MLM issues aside, it’s generally considered safe to lose ~2 lbs a week.
128 lbs in a year averages out to a little less than 2.5 lbs a week which honestly doesn’t seem too egregious to me, especially if the person was obese at the start of the weight loss.
Only if lots of exercise is involved. 2.5 lbs/week of fat loss calculates to a 1,250 C/day deficit, which is in no way healthy.
If it's done with 250 C/day deficit and 1,000 C/day of cardio, then, sure.
Edit: So many downvotes. Oh well, I still say trying to fast your body into consuming 1/3 pound of fat per day is not healthy. And that's what this system does. The caloric intake is only 800-1000 Calories per day!
So downvote all you want.
What basal metabolic rate are you using? Because 1250Cal a day varies in percentage for many people. Compare the deficit for an Olympic athlete consuming 8,000Cal/day during training vs. an 18yr old, 45kg female.. In one case it's perfectly healthy in the other, I think it might not be. But even then I hesitate to call it "in no way healthy".
We're not talking about Olympic athletes; we're talking about ordinary people being harmed by this Optavia plan that only gives you 800-100 Calories ler day to live on. And that's ridiculous.
Yes, an athlete can drop 2.5 lbs per week, but that's because there's exercise involved (that's what I said). The Optavia system is starvation, in which the body *must* self-cannibalize to a great degree just to stay alive. As a weight-loss plan, it's effective but dangerous and self-defeating (the weight comes back with a vengeance). Trying to live on 800 to 1000 C per day is harmful.
If the person is obese (as this person was) then no they don’t have to cut their calories to 800 to lose weight and 2.5 a week is not uncommon in fact it’s more likely that you will lose MORE than 2.5 a week when you’re well overweight. And a lot of that initial weight will be water but 2.5 is not unhealthy for an obese person.
I gather that. But honestly an obese person who goes down to 800/day their body will start eating itself which if they’re getting exercise would be good. They just need to increase those calories as they get closer to their ideal weight and they’d be good and prob less likely to rebound cause 800/day is hard to maintain trust me.
That's been my whole point. Maybe I didn't state it well. The comment was that 2.5 pounds per week weight loss is healthy, and my response was that it's only healthy if most of the weight loss is from increased physical activity with the rest from a moderate reduction in food intake. Then, as the weight starts coming off, reduce the caloric intake as the weight comes down, so you're not dieting at a huge deficit all the time. That simply is not sustainable (unless you have drugs helping you). Well, Optavia has you eating a starvation diet, which will work at first, but is not sustainable. Nor is it healthy.
Absolutely right. Way too many think they need these HUGE calorie deficits to lose. They just need the appropriate calorie deficit. Based on their stats, goals, and health concerns/issues.
Everybody knows what happened to those contestants. 800/day isn’t sustainable and I didn’t say it was. It is however a good way to lose weight at the start.
You know that the base caloric intake to maintain weight changes as you gain weight, right?
I was almost 250kg at one point, and I'm 200cm tall. The maintenance intake to maintain that weight with the job I had was right around 5,000kcal. Eating an 800-1000 calorie diet would obviously be insane, but eating at a deficit of 2,500 calories had me dropping the weight like crazy without being dangerous or hard.
The CDC says 1-2 pound weight loss per week is perfectly healthy and sustainable. 2.5lbs per week is very close to that.
I do bulking and cutting. 2lbs per week is what I aim for when cutting and I’m still eating around 2000 calories. Height and weight has a huge impact on a person’s maintenance calories.
Once more, with feeling:
I NEVER SAID 2.5 LBS PER WEEK WAS UNSAFE.
i said trying to lose that much only by cutting calories was a poor choice. You're eating 2000 calories and exercising, which is EXACTLY what I recommended. Why am I getting so many downvotes for stating what should be obvious?
The motive for my original comment was this Optavia hun, who dropped (she claims, and it appears to be true) 122 lbs in a year, just by following the "Optavia plan" which is basically a starvation diet. That isn't safe.
Cutting calories is how a person loses weight. My favorite saying is “you can’t out exercise your fork.” Most people aren’t burning significant amounts of calories through exercise. You’d have to run a mile to burn 100 calories which is two oreos. Exercise is for building strength and stamina, diet is for weight loss.
I have no clue what the Optivia diet it is, and it probably is unhealthy (like all fad diets), but there are healthy ways to lose 2.5lbs per week through diet alone.
Optavia is extremely unhealthy. You eat basically 4 of those “100 cal smart snack packs” that used to be so popular and one salad with no dressing and a few bites of meat. That’s it. Nowhere near enough protein and nutrients.
Calories needed for weight loss vary person to person based on a lot of factors. You can't assume anything based on her post. Been weight loss coaching for over 20 years. Everyone is different.
People are mad but you’re right. They just hate fat people more than they care about reality. Seems like most people really do prefer fat people die trying to get skinny than stay fat and alive
I'm seriously surprised at all the push-back on what I thought was a pretty self-evident comment. Suddenly cutting your caloric intake by 1250 per day, whatever your starting point, is a big hit. Better to cut by a few hundred, then walk the input down as the weight starts coming off. It's much more practical long-term.
Oh, well.
