So I found a weight loss product that actually works.

[Curtis2011]

Short Version: I have lost about 23 lbs without exercising over the last 4-5 months by drinking a product called Alcachofa every day. Basically, it just makes it so you don't get very hungry throughout the day, so you eat much less. I did not change my diet at all during this time period; I just ate less due to lower hunger levels. My dad has also used this product to lose 15 lbs, and my uncle has used it to lose more than 50 lbs.

Long Version: I have been meaning to write this post for at least a month now. The main reason I have delayed writing it is because I am embarrassed to admit that over the last several months, despite having lost weight, that I have not been exercising at all.

Yes, that is right: Despite the fact that I am a big proponent of living healthily and a fan of lifting weights, I have not been to the gym or exercised on my own since I graduated from college back in May of this year. Literally the only regular exercise I get is walking my dog about 3/4 of a mile around our neighborhood, and I only do that two or three times a week (my parents walk it most days).

I think that point will only help add to the profundity of my next revelation though, which is that over the last 4-5 months I have lost about 23 lbs of weight by using a weight loss product that my mom discovered and that some of my family members used successfully before I did.

To cut to the chase, the product is called Alcachofa, which means "artichoke" in Spanish, and you can buy it through that Amazon page, although when I first started using it I was literally buying it from an Hispanic guy who had brought it in over the border from Mexico to sell at his shop at our local flee market. I bought it there because the product is only made and sold in stores in Mexico, and I was unaware that it is sold on Amazon until awhile later.

A note about the link: Yes, it is an affiliate link. I made it an affiliate link because I feel comfortable telling absolutely anyone that they should buy it if they want to lose weight. This is because I used it myself and it has worked for me.

Well, to keep a really long story short, I will put the whole story of what happened into numbered steps.

My story of how I found Alcachofa:

1. My mom is a nurse. At one point maybe a year ago, she noticed that several of the Hispanic ladies that work with her were losing weight. She asked one of them about it and the lady said that they were all using this weight loss product that they bought in Mexico.

2. Eventually my mom found out that she could buy the product at our local flee market, since a lot of the goods in the flee market are sold by small shop owners who bring up cheap goods from Mexico (I live in Texas by the way, so Mexico is only a few hours away).

3. My mom bought some Alcachofa for my dad to use. Over several months (not sure how long because I was away at college at this time), he lost 30 lbs by using the product. He eventually stopped using it and regained about 15 lbs before stabilizing at a net loss of 15 lbs.

4. During that time, my mom told her sister about it. Her sister's husband (my uncle) has been using it for something like 8 months now and has apparently lost like 50 or 60 lbs using it. These are my extended family who live in another state, so I don't personally see them or talk to them, but my mom keeps up with them and told me about it. Apparently they bought like 2 years' supply of the product while they happened to be in Mexico for some of their work, or something like that.

5. I graduated in May of this year and came home and my mom eventually tells me about this and coaxes me into using it myself.

6. I started using it around the beginning of July if I remember correctly. At first I used it every day, now I am down to using it maybe once every 2 or 3 days, depending on if I feel like I should take one that day.

7. Since I started using the product, I have gone from 234 lbs to about 211 lbs today. Overall I have lost more than 20 lbs solely from this product, without exercising at all and without changing my diet at all.

How it works:

It is very simple: You drink a small vial of liquid in the morning, and for most of the day you simply don't get hungry for almost the entire day.

When I first started using it, I would literally drink this product in the morning, and eat one small meal the entire day and feel totally stuffed and unable to eat more food for the rest of the day. By using this product, I probably cut the amount of daily calories I was consuming literally in half, if not even smaller at least in the first several weeks of using it.

Because the product is made by a Mexican company, I haven't really been able to gather much information about how it works, because they don't market the product in English and Google Translate does a somewhat poor job of translating the information I can find about it. The only thing I've been able to decipher from what I believe is the company's official website, is that the product helps stabilize your blood sugar and thus decreases your hunger.

My weight loss pattern with the product was very irregular. Although I immediately started eating less the first day I took it, I only lost about 2 lbs in the first 3 weeks of using it. Then, out of nowhere, I literally lost about 7 lbs in the fourth week of using it alone. I experienced a similarly strange pattern of weight loss in the second month.

