I haven't used Hoodia, but here is an by someone who has:
My own experience with hoodia
In addition to my skepticism about the studies conducted on hoodia so far, my own experience with hoodia uncovers some additional questions. Naturally, I tested hoodia on myself for quite some time (several months). During that time, I carefully noted my level of hunger three times a day (rating my appetite on a scale of 1 - 10), and noted my dosage of hoodia gordonii. Here's what I learned:
Hoodia does help suppress your appetite, but there are many caveats, as you'll see below.
The dosage of hoodia necessary to truly suppress my appetite was far, far larger than the dosages claimed by many websites selling hoodia. While some hoodia formulas contain only 100mg of hoodia per serving, I found that I needed 1000mg of hoodia three times a day to have any real effect. That's three grams of hoodia per day, and the cost adds up quickly.
Hoodia does not counteract the blood sugar drops that occur following the consumption of refined carbohydrates like soft drinks, cookies, white bread, white rice and other simple carbohydrates. In fact, on days that I ate carbs, my appetite wasn't lowered at all. Hoodia only appeared to work in conjunction with a controlled carbohydrate diet. And some would say that a controlled carb diet works by itself anyway (which is partly true, but in my case, I also have to give some credit to the hoodia).
Hoodia in no way stops your body from feeling intense hunger after a heavy workout. When I engage in strength training, I feel ravenous within minutes. Of course, I train harder than 99% of the people out there, but let this be a lesson: if you work out hard, you're still going to feel hungry, hoodia or not. In other words, hoodia doesn't cause your body to lose its mind. Your muscles still scream out for calories.
The best form of hoodia was the tincture, which is only offered by one company, Jenny Lee Naturals. Apparently, the tincture turns off the hunger far more rapidly than the powder (which requires slow digestion to extract the chemical compounds). Also, the tincture seemed to work in relatively small doses.
In other words, in my experience, hoodia was a help, but it was not at a miracle pill. It didn't just shut off my hunger like a light switch. It was an aid, yes, but I had to take a lot of hoodia to have any effect, and I still had to control my food choices or the hoodia offered no help whatsoever.
How I use hoodia
With this said, it is notable that I still use hoodia, and here's how: I now use the tincture exclusively, and I use it in the evening to help control late-night cravings. Even though I'm skeptical about the safety of long-term use of this product, I consider it safe for occasional use -- but that's just my own opinion, and I know I have stronger liver function than most people. Your results may vary. I personally believe hoodia to be perfectly safe, and I have chosen to make it part of my collection of nutritional supplements that I use to maintain ideal health and body weight. Whether you make the same choice is entirely up to you.
http://www.newstarget.com/002713.html
Another link with good info:
http://thyroid.about.com/od/loseweig...y/a/hoodia.htm
Let us know if you try it and how it works out for you!
Linda
Has anyone tried Hoodia for weight loss? 
