Does the Optavia Diet Work or is Just a Pyramid Scheme?

Optavia, formerly known as Take Shape for Life, was rebranded in July of 2017. It’s one of five subsidiaries of the Medifast company.

I see a lot of articles focusing on the business aspect of this company, but I want to focus more on the actual diet. Does Optavia work, can you really lose weight following this diet?

In short, yes you can lose weight if you actually follow Optavia’s diet plan due to the laws of thermodynamics. Their 5:1 plan, which they recommend most people start off with if they have a lot of weight to lose, is basically an 800 calorie per day diet.

The vast majority of people would lose weight eating that little, no matter what they ate.

However, I can’t see most people sticking to this diet past the first month or maybe two. Costing around $400/month, it’s pretty expensive.

Looking for a cheaper meal replacement diet? Check out Wonderslim

Diet plans like Optavia that require such restricted eating are more difficult to stick with for any sustained period of time. Although research has proven very-low-calorie diets do result in faster weight loss than other commercial diets (at least, initially).

The problem is, studies show that even though the weight loss is fast, it’s also temporary and the vast majority will re-gain around the 6-month mark (much faster than those who followed traditional, healthy dieting).

Optavia’s Weight Loss System: How it works

Optavia has 3 weight loss plans:

Okay, so let me talk about the actual diet and how Optavia works.

• 5 & 1 plan: 5 fuelings and 1 lean and green meal (approximately 800 calories)

• 4 & 2 & 1 plan: 4 fuelings, 2 lean and green meals, 1 healthy snack (approximately 1,000 – 1,100 calories)

• 3 & 3 plan: 3 fuelings and 3 lean and green meals (approximately 1,200 calories per day)

The 5 & 1 plan is recommended for most people in the weight loss phase, especially if you have a significant amount of weight to lose. The 4 & 2 & 1 is recommended if you are very active or have diabetes, or if you have only a little weight to lose. The 3 & 3 plan seems to be what they suggest for transitioning into a lifestyle change.

Fuelings

These are mostly what you will subsist on while on this diet. It’s prepackaged snacks and convenience meals which are all around 100 calories each. They have a ton of snack/dessert type bars and shakes, and then cereal, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, and soups.

Lean and green meals

Optavia defines a lean and green meal to include 5-7 oz of meat, depending on how lean it is, and three servings of non-starchy veggies. It can also include up to two servings of healthy fats depending on how lean of meat you choose. The calories for these meals is around 300.

You are provided a guide on meat and vegetables to help you build your own meal, as well as a dining out guide that has a list of restaurants and the meals you could order if you want to go out to eat.

You can buy the ingredients and cook whatever you want for these meals (assuming they’re approved foods) or you can buy a few select lean and green meals from Optavia’s website.

Healthy snacks

You can buy snacks from Optavia or pick your own at the grocery store. They have a snack guide to let you know what is OK to eat – but it’s things like whole grains, fruits and certain non-fat dairy (very small portions).

Optavia ingredients

You can find the ingredients and nutritional info for all their products on their website. I pulled a few to give examples:

They all of the main ingredient soy protein isolate, which is not a unique ingredient to Optavia at all and you can actually find it in many products already at the grocery store including things like protein drinks, powders, and veggie burgers.

Many of their products also contain chicory root, which is a source of fiber but can cause intestinal issues in some people.

Bacillus coagulan GBI-30 6086 is a probiotic that’s added to all their fuelings. Probiotics are generally harmless and can help digestion in normal people, but they can be harmful to people with underlying medical conditions.

So will you actually lose weight on Optavia?

In the short term, anyone could lose weight on Optavia, but that’s just because they’re following such a low-calorie diet. I don’t think there’s anything that is special about Optavia’s food – you would lose just as much weight eating healthy real food as you would with their bars and shakes.

However, I totally get the appeal of these pre-packaged diet plans. It’s all about the convenience factor.

It’s easy to follow and doesn’t require a lot of planning or thinking – you just grab and go.

Plus, their food is formulated with vitamins, protein, and fiber to give you proper nutrition.

According to the company, their coaches help with the transition back to real food after you’ve lost the weight, but the reality is most people aren’t going to stick with this diet that long.

When you have a diet that’s so restricted and so expensive, most people will give up and go back to their old eating habits.

But if you’re really interested in these meal replacement type diets, you could save over $100 per month by using Wonderslim products instead.

Side effects of Optavia

There are some side effects of this diet that aren’t well discussed but I do think it’s worth mentioning.