All in all, I have been eating much less ever since starting using it, not via will power but simply due to a lack of as much hunger as I used to have. I believe my stomach has literally shrunk since I started using it, because nowadays I get full much faster than I used to, even if I don't use the product that day.

Since the majority of my weight loss was in the first 2 months, I would advise anyone that wants to try this product to take it every day for at least 60 days, or even preferably 90 days, before deciding if it "works for you" or not. Please do not try this for like 2 weeks, not lose weight, and then come crying to me about how it didn't work for you. The majority of my weight loss was in weeks 4-8 of using it - so that is the length of time that I will tell people to use it for.

Also, to anyone wondering about the ingredients, I have taken the time to copy the exact text from the side of the box. Thankfully the ingredients listing comes in English.

Originally Posted by Product Ingredients

Artichoke extract (Cynara scolymus), Fennel extract (Foeniculum vulgare), L-Carnitine, L-Lisine, Apple Cider vinegar (Malus domestica), Methionine, Calcium citrate, Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine), Vitamin C (Ascorbid Acid), Vitamin D3 (Colecalcipherol), Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin), Tween 20 (90005-64-5), Essential Oil Mint (8000-48-4), Natural Menthol (2216-51-5), Essential Oil Eucalyptus 70/75 (8000-48-4), Propylenglycol (57-55-6), FD&C Yellow No.5 (E 102), FD&C Blue No.1 (E 133).

From what I can tell, the ingredients appear to be all-natural. The main ingredients seem to be a mixture of vinegar and artichoke extract, which the product is named for ("Alcachofa" = "Artichoke" in Spanish).

Notes about the product:

All of the versions of the product come in boxes of either 10 or 30. I advise buying the 30-pack because it is a better deal, and because you should use the product for at least 60 days to start seeing good amounts of weight loss.

The boxes contain vials of the liquid. In my purchase of the 30-pack and also 10-packs of the product from Amazon and from my local flee market vendor, the liquid has come in three different "capsules" or "ampules" in total. There is a plastic ampule that you twist open, which is what came in the 30-pack. There is also the old glass bottles which you literally break open the top in order to open. And there are the new glass bottles that you twist open a seal on top in order to open.

From what I heard, the company replaced the breakable glass bottles with the new glass and plastic versions because the old bottles were not FDA-approved. I believe the new version is FDA-approved, but I'm not sure.

My only warning about the product:

Other reviewers on Amazon have said that it makes you very thirsty, but I never noticed this myself because I usually drink a lot of fluid anyways.

My only negative side effect of using this product was that in the first 2-3 days of drinking it, I experienced some stomach aches which did lead to diarrhea during that time. Since I have experienced a lot of "bathroom" problems because of my past with lactose intolerance, this was no big deal to me. But others who have not dealt with stomach aches might be uncomfortable for a few days while your body adjusts to the product.

The stomach aches and discomfort only lasted about 3 days max at the very beginning and then never occurred again. Since then, I have had zero negative side effects with this product. The only weird thing about using it is going all day after drinking it and wondering "why am I not getting hungry?"

And a final warning about it: Yes, it tastes very bad and is pretty strong. I have found that by adding it to 1/2 cup of orange juice and chugging it as fast as possible, the bad taste is easy to overcome. Thankfully, it doesn't leave an after-taste in your mouth.

Well that is pretty much everything I can think of to say about it. If you have questions, I will be in and out of this thread to answer them, since I visit these forums nearly every day.

[Curtis2011]

The forum limited my post's length due to it reaching the maximum of 10,000 characters (wow!), but I also wanted to say that this product comes in pill form which is about half the price of the liquid version.

However, I have not personally used the pill version, and my mother's friends told her that it does not work as well as the liquid version. There do seem to be positive reviews about it on the Amazon page though, so maybe in the future I will try it out and give an update about it.

[Clint Cora]

The thing that really stands out from your post is not so much the weight loss product but rather -- why would you not want to exercise and lead an active lifestyle?

[Curtis2011]

Well that is why I was embarrassed to actually post about this product, because I know that someone would ask me "well what was your exercise routine during this weight loss?" and I would have to answer "none".

Of course I have a desire to live a healthy lifestyle. But right now in my life, improving my health is not my major focus. I have been focused on other things for the past several months and I'm just in a living situation where starting a daily exercise routine is somewhat impractical. It is one thing to want to be healthy, but entirely a different thing to actually implement a daily routine that you follow every single day that will actually keep you healthy. And right now is not the best time in my life to implement that type of routine.