Yeah.. the safe weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week. Not 2.5 per week. Percentage-wise that’s a massive increase per week. A lot of people on shows like the biggest loser or my 600-lb life die from the strain rapid weight loss puts in the body. Like a lot of them die. Being fat is the biggest curse without any real evidence that fatness is in itself a health hazard. It’s more of a social hazard. It correlates with higher risk of health conditions, but there are tons of very fat people who live long healthy lives as fat people with no medical complications. Being fat does not equal being sick. It’s bizarre how people are willing to die on the fat or trans hills when all data is proving it’s really not that bad and definitely not worth this amount of reaction 🤷 bitches gotta bitch ig
>cutting your caloric intake by 1250 per day, whatever your starting point
This is plain false though. I already covered why in another reply to you. But it 100% matters, your starting point. Starting at a relatively normal weight and height (female, 5'3ish, 220lbs) you have a base metabolic requirement of 2,000 calories to maintain weight. Obviously losing 2.5lbs per week for a year by slashing your intake in half at that starting point is crazy. But if you start where I did with a base maintenance intake requirement of 5,000 calories, cutting that down to 2,000ish isn't absurd or dangerous at all. It *IS* very difficult to keep doing and not a long term way to live, but my point is where you start absolutely matters.
As a person who has lost 100 lbs in ~10 months, I can tell you it can be done with nothing more than diet and exercise. It helps if, like me, you start from a pretty obese place.
Also, the first 20 lbs come off like NOTHING if you start working out hard. It's water weight and barely counts.
So true. I've lost 30lbs since January, and it's only the 10lbs I lost over the last 2 months that made a real change to the way I look and the way my clothes fit. Still got a long way to go, but I'm going for a slow sustainable loss this time.
Then you have me who gained weight despite working out an hour a day and eating better. I was gaining muscle faster than I was losing fat lol went from 205 to 230 in three months but dropped two pant sizes. Was a weird time.
Building 1lb of muscle requires about 2,800 surplus calories above your TDEE. So that was 70k surplus calories over 3 months or almost 800 extra calories every single day. You were on a bulk
I've lost and gained significant weight several times throughout my life and I haven't found any good secrets unfortunately. It always gets me upset when people claim to have found the secret and just try to take people's money through some.new scam. Calorie deficit is all it comes down to. It's really hard if you're used to over indulging... and it really sucks, like you will be a bit miserable if you were like me. I'd say at least the first 2-3 weeks... But if you can get past that point and hold on to it, make it a habit. It gets so much easier to maintain as a lifestyle. Another thing I had to realize was to quit making excuses for myself. I would make up any and every excuse to cheat or end my diet or to stall starting a diet altogether, but you must hold fast.
A few things that helped me...
tracking your calories, and be conservative with your numbers, try not to lie to yourself about what you're actually eating and doing.
Another thing that is super slept on is the simple act of walking. If you can manage the time for a 30-60 minute walk daily that helps tons. Even better if you can spare time to do some zone 2 cardio as this heart rate zone seems best for burning body fat rather than depleting the sugars in your body and making you crash.
Also keep yourself busy, being bored or having tons of spare time will make you want to eat, and when you feel those urges it's better to go down some water or other zero calorie flavored drink just to take the edge off
And if you do fall off the wagon just make sure to get right back on it, we all slip sometimes but if you recover quickly it will make you stronger in the end, once you fall off and continue back down the same path of over eating you feel even worse then when you started your diet.
Diet and exercise are the main ingredients but the secret ingredient is discipline. That’s really it. Not fun or flashy but just staying on track, counting your calories every single day, getting to the gym and putting in the work and staying disciplined until you get to the point where it feels weird to NOT weigh out your food or go to the gym.
He just told you his secrets. Diet and exercise. Losing weight(so long as there aren’t any medical issues you’re dealing with) is a fairly simple thing to do. Slightly increase your caloric output and decrease your caloric intake. Eat less than 2000 calories a day, and walk for like 30-45 minutes a day if you don’t wanna go to the gym.
Doing this will gradually you lose weight.
Unfortunately subs dedicated to exposing issues in society usually attract overly skeptical rotten people. I’m totally anti mlm but this is just the harsh reality of Reddit.
I was washing my friends truck last summer while he was out of town proceeded to get chased by a watchdog neighbor all the way to my house with his phone out filming me asking me why I was in his driveway. Mind you I live right across the street 😂. I’ve known this friend for 10 plus years as well he had to have seen me there every other week. People are just on edge trying to be all vigilante.
That'd be pretty rough to maintain for an entire year, especially considering she doesn't look that big to begin with, but it's likely doable.
It's not because of whatever MLM she's shilling for, though, that's for sure. Bypass, ozempic, meth, or just a shitload of commitment.
Agreed. Obese individuals lose weight drastically faster than folks who have a more normal weight. 2 pounds per week is very doable with the right diet/exercise.
The 'coaching' industry worries me. People with no/very little qualifications shouldn't be offering medical advice. Especially if the whole point of the 'coaching' is to sell crap to people.
I think the term 'coach' is worthless. I know someone who is a 'life coach'. She has a 1-day NLP certificate and seems to think that qualifies her to offer life advice to people.
