category of Thermogenic fat burners. This kind of diet supplement contains ingredients to increase the body's basal metabolic rate - in order to burn more fat (see more on Herbal Diet Pills).

These products were based around the weight loss stimulant Ephedra (also known as Ephedrine or Ma Huang). However over recent years this product has lost popularity due to possible health risks, and has resulted in the US FDA banning sale of the stimulant.

This has obviously caused Herbalife to create Ephedra-Free products. However it is difficult to determine the exact ingredients in these.

Do Herbalife products cause fat loss?

No easy answer for this one!

Thermogenic fat burners have worked for many people, but are not a particularly sustainable fat loss technique. Many users of Herbalife products report successes - but how reliable is this information when most of the consumers are sellers?

Will you be consuming these expensive products the rest of your life? Do you want to rely on stimulant-based supplements to control your weight? How well does the new Ephedra-free formulation work?

Please look to more achievable long term weight loss. Have a look at the Top 5 Diet Plan recommendations - or our pick for the best weight loss program.

How do you get Herbalife products?

Being a Network Marketing company, Herbalife sell their products via a complex network of distributors. At retail price, the products are expensive, but if you become a Herbalife distributor (which costs $$$), you can buy the products for yourself at a discounted price. However you will have to buy a reasonable amount of product to break even.

If you want to get hold of Herbalife programs and products, go to eBay - some of the products are selling at half the price of retail.... Beats having to become a distributor. Click here for Half-Price Herbalife products

Is Herbalife a scam?

Network Marketing companies are legitimate companies - however they are often embroiled in controversy - and surrounded by a veil of secrecy.

Herbalife is no exception.

We don't intend to go into a discourse into MLM - however it should be noted that in most of these schemes only the "early adopters" make any money from them. When an area becomes saturated, it can be very hard to achieve any income, and more often than not many distributors will come out at a loss after paying out money for the initial programs, reports, and products.

Sometimes Herbalife distributors go to desperate lengths to recruit others - bombarding their neighborhood with leaflets and flyers, and taking out classified ads in local newspapers. Knowing that Herbalife has been around for over 20 years would indicate that there is little chance of recruiting new distributors. But that doesn't stop people from trying.

If you manage to make an income from one of these programs - good on you! But do weigh up the costs first (that is if you can get accurate information).