[Frisky]

Hoodia is supposed to work well also.

All my family is jealous of me, I can literally eat junk food every day of the week, and I never get fat

[MightySunTzu]

Originally Posted by Clint Cora

The thing that really stands out from your post is not so much the weight loss product but rather -- why would you not want to exercise and lead an active lifestyle?

Haha, interesting perspective. What really stood out for me was that without any exercise at all, Curtis and others were able to lose a lot of weight because of this product .

[XXIII]

Originally Posted by Clint Cora

The thing that really stands out from your post is not so much the weight loss product but rather -- why would you not want to exercise and lead an active lifestyle?

B/C exercise sucks and you know it. But for real to the threadmaker you should just squeeze in a little exercise for each day nothing too boring or difficult just run/jog for about half an hour and for like 10 minutes straight skip rope. You gotta make sure ur listening to some tight beats though to get u going. I guarantee that in conjunction with this product will get u better results.

[Kaie]

Originally Posted by XXIII

B/C exercise sucks and you know it.

No for everyone


Curtis, I understand getting out of the groove, it can be hard to get back in even if you enjoy it and know that it is the best thing for you. Interesting weight loss info. I am going to look into this for a website I am building on weight loss, I hope you don't mind. I will give you credit if I use it.

[Lifeisamazing]

Oh how I hate these success stories. My mom actually told me a few weeks ago about a product that really works too.

"I have lost 10 kilograms already." A little later it came out that when she has eaten real food, she has gotten hangover from that the next morning.

Weight loss is extremely simple unless you have some special health problems; what is hard is keeping the weight off. Are you going to keep using this product for the rest of your life? If not, it's guaranteed that it's only a short-term fix. And you might not know about the side-effects yet.

[rawxstasy]

Well Curtis I am going to try this product. I already bought it through your affiliate link.

I need something to jump start my weight loss. Hopefully I will be able to transition into a healthier diet when I want to stop using this.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Kaie

No for everyone

Curtis, I understand getting out of the groove, it can be hard to get back in even if you enjoy it and know that it is the best thing for you. Interesting weight loss info. I am going to look into this for a website I am building on weight loss, I hope you don't mind. I will give you credit if I use it.

Sure thing. I would personally endorse this product to anyone. Feel free to tell as many people about it as possible

Originally Posted by Lifeisamazing

Oh how I hate these success stories. My mom actually told me a few weeks ago about a product that really works too.

"I have lost 10 kilograms already." A little later it came out that when she has eaten real food, she has gotten hangover from that the next morning.

Weight loss is extremely simple unless you have some special health problems; what is hard is keeping the weight off. Are you going to keep using this product for the rest of your life? If not, it's guaranteed that it's only a short-term fix. And you might not know about the side-effects yet.

I understand the sentiment. My dad lost 30 lbs by using it for a few months, then stopped using it and gained 15 lbs back. But he stopped using it more than 6 months ago, and he is still at 15 lbs lighter than he was before he ever used it. So for him at least, it has produced some permanent results.

Oh and also, neither me nor my dad ever changed our diets at all. We eat exactly the same food as we used to. It's just after drinking the liquid capsules of this product, you eat a lot less of whatever it is you used to eat before. I don't know if the liquid has any special effect on your body to make you lose weight, but overall I think the weight loss mainly just comes from eating about 1/2 or 2/3 of the amount of food you used to eat, despite the food being the same kind of stuff.

Originally Posted by rawxstasy

Well Curtis I am going to try this product. I already bought it through your affiliate link.

I need something to jump start my weight loss. Hopefully I will be able to transition into a healthier diet when I want to stop using this.

Awesome!

Just remember, that the weight loss is sporadic. Some weeks you will go down 3 lbs, then up 2 lbs the next week, then down 1 lb the next week, then the next week you freak out because you somehow lose 7 lbs in one week. That is about what happened to me.

[votoshka]

Hmm sounds interesting! I wonder if they ship to Australia??

[Rickison]

Forskolin is also good in weight loss. i have tried and got the best. This supplement really helped to burn all my fat without causing any side effects and most importantly, this is natural supplement.