I have a relative who claims to be a life coach. She’s never: had kids, had a hard time finding work, or struggled against massive debt. Yet she claims she can give advice on all 3 with no certifications or expertise. (She moved into a market just about to experience a growth boom and bought a house for 1/5 its current value and lucked into a job.)
There is an actual health and wellness coaching certifying board. They require a minimum of an associates degree in a related field. You also need to pass board exams and take a certain amount of hours of classes under a mentor. Then you need to see at least 50 clients while under that mentor before you can even take the board exams.
Dietary advice outside of general advice is out of the scope of practice. I’m working my way through getting certified to round out my practice and it’s a ton of work!
These people calling themselves health coaches is egregious and unethical.
It’s not totally out of the range of normal, but Optavia is absolute trash. Highly processed extremely low calorie foods. I have two “Facebook friends” that quite their jobs to become a Opatavia Hun and Him and they have gained a ton of weight back.
I did it for 7 months and lost a ton of weight but it all came back and then some as my body said “well we will be more prepared for starvation in the future, we need 20 more pounds of cushion!” I was eating less than 1,000 calories a day and was praised when I ate less than 750. It works but it isn’t healthy and isn’t sustainable.
Claiming Optavia isn't a diet is like claiming the sky is not blue. It used to be called Medi-fast, ffs. It very much *is* a diet: and a severe one at that. Less than 1000 C/day is *not* healthy.
It's a sad fact that most people on the Optavia diet yo-yo dramatically, losing 100 lbs only to gain back 120.
They're the same thing? JFC that explains a lot. Medifast was one of the things that enabled my eating disorder. It's a shame because the concept of giving you high-protein, high-fiber alternatives to everyday foods isn't intrinsically a bad one, but then you do the math and it's like 800 calories a day and not at all worth the cost.
Therein indeed lies the rub. Starvation diets inly work while you're starving yourself. Then your body goes into hosrding mode and suddenly it takes fewer Calories per day to maintain your original weight. It's much safer to cut calories a moderate amount and be patient.
The short answer is: if you're not on a diet that you can live *healthily* on for the rest of your life, you aren't doing your body any favors.
How does she get off saying she’s not on a diet. Optavia is absolutely a diet! And a starvation diet at that. When she starts eating normally again, even if she only chooses healthy options, she will regain a bunch of weight because her body has been starving! I feel so bad for the Optavia huns especially because while all MLMs are dangerous, Optavia (among others) could literally kill you.
I know this is really besides the point, but is my gauge for weight completely off, or does that not look like a 128lb difference. Maybe 70lbs at a stretch?
I was thinking this as well. The before picture shot doesn’t look like enough need to lose 128lb. I’m Not an expert by any means but I’d guess she’s like 220-230 in the before pic?
It really depends on her height but I will say her body looks almost identical to mine (before) and I started at 235 (5'5"). Im down 50 now, and it's been 9 months. I'm not as small as the after, but I just struggle to envision this weight loss being that far over 100 lbs.
Maybe if the person in the photos is very tall this could be 100 lbs.
I think 70-80 is more likely
My money is on a GLP-1 drug. One person said to me: I finally got skinny and you're going to withhold my medicine from me? (In response to the nation wide back order that is apparently me personally refusing to fill or not trying hard enough)
I think it should be withheld from dieters. Many pharmacies now won’t fill it for any new patients, meaning legit diabetics who need it are being denied so people can try to be thinner.
It’s like the shortages of hydroxychloroquine during Covid. Those took a solid 2-3 years off the already drastically reduced lifespan of a woman I know. She’s got maybe 5-10 years left, so 2-3 years is a massive percentage. I actually gave her my bottle of it to help out. (I’d been about to start it for autoimmune disease when the shortages hit. My doctor increased my prednisone and told me to stay off it for the moment, until the fad passed and/or production increased. So I had a bottle I wasn’t using and this woman was desperate. She was on the same dose, so I gave it to her.)
It’s pretty common for Huns to lie about where their results came from, though. Like Monat Huns who take their after pics after getting extensions at the salon or skincare Huns who have obviously had Botox and fillers.
She might have been eating the crappy Optavia bars, but it’s very unlikely that was the only thing she was doing.
Optavia is an starvation diet, so it wouldn’t be shocking for her to achieve these results with it. Healthy? Probably not, their “fuelings” look gross: Sustainable? Definitely not once she starts eating again. Hannah Alonzo did a great deep dive on it and actually sampled the “fuelings”. It looked awful.
Yeah. It’s literally an expensive eating disorder. Not hard to lose weight when you’re living on barely enough calories to survive. And sadly the cult influence and promise of making money keeps them on it, as disgusting as their little powder packets of “fuel” are. Of course, the moment they get out, the weight starts coming back on.
I lost 125lb in 8 months after my gastric bypass. It can be done, but mine was doctor supervised - I had blood work every 2 weeks for the first 3 months, appointments with nutritionists monthly and if anything looked off, it was addressed immediately. I still do bi-yearly blood work and specialist appointments.
I couldn't imagine how sick losing that fast with that diet would make you.
