You've heard of Optavia. Someone on social media posts a picture of themselves looking fat, side by side with a picture of them looking slim. "I've lost 40 pounds and I've kept it off for 40 weeks - all without exercise! ... Ask me how." Right? You ask, and they sign you up to eat the pre-packaged food that they've been eating for the last year. And then, 10 months and a thousand dollars later, you're the one who's lost weight, and you post pics of yourself, and you sell Optavia to the next player. Everyone wins.
Wrong. Optavia is wrong. Here's why.
1. You will lose weight. That's the goal right? Lose weight! No, the goal is to lose weight ... forever. On Optavia, you will lose weight until you stop buying Optavia. Then you will gain the weight back that you lost, and then some. Because without buying the product, there is no weight loss plan. Optavia sucks because it's just like every other "diet" plan where you lose, stop, then gain it all back.
2. Losing weight forever might not be the goal after all. Losing FAT forever, that's the goal, isn't it? You won't focus on losing fat on Optavia. Why? Lots of reasons. The food isn't designed for fat loss, you aren't on an exercise plan, there's no cycling involved, etc. Anyway, just sayin' - you will lose weight, but it's not going to be mostly fat. Instead:
3. You Will Lose Muscle on Optavia. All of it. What did you think would happen?
Everyone knows what the bodybuilders know:
Eat More
+ Exercise
= Build Muscle.
You're doing the opposite:
Eat Less
+ No Exercise
= Lose Muscle.
This is what you'll do on the Optavia program. Lose muscle, which is why you can lose "weight" so quickly – the body will most easily shed muscle in a crisis of undernourishment, not fat. This continues until there's no muscle left to lose, then your weight loss will stop.
4. Your weight loss will stop. The Optavia sell is "I lost X pounds and kept them off!" But the truth is that you'll stall, and probably not hit your *target* weight. Why? You don't have an endless supply of muscle to lose. You'll lose muscle until your body realizes that it's in a dangerous state of malnutrition, gives up on muscle loss and actually starts stockpiling fat to ensure survival. Your weight loss will stall. You'll be stuck X number of pounds lighter, and may be keeping them off, but with less muscle, more fat and a lighter bank account every month.
5. Did we mention your bank account? Optavia is overpriced. If you broke down the actual foodstuffs into meals and purchased them in the store yourself, you'd spend far less. You can buy normal food, and even add in some supplements, and eat healthier on your own, for less. There's a price to all that pre-packaging. And, remember, your "health coach" and their "health coach" and their "health coach" all are making a cut off of your monthly bill.
6. Optavia is a business plan, not a health plan. Yeah, that "health coach" who cares so much about you and your progress? They're making money off the money you spend on the product. You're just another Egyptian slave building their multi-level marketing-Pyramid scheme. See how many caring texts you get from your "health coach" the day after you stop buying in.
7. Optavia is malnutrition. This is obvious, and you should know it the first time you set eyes on the pre-packaged meals. Nothing is fresh, everything is processed. Everything has sugars; it's all surprisingly high in carbohydrates. It tastes good, you will lose weight. But this stuff is terrible for your body.
8. You will get weaker on Optavia. You won't be able to run farther or faster. You won't be able to do a pull up. You won't even look stronger. You're not going to be able to pose flexing a bicep when this is done. You won't have muscle to show. You'll look slimmer in your streetclothes, but that's it. In fact, truly athletic people who know the difference, if they're honest with you, will tell you that you don't look well. Sure, everyone at the office will ask, "Have you lost weight?" Or tell you that "You look great!" But they're just being polite, or they're just ignorant of what true fitness looks like.
9. You will probably get sick after you're done. This is malnutrition, remember. Read the labels. The Optavia food is poorly balanced and composed. Ask around and see how many people who have been on the program had a serious illness afterward. See if their hair has thinned or changed color. Have they had to ramp up the prescription for their vision? Is that bad back of theirs flaring up? Do they have brain fog, depression, grumpiness? Is their physical activity level lower? Do they simply look older? These are the sorts of unintended consequences of poor nutrition over time.
10. Eating every couple of hours is a good for cravings and good for diabetes. You won't be hungry on Optavia! But you won't be any different than most diabetically-disposed-obese people who eat their way through their day. Especially without any exercise. Some bodybuilders eat every two hours, but their lives are built around exercise.
11. You won't learn anything about how to eat, live your life, Macros or Micros, anything, on this program. "Macros? What is he even talking about?" Right, my point exactly. When you leave the program, you won't know about macronutrients or vitamin intake, how to make food choices based on your fitness goals, how to count calories, how to plan meals, break down dietary cycles... anything except how to slap down your credit card and buy their system. Someday, you have to stop doing their system - did you think you were going to be on Optavia forever? - and then what? Right, go back to your old habits and ways of eating and overeating.
You will have learned nothing about health when it's all said and done. You bought their food, but you didn't learn about food. You had a "health coach" but you didn't learn anything about health. Welcome back to Right Where You Startedland.
12. The program isn't for you. It's a one-size-fits-all pre-packaged box of goods. The program isn't based on any body composition analysis (how much body fat do you have as a percentage of your body mass? Therefore, how much fat weight can you lose and be lean? What is the timeline to lose that weight? Therefore, how many calories per week are you going to eat? What's the breakdown of those calories? And later, now that you're lighter, let's adjust all these numbers - these basic questions are the basis of any normal weight loss plan), instead, it's just an arbitrary number. You weigh 180 and want to lose 25? Great! Here's your plan: Buy Optavia. You weigh 150 and want to lose 35? Great! Here's your plan: Buy Optavia.
The fact is, you are unique and your needs are unique. There's a little bit of thought and customization that must go into your lifestyle program if you're to succeed in a cycle of fat loss, and this thought and customization continues regularly into an ongoing healthy lifestyle. There's a learning curve, but really, it isn't steep. Apply yourself. You're worth the effort.
I could go on. There are other reasons why the Optavia program sucks, but they're criticisms from the point of view of someone who knows what to do and how to do it - not considerations for those who are in the market for an Optavia-Jenny Craig-like program. Most people just want something easy to do, something they don't have to think about, and that will work. I get it.
So where to start that doesn't suck? Here, try Intermittent Fasting. Nothing's easier than eating just a bit less, saving a little money on food instead of spending more, kicking diabetic predisposition right in the guts, and maybe losing some fat instead of mostly losing muscle.
There are many considerations, and many ways to customize your program, but only you can do it for you. Start with simple habits that make sense, and when you're ready, you can do some serious and semi-complex fat cutting cycles, don't fall for any scheme that exchanges your money for garbage product, platitudes, and the same old diet-trap results.