[blessedb]

Thank you guys for this great tips!

[neilpage]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

The forum limited my post's length due to it reaching the maximum of 10,000 characters (wow!), but I also wanted to say that this product comes in pill form which is about half the price of the liquid version.

Just Way to share honest an experience in a knowledgeable thread .!

I can't wait to buy!

[FozzyB]

So this piqued my interest and I purchased the 30 day supply off of Amazon per the link. I am currently to start day #3 today, but I can give my experiences thus far.

Day#1 & 2 - Okay, so I've bought another diet "supplement." I do not get excited as I have bought sooo many of these in the past that haven't worked. Anyway, I mix the small vial (liquid form as opposed to the pill form) with 16oz of Tang. Even with the orange taste of Tang, the concoction is noticeable, however tolerable. The directions say to take with food, so I eat a breakfast biscuit.

Now the good part......, from what the OP mentioned and the many reviews on Amazon my appetite was severely curbed and I had to actually think about eating. Additionally, when I did eat I ate significantly less. My interest in food has changed from everything tasting soo good and wanting to eat lots to little interest and being satiated quickly. Oh yeah, this will make you THIRSTY!

Other pleasant side-effects I have noticed are more energy and I feel happier and I am in a quite pleasant mood -- more so than normally. It is still too early to tell, but thus far I am pleasantly surprised at the effectiveness of this supplement.

Day#1 loss - 3lbs.

[freddy]

FozzyB, How much weight are you hopimg to loose and how long are you planning on useing this product? I will buy next week from OP link. I'm wanting to losse about 20 or so pounds. I think if I lost some weight in this manner, I would be able to workout a food plan habit to keep it off. I'll keep watching for your results.

[FozzyB]

Freddy --

I plan on losing 20-25 lbs to get back to where I was 1.5 years ago before I moved to cheeze country Wisconsin, lol. I have since moved from there back to the Midwest and have decided it was time to lose the extra weight and coincidentally I saw the OP post, researched it and here I am.

Today, I actually hit the gym because of my increased energy. It may be somewhat extreme, however with this supplement, a diet and intense exercise I will reach my goal in a short period of time. My plan is to lose some weight/gain health using this as a catalyst to get me where I was 1.5 years ago when I was in optimum health and running 20+ miles a week.

[russianrocket]

All this talk about weight loss, but zero talk about how much fat was lost. The twinky diet can make you lose weight too.

It's like saying you feel satiated by putting water in your mouth, and possibly quenching your thirst, but not actually changing dehydration, because you don't swallow it. Weight loss without fat loss, is pointless.

[Unstoppable]

Originally Posted by russianrocket

All this talk about weight loss, but zero talk about how much fat was lost. The twinky diet can make you lose weight too.

You hit the nail on the head with this one. Weight loss means nothing if all you are losing is glycogen stores, water and muscle tissue.

And think about all the nutrients that you're missing out on from lack of food.

Let's talk about how much BF% you lost and what your LBM is right now.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by russianrocket

All this talk about weight loss, but zero talk about how much fat was lost. The twinky diet can make you lose weight too.

It's like saying you feel satiated by putting water in your mouth, and possibly quenching your thirst, but not actually changing dehydration, because you don't swallow it. Weight loss without fat loss, is pointless.

Well I don't know how to measure exactly how much fat I personally lost, but I'd have a hard time believing that the 20ish lbs that I lost from eating less food was solely muscle.

Also during that time, my pants went from being almost too tight to being almost too loose on me. I haven't measured myself, but I probably lost 1-2 pant sizes. I doubt that loss was due to loss of muscle.

[freddy]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

Well I don't know how to measure exactly how much fat I personally lost, but I'd have a hard time believing that the 20ish lbs that I lost from eating less food was solely muscle.

Also during that time, my pants went from being almost too tight to being almost too loose on me. I haven't measured myself, but I probably lost 1-2 pant sizes. I doubt that loss was due to loss of muscle.

I agree curtis, I figure as fozzyb, after I loose a little bit a weight. I will more likely eat a better sample of food and feel more like moving my body a bit more to loose the weight. And keep it off. Sometimes you need a little help. Could be a personal fittness trainer , but I can't afford that. I lost 20 lbs on the veg and fruit diet a year or so back but that was very hard to maintain that way of life style for me. This I think is worth a go.