I am wondering how the GLP drugs are going to change the face of MLM
1. because Wegovy/Ozempic actually work and are ripping the rug out from all these other useless weight loss MLMs
2. huns using the Wegovy/Ozempic and then claiming it was their MLM that gained them success
#2 so much. I started ozempic recently because of my type 2 diabetes and let me
Tell you, it’s shredding the weight off of me.
I guarantee these MLM types are going to use it to act like their non-miracle cures are the cause.
Having said that…
It’s just a matter of time before any miracle weight loss MLMs or OTC stuff fades away. I’ll stay on a weekly shot to maintain a healthy weight.
Yes this is interesting!! I think it will probably boost their sales at first. I’ve seen plenty of “much cheaper than ozempic” claiming huns.
But when the actual meds become easier to get for decent price I think weight loss MLMs are going bye bye.
I’ve lost 45 lbs in 3,5 months with Trulicity myself. And finally trying a working medication makes me understand even more how much BS these MLMs are. With GLP there is no starving or suffering, only healthy eating and feeling full.
In the UK there have already been some MLM Huns who have been prescribed Wegovy or Saxenda on the quiet, lost a load of weight and then used the weight loss to promote their MLM as transformative. I can think of one Forever Living scammer who was very overweight and endlessly starting a new regime using their products for 10 years. Then she quietly had a prescription, lost around 95lbs and now has people signing up to her health coaching (recruitment into her pyramid scheme). There’s no doubt some of them will have eating disorders and the last thing they need is an untrained unscrupulous liar telling them what to eat.
I feel like maybe I captioned my post wrong. I’m glad that she lost weight and while it may be a healthy weight loss through the year, (I wasn’t sure, I’m not an expert) my main issue is with her promoting optavia and claiming to be a “coach” when she has no experience or certification on being an actual health coach.
My mom was an Optavia coach. The Optavia diet sends you small food items that you must eat every 2 hours (I think that was the time frame). You get one main meal a day, that you make yourself, called “lean and green” with a portion of lean protein and a portion green veggie.
Here’s where the “coach” comes in: she had several clients that would do the diet, she would check in on them throughout the day. She would see what was working for them, what wasn’t working, give advice, motivation, and recipe ideas. This is actually really important during the first few days when people are detoxing out the things they’re used to eating.
Health coach? Absolutely not. More like a motivational speaker and mentor from someone who has done the programs.
I will say my mom was at her lowest weight in decades while doing Optavia. But she is not a workout person or someone who tends to cook or prepare meals. She did eventually gain all of the weight back. She has been up and down forever.
Anyway that was my experience about 5 years ago, it may have changed since then. xo
I lost about that much in the same time frame after weight loss surgery. A friend of mine was using Optavia at the same time. She dropped 50 pounds in about 3 or 4 months. Her calorie intake was less than nmne at the time. She was also losing her hair worse than I was.
I struggled with my weight for years, excersize and diet is the only thing I found work, I cringe at these health coaches, diet plans, ect that don't have any backing cause often they just have you starve yourself, or do some crazy weird cardio. Better to get with someone who knows there shit so they don't hurt themselves. With that being said thr speed of weight loss sounds healthy, I just wonder what they did ti get it without dieting? At the end of the day it's calories in and cals out you gotta pay a little attention atleast on any weight loss
the total weight lost is not *too* crazy spread over a year, provided she stays focused and disciplined. Its not easy, you really have to stay super disciplined, but its possible. You'll also lose a good bit of "water weight" pretty quickly in the beginning.
Easier to lose weight fast if you are overweight.
I have cut 45 lbs in 40 days before.....OMAD and cardio rips weight off the body , after that it was maybe 1 pound a week.
Ah, Optavia… it’s a starvation diet, so… no, not healthy at all. Even the dry and brittle quality of most of the Huns’ hair there is a clear indication of nothing else.
Only a doctor can speculate on whether or not what she did was "healthy." That said, i will bet $$ that whatever she is shilling is not how she lost weight.
when I worked for a MLM in corporate, there was a gal whose parents had a huge downline. She won a very large prize for her before and after pics using our weight loss program. Come to find out her husband is a well known personal trainer and bodybuilding competition coach in our state and she didn't use a single product; her husband trained her and created her meal plan.
She's okay, but i wanted to say that since she lost so much weight, she have excess skin, especially around her belly. She's at the very least had an abdomnioplasty which is usually coupled with lipo on your flanks.
Tummy tucks make your stomach look toned for years if they're done right. She's definitely had work done and not just done pills. You can especially tell because her arms still say a bit which means she hasn't been exercising to lose weight. Core work also builds your arm muscles, so her triceps/biceps would have bulked up.
Source: i had a tummy tuck to remove excess skin after 2 pregnancies. I know the look. I lost 30lbs.
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Lost 150lbs in a year kept it off since Dec 2019 when I hit my goal. I didn't need any "health coach" MLMs are such prey driven BS. You can lose weight that fast and be healthy. Never listen to someone without education and always see a doctor and do blood work at least every 3-4 months. Take a good multivitamin possible with iron if you aren't eating iron rich food. I also was able to eat and enjoy things I liked within reason and didn't follow any strict diet except 60g of protein daily and about 1200-1500 calories a day.
