Hey Term! I think you're confused about losing weight. Forget the infomercials you've seen. The only proven ways of losing weight are by eating healthy, controlling your appetite, and having regular cardio workouts (such as with a treadmill, elliptical, exercise bike, rower, etc.). Not only are the Bowflex & Total Gym strength training equipment (you mainly need cardio training equipment to burn calories), but they're inferior to "quality" home gyms like BodyCraft. Please note that strength training equipment builds muscle, but you need to remove fat by cardio work so the muscle will show.
Most people who are serious about strength training and know what they're talking about will never recommend a Bowflex gym. Mainly quality and user safety top the list of complaints, as evidenced by the company's product recall of 420,000 units in 2004; see http://walking.about.com/cs/gearvarious/a/bowflex013004.htm It seems that Bowflex infomercial hype exceeds product effectiveness, especially when you start comparing it to well crafted, quality engineered "selectable" all-in-one gyms. Bowflex & Total Gym can't even come close to the lifetime warranties that BodyCraft offers on all of their strength training equipment!
I'm always recommending fitness equipment to clients. Most of the time I deal with A2Z Fit due to a good selection of cardio & strength machines, full manufacturer warranties, low prices, free shipping, no sales tax, special discount codes, and great service. You should check them out at the link below. If you have questions I'm sure they'd be happy to assist you. I hope that helps and I wish you success on achieving your fitness goals!