Gallstones – there’s a pretty significant risk of developing gallstones for people who are extremely overweight and lose weight very fast (10-25% of people will). When put on a diet of 800 calories a day, you will drop weight VERY quickly if you are morbidly obese.

Intestinal issues – gas, bloating, and stomach upset are common complaints. This could be due to different ingredients in Optavia’s products such as stevia sweetener, or the chicory root inulin added for fiber. Some studies suggest it could even be caused by increased levels of lead in their products.

How much does Optavia actually cost?

With this program, you pay for your food each month which costs around $400, depending on the kit you purchase. You can also individually purchase the food and build your own box for the month. They tell you to buy 22 boxes to last the month – and they’re each just under $21 a box. So if you did it that way, it’d be $462.

After you purchase the food, you get support from your coach for no additional cost. This is the person who sold you the Optavia program, so how helpful and supportive that person is to you could be widely variable just depending on who it is.

Will you save money on groceries with Optavia?

The high cost of this program is often justified by claiming you can save a ton on your grocery bill each month so it makes up the difference, which has some truth to it.

However, it’s likely the overall food bill with Optavia would still end up being quite higher than a normal month of groceries (when you just consider for one person alone).

Remember you do still need to buy regular food at the grocery store to supplement their meal replacements.

So you’ll need to consider the $400 plan + the cost of basic groceries which would really depend on your location as grocery prices vary widely.

But… aren’t they a pyramid scheme?

I don’t know if I’d go that far, although I will say I’m not a fan of the MLM model because I think it takes advantage of desperate people.

According to the FTC, the two classic signs of a pyramid scheme involve inventory loading and lack of product sales. In some cases, there isn’t really a product at all.

Inventory loading is when people who buy into the opportunity are forced to buy tons of product upfront (costing them a fortune, and the company knows it’s more than the vast majority will ever be able to sell), but this isn’t the case with Optavia as coaches aren’t required to buy inventory upfront and all sales are done online and shipped directly to the client.

Lack of product sales refers to products being sold to the general public (people who aren’t already part of the marketing scheme).

Are the only people buying Optavia also becoming coaches and selling Optavia, or do normal people who have no interest in the business opportunity become clients and follow the diet to lose weight?

That’s a fact I couldn’t substantiate about Optavia, so I’m not sure if that’s the case or not.

However, if you closely look at Optavia’s business model, they do put a lot of emphasis on product sales, and the rewards for this are greater than a lot of other MLM companies.

Still, the real opportunity lies within recruiting new coaches and moving up the ranks.

Optavia Compensation Model

Coaches get a base 15% commission per sale, which increases with certification status (3% bonus) and volume of products sold.

This model emphasizes product sales and rewards continuing education and certification of their coaches, allowing them to earn a 3% bonus – so they can earn an 18% commission rate minimum.

In addition, they offer bonuses for coaches who can keep up with a consistent volume of monthly sales. The greater the volume, the greater the reward. (this ranges from an extra $250 – $1,000 per month)

They also after an additional $100 bonus to coaches who can bring in a certain volume of sales within their first 30 days.

Coaches are also rewarded for certification and helping their clients along with their diet. The model emphasizes sales, support, and encouragement enough so that recruiting is not the sole focus.

Building teams

Even with the focus on product sales, they still do encourage building a team for maximized profits. Technically the more members you recruit, and the more members those people recruit (and so on) the more money you will be making.

Their business model also encourages you to build a team in which members have achieved a higher rank as well.

I can see with this model how members of a team could feel pressured by their coach to make sales and recruit more members. Even clients could feel pressured by their health coach to start selling Optavia by promises of making easy money from home.

There’s no special training or education required to be a coach, all you have to do is purchase the $200 coaching kit and start selling the system to others. Of course, they do have a certification you can take to become a better coach and earn higher commissions, but even then these aren’t medical experts, dietitians, or therapists.

If you’re considering becoming an Optavia coach, I will just warn you that it isn’t as easy as you might think to make money.

Final thoughts on Optavia

Diets are not one-size-fits-all, and any diet will work if you follow it. The trick is, you have to stick with it. Optavia can help people lose weight if they have the discipline to stay on the plan, but it can add up to be quite costly.

If you are looking for a cheaper alternative to this type of diet, I would recommend you check out Wonderslim instead.

Personally, I suggest saving yourself some money sticking to a program that emphasizes lifestyle changes and allows you to eat real food, like Weight Watchers.

Have you been involved with the Optavia diet and had success? Share within the comments!