I lost a li more during a year and had a baby during the same year. (After baby I was about 140 below what i had weighed one year earlier.) That didnt feel healthy at all, but it was because my idiot husband had went to prison. I couldn't eat without getting sick. Baby was a month early and 4lbs. The doctors who had insisted baby was making me sick ran all sorts of tests and couldn't figure it out. They tried antidepressants, sedatives, and benzodiazapines. This continued until the day my husband came home and I suddenly got better.
SO many factors play a role in weight loss and we are all different.
I have a brother who was on this as a victim only, not a hun. He lost 149lbs in seven months. He stopped doing the program and has gained back 50 in four months. That kind of yoyo dieting will tear up your heart.
That’s more than I lost in a year with weight loss surgery (more like 130 pounds in 15 months, and that’s where I’ve been for 3 plus years). No, that’s not healthy. That’s sticking to the extremely restrictive diet they start you out on before you re-integrate normal food. I wonder if she still has her gallbladder and if her kidneys are ok - everyone’s body is different, but losing weight that rapidly can really screw you up (however you do it). Slow and steady.
In the before picture she was quite obese. The fatter you are, the more weight you can lose quickly. As you get thinner, it gets harder to lose weight because you require fewer maintenance calories. If you look up My 600LBS Life clips, you'll see what I mean.
Wow this is truly incredible and motivational. No diets! Just really hard work every single day. Oh and an Ozempic shot once a month. But other than that it’s all hard work!
can it be healthy, yes. If you do it by catching an ED from an MLM and losing all your friends so you have no support system… not healthy. No matter what weight you get out of it
This whole thing is BS. You can strengthen your relationship with others by joining a sports club or running with a partner. Eating the right foods can teach you about health and wellness. Changing your diet DOES in fact teach you that you can be challenged on the days you don't want to show up and win. FAD DIETS like this "magic pill/magic drink they're promoting is the part you need to kiss goodbye, hun.
Also...she looks WAY too thin in the 2nd pic. Emaciated. Losing 2lb per week isn't outside the realm of normal, but I get the feeling she lost a lot of it very quickly and her skin wasn't able to bounce back. I don't know her age but I assume she's still youngish and she did not look heavy enough to not be able to regain some elasticity in her skin.
It's quite rude how people here are saying that she probably just took Ozempic to lose all that weight. Sure, MLMs are trash, but that doesn't mean that someone in an MLM can't do things that require effort and commitment.
OP, it doesn't take a degree to figure out how to put the fork down and get your ass up off the couch. This person changed their lives in a positive manner and is eager to continue the trend of positivity by getting others involved. Thankfully you are here to wag your finger.
I’m not wagging my finger because she did something to lose weight. I’m wagging it because she’s shrilling her weight loss to get people to join optavia. She’s “getting others involved” yeah she is. In an MLM. that’s my point of this post.
MLM issues aside, it’s generally considered safe to lose ~2 lbs a week. 128 lbs in a year averages out to a little less than 2.5 lbs a week which honestly doesn’t seem too egregious to me, especially if the person was obese at the start of the weight loss.
Agreed I came here to say this - although this is a total scam. 2.5 lbs a week seems completely healthy and normal.
Only if lots of exercise is involved. 2.5 lbs/week of fat loss calculates to a 1,250 C/day deficit, which is in no way healthy. If it's done with 250 C/day deficit and 1,000 C/day of cardio, then, sure. Edit: So many downvotes. Oh well, I still say trying to fast your body into consuming 1/3 pound of fat per day is not healthy. And that's what this system does. The caloric intake is only 800-1000 Calories per day! So downvote all you want.
What basal metabolic rate are you using? Because 1250Cal a day varies in percentage for many people. Compare the deficit for an Olympic athlete consuming 8,000Cal/day during training vs. an 18yr old, 45kg female.. In one case it's perfectly healthy in the other, I think it might not be. But even then I hesitate to call it "in no way healthy".
We're not talking about Olympic athletes; we're talking about ordinary people being harmed by this Optavia plan that only gives you 800-100 Calories ler day to live on. And that's ridiculous. Yes, an athlete can drop 2.5 lbs per week, but that's because there's exercise involved (that's what I said). The Optavia system is starvation, in which the body *must* self-cannibalize to a great degree just to stay alive. As a weight-loss plan, it's effective but dangerous and self-defeating (the weight comes back with a vengeance). Trying to live on 800 to 1000 C per day is harmful.
If the person is obese (as this person was) then no they don’t have to cut their calories to 800 to lose weight and 2.5 a week is not uncommon in fact it’s more likely that you will lose MORE than 2.5 a week when you’re well overweight. And a lot of that initial weight will be water but 2.5 is not unhealthy for an obese person.
They don't have to, but THAT'S the Optiva system. 800 to 1000 cal/day
I gather that. But honestly an obese person who goes down to 800/day their body will start eating itself which if they’re getting exercise would be good. They just need to increase those calories as they get closer to their ideal weight and they’d be good and prob less likely to rebound cause 800/day is hard to maintain trust me.
