The Optavia Program: calories, coaches, and chik’n.
This honest Optavia review is an opinion piece based on current literature and my findings, as well as the firsthand experience of a previous Optavia coach.
I’ve been asked by many people – and Women’s Health Magazine, actually – to do an honest Optavia review. Apparently it’s STILL super-popular and going around social media like wildfire, so I thought I’d revise my original Optavia review. Plus, the company just released its Optavia program for teens, which I have a lot to say about…just wait.
One of the people who asked me to write about this program messaged me on Facebook and told me her entire experience with it firsthand. Unfortunately, her account was shocking, but not all that surprising, since I’ve heard of the cult-like behaviour and high-pressure sales tactics that exist in these MLM companies. I’m including bits of this woman’s story, in her own words, in this Optavia review.
What is Optavia?
You may have heard of the Medifast program, which is a brick and mortar-based weight loss program. Optavia, on the other hand, is the web-based version of Medifast, complete with access to ‘coaches’. Optavia has been around since the 1980s, and forgive me for saying this, it appears not to have updated their nutrition philosophy since then. You’ll see what I mean in this post.
Cutting to the chase, Optavia is a low calorie diet, plain and simple. There are a couple of configurations for the program, but they all involve eating Optavia ‘fuelings’ aka pre-prepared meals that are shipped to your door, plus one or two ‘Lean and Green’ meals, each of which consist of three servings of green vegetables and 5-7oz protein.
You may get one snack depending on which program you’re on. Because my source tells me that it’s the most popular configuration, I’m focusing on the 5 and 1 program, which is 5 fuelings and 1 Lean and Green meal. Fresh fruit is not on the plan, and neither is dairy.
It’s important to note that vegetarians will find their fueling choices limited on Optavia, and vegans will not be able to follow the diet at all, since the fuelings contain…
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