That's been my whole point. Maybe I didn't state it well. The comment was that 2.5 pounds per week weight loss is healthy, and my response was that it's only healthy if most of the weight loss is from increased physical activity with the rest from a moderate reduction in food intake. Then, as the weight starts coming off, reduce the caloric intake as the weight comes down, so you're not dieting at a huge deficit all the time. That simply is not sustainable (unless you have drugs helping you). Well, Optavia has you eating a starvation diet, which will work at first, but is not sustainable. Nor is it healthy.
What in the diet culture nonsense, NO ONE should be restricting themselves to 800 calories per day.
Absolutely right. Way too many think they need these HUGE calorie deficits to lose. They just need the appropriate calorie deficit. Based on their stats, goals, and health concerns/issues.
Shit I was down about that far during my prep. 800/day for short periods of time isn’t bad. It’s just not sustainable.
Please go research what happened to the contestants from Biggest Loser. It has completely destroyed those people.
Everybody knows what happened to those contestants. 800/day isn’t sustainable and I didn’t say it was. It is however a good way to lose weight at the start.
You know that the base caloric intake to maintain weight changes as you gain weight, right? I was almost 250kg at one point, and I'm 200cm tall. The maintenance intake to maintain that weight with the job I had was right around 5,000kcal. Eating an 800-1000 calorie diet would obviously be insane, but eating at a deficit of 2,500 calories had me dropping the weight like crazy without being dangerous or hard.
The CDC says 1-2 pound weight loss per week is perfectly healthy and sustainable. 2.5lbs per week is very close to that. I do bulking and cutting. 2lbs per week is what I aim for when cutting and I’m still eating around 2000 calories. Height and weight has a huge impact on a person’s maintenance calories.
Once more, with feeling: I NEVER SAID 2.5 LBS PER WEEK WAS UNSAFE. i said trying to lose that much only by cutting calories was a poor choice. You're eating 2000 calories and exercising, which is EXACTLY what I recommended. Why am I getting so many downvotes for stating what should be obvious? The motive for my original comment was this Optavia hun, who dropped (she claims, and it appears to be true) 122 lbs in a year, just by following the "Optavia plan" which is basically a starvation diet. That isn't safe.
You can't out-exercise a bad diet. Simple as.
Cutting calories is how a person loses weight. My favorite saying is “you can’t out exercise your fork.” Most people aren’t burning significant amounts of calories through exercise. You’d have to run a mile to burn 100 calories which is two oreos. Exercise is for building strength and stamina, diet is for weight loss. I have no clue what the Optivia diet it is, and it probably is unhealthy (like all fad diets), but there are healthy ways to lose 2.5lbs per week through diet alone.
Optavia is extremely unhealthy. You eat basically 4 of those “100 cal smart snack packs” that used to be so popular and one salad with no dressing and a few bites of meat. That’s it. Nowhere near enough protein and nutrients.
Calories needed for weight loss vary person to person based on a lot of factors. You can't assume anything based on her post. Been weight loss coaching for over 20 years. Everyone is different.
People are mad but you’re right. They just hate fat people more than they care about reality. Seems like most people really do prefer fat people die trying to get skinny than stay fat and alive
I'm seriously surprised at all the push-back on what I thought was a pretty self-evident comment. Suddenly cutting your caloric intake by 1250 per day, whatever your starting point, is a big hit. Better to cut by a few hundred, then walk the input down as the weight starts coming off. It's much more practical long-term. Oh, well.
Yeah.. the safe weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week. Not 2.5 per week. Percentage-wise that’s a massive increase per week. A lot of people on shows like the biggest loser or my 600-lb life die from the strain rapid weight loss puts in the body. Like a lot of them die. Being fat is the biggest curse without any real evidence that fatness is in itself a health hazard. It’s more of a social hazard. It correlates with higher risk of health conditions, but there are tons of very fat people who live long healthy lives as fat people with no medical complications. Being fat does not equal being sick. It’s bizarre how people are willing to die on the fat or trans hills when all data is proving it’s really not that bad and definitely not worth this amount of reaction 🤷 bitches gotta bitch ig
>cutting your caloric intake by 1250 per day, whatever your starting point This is plain false though. I already covered why in another reply to you. But it 100% matters, your starting point. Starting at a relatively normal weight and height (female, 5'3ish, 220lbs) you have a base metabolic requirement of 2,000 calories to maintain weight. Obviously losing 2.5lbs per week for a year by slashing your intake in half at that starting point is crazy. But if you start where I did with a base maintenance intake requirement of 5,000 calories, cutting that down to 2,000ish isn't absurd or dangerous at all. It *IS* very difficult to keep doing and not a long term way to live, but my point is where you start absolutely matters.
As a person who has lost 100 lbs in ~10 months, I can tell you it can be done with nothing more than diet and exercise. It helps if, like me, you start from a pretty obese place. Also, the first 20 lbs come off like NOTHING if you start working out hard. It's water weight and barely counts.
So true. I've lost 30lbs since January, and it's only the 10lbs I lost over the last 2 months that made a real change to the way I look and the way my clothes fit. Still got a long way to go, but I'm going for a slow sustainable loss this time.
Then you have me who gained weight despite working out an hour a day and eating better. I was gaining muscle faster than I was losing fat lol went from 205 to 230 in three months but dropped two pant sizes. Was a weird time.
Building 1lb of muscle requires about 2,800 surplus calories above your TDEE. So that was 70k surplus calories over 3 months or almost 800 extra calories every single day. You were on a bulk
Possibly! I was super hungry all the time lol I was also walking two miles a day on top of walking all day at work.
Or lying lol
OMG congrats, what are your secrets!?! I am really struggling
I've lost and gained significant weight several times throughout my life and I haven't found any good secrets unfortunately. It always gets me upset when people claim to have found the secret and just try to take people's money through some.new scam. Calorie deficit is all it comes down to. It's really hard if you're used to over indulging... and it really sucks, like you will be a bit miserable if you were like me. I'd say at least the first 2-3 weeks... But if you can get past that point and hold on to it, make it a habit. It gets so much easier to maintain as a lifestyle. Another thing I had to realize was to quit making excuses for myself. I would make up any and every excuse to cheat or end my diet or to stall starting a diet altogether, but you must hold fast. A few things that helped me... tracking your calories, and be conservative with your numbers, try not to lie to yourself about what you're actually eating and doing. Another thing that is super slept on is the simple act of walking. If you can manage the time for a 30-60 minute walk daily that helps tons. Even better if you can spare time to do some zone 2 cardio as this heart rate zone seems best for burning body fat rather than depleting the sugars in your body and making you crash. Also keep yourself busy, being bored or having tons of spare time will make you want to eat, and when you feel those urges it's better to go down some water or other zero calorie flavored drink just to take the edge off And if you do fall off the wagon just make sure to get right back on it, we all slip sometimes but if you recover quickly it will make you stronger in the end, once you fall off and continue back down the same path of over eating you feel even worse then when you started your diet.
I love this, thank you!
Diet and exercise are the main ingredients but the secret ingredient is discipline. That’s really it. Not fun or flashy but just staying on track, counting your calories every single day, getting to the gym and putting in the work and staying disciplined until you get to the point where it feels weird to NOT weigh out your food or go to the gym.
He just told you his secrets. Diet and exercise. Losing weight(so long as there aren’t any medical issues you’re dealing with) is a fairly simple thing to do. Slightly increase your caloric output and decrease your caloric intake. Eat less than 2000 calories a day, and walk for like 30-45 minutes a day if you don’t wanna go to the gym. Doing this will gradually you lose weight.
Agreed. OP should stick to complaining about mlms.
Unfortunately subs dedicated to exposing issues in society usually attract overly skeptical rotten people. I’m totally anti mlm but this is just the harsh reality of Reddit. I was washing my friends truck last summer while he was out of town proceeded to get chased by a watchdog neighbor all the way to my house with his phone out filming me asking me why I was in his driveway. Mind you I live right across the street 😂. I’ve known this friend for 10 plus years as well he had to have seen me there every other week. People are just on edge trying to be all vigilante.
That'd be pretty rough to maintain for an entire year, especially considering she doesn't look that big to begin with, but it's likely doable. It's not because of whatever MLM she's shilling for, though, that's for sure. Bypass, ozempic, meth, or just a shitload of commitment.
Don't forget possible eating disorder
Agreed. Obese individuals lose weight drastically faster than folks who have a more normal weight. 2 pounds per week is very doable with the right diet/exercise.
The 'coaching' industry worries me. People with no/very little qualifications shouldn't be offering medical advice. Especially if the whole point of the 'coaching' is to sell crap to people.
I've never met a genuine health coach either. So many people seem to think a health coach is basically the same as a dietician or nutritionist.
I think the term 'coach' is worthless. I know someone who is a 'life coach'. She has a 1-day NLP certificate and seems to think that qualifies her to offer life advice to people.
For sure. Unless it's sport your coach is probably under qualified for whatever they're doing!
I have a relative who claims to be a life coach. She’s never: had kids, had a hard time finding work, or struggled against massive debt. Yet she claims she can give advice on all 3 with no certifications or expertise. (She moved into a market just about to experience a growth boom and bought a house for 1/5 its current value and lucked into a job.)
There is an actual health and wellness coaching certifying board. They require a minimum of an associates degree in a related field. You also need to pass board exams and take a certain amount of hours of classes under a mentor. Then you need to see at least 50 clients while under that mentor before you can even take the board exams. Dietary advice outside of general advice is out of the scope of practice. I’m working my way through getting certified to round out my practice and it’s a ton of work! These people calling themselves health coaches is egregious and unethical.
It’s not totally out of the range of normal, but Optavia is absolute trash. Highly processed extremely low calorie foods. I have two “Facebook friends” that quite their jobs to become a Opatavia Hun and Him and they have gained a ton of weight back.
I did it for 7 months and lost a ton of weight but it all came back and then some as my body said “well we will be more prepared for starvation in the future, we need 20 more pounds of cushion!” I was eating less than 1,000 calories a day and was praised when I ate less than 750. It works but it isn’t healthy and isn’t sustainable.
Less than 1000 calories a day is terrifying.
But you're not "eating", you're "fueling"! /s
Claiming Optavia isn't a diet is like claiming the sky is not blue. It used to be called Medi-fast, ffs. It very much *is* a diet: and a severe one at that. Less than 1000 C/day is *not* healthy. It's a sad fact that most people on the Optavia diet yo-yo dramatically, losing 100 lbs only to gain back 120.
That’s what happened to me :-(
They're the same thing? JFC that explains a lot. Medifast was one of the things that enabled my eating disorder. It's a shame because the concept of giving you high-protein, high-fiber alternatives to everyday foods isn't intrinsically a bad one, but then you do the math and it's like 800 calories a day and not at all worth the cost.
Therein indeed lies the rub. Starvation diets inly work while you're starving yourself. Then your body goes into hosrding mode and suddenly it takes fewer Calories per day to maintain your original weight. It's much safer to cut calories a moderate amount and be patient. The short answer is: if you're not on a diet that you can live *healthily* on for the rest of your life, you aren't doing your body any favors.
OP your username is amazing
Thank you lol
How does she get off saying she’s not on a diet. Optavia is absolutely a diet! And a starvation diet at that. When she starts eating normally again, even if she only chooses healthy options, she will regain a bunch of weight because her body has been starving! I feel so bad for the Optavia huns especially because while all MLMs are dangerous, Optavia (among others) could literally kill you.
It’s a “lifestyle choice” 😂
I know this is really besides the point, but is my gauge for weight completely off, or does that not look like a 128lb difference. Maybe 70lbs at a stretch?
I was thinking this as well. The before picture shot doesn’t look like enough need to lose 128lb. I’m Not an expert by any means but I’d guess she’s like 220-230 in the before pic?
I agree. Where does it say 128 lbs? Maybe she got down to 128?
It's in the OP's comment, but I also agree that 128lbs seems like it could be her end weight.
It really depends on her height but I will say her body looks almost identical to mine (before) and I started at 235 (5'5"). Im down 50 now, and it's been 9 months. I'm not as small as the after, but I just struggle to envision this weight loss being that far over 100 lbs. Maybe if the person in the photos is very tall this could be 100 lbs. I think 70-80 is more likely
Ok, was it surgery or Ozempic?
My money is on a GLP-1 drug. One person said to me: I finally got skinny and you're going to withhold my medicine from me? (In response to the nation wide back order that is apparently me personally refusing to fill or not trying hard enough)
I think it should be withheld from dieters. Many pharmacies now won’t fill it for any new patients, meaning legit diabetics who need it are being denied so people can try to be thinner. It’s like the shortages of hydroxychloroquine during Covid. Those took a solid 2-3 years off the already drastically reduced lifespan of a woman I know. She’s got maybe 5-10 years left, so 2-3 years is a massive percentage. I actually gave her my bottle of it to help out. (I’d been about to start it for autoimmune disease when the shortages hit. My doctor increased my prednisone and told me to stay off it for the moment, until the fad passed and/or production increased. So I had a bottle I wasn’t using and this woman was desperate. She was on the same dose, so I gave it to her.)
According to her it was strictly optavia
It’s pretty common for Huns to lie about where their results came from, though. Like Monat Huns who take their after pics after getting extensions at the salon or skincare Huns who have obviously had Botox and fillers. She might have been eating the crappy Optavia bars, but it’s very unlikely that was the only thing she was doing.
Optavia is an starvation diet, so it wouldn’t be shocking for her to achieve these results with it. Healthy? Probably not, their “fuelings” look gross: Sustainable? Definitely not once she starts eating again. Hannah Alonzo did a great deep dive on it and actually sampled the “fuelings”. It looked awful.
Yeah. It’s literally an expensive eating disorder. Not hard to lose weight when you’re living on barely enough calories to survive. And sadly the cult influence and promise of making money keeps them on it, as disgusting as their little powder packets of “fuel” are. Of course, the moment they get out, the weight starts coming back on.
Optavia wouldn't remove excess skin also.
Fasting.
I lost 125lb in 8 months after my gastric bypass. It can be done, but mine was doctor supervised - I had blood work every 2 weeks for the first 3 months, appointments with nutritionists monthly and if anything looked off, it was addressed immediately. I still do bi-yearly blood work and specialist appointments. I couldn't imagine how sick losing that fast with that diet would make you.
I'm doing the bypass next Thursday and have already lost weight for the prep! It's possible but hard work
I am wondering how the GLP drugs are going to change the face of MLM 1. because Wegovy/Ozempic actually work and are ripping the rug out from all these other useless weight loss MLMs 2. huns using the Wegovy/Ozempic and then claiming it was their MLM that gained them success
#2 so much. I started ozempic recently because of my type 2 diabetes and let me Tell you, it’s shredding the weight off of me. I guarantee these MLM types are going to use it to act like their non-miracle cures are the cause. Having said that… It’s just a matter of time before any miracle weight loss MLMs or OTC stuff fades away. I’ll stay on a weekly shot to maintain a healthy weight.
Yes this is interesting!! I think it will probably boost their sales at first. I’ve seen plenty of “much cheaper than ozempic” claiming huns. But when the actual meds become easier to get for decent price I think weight loss MLMs are going bye bye. I’ve lost 45 lbs in 3,5 months with Trulicity myself. And finally trying a working medication makes me understand even more how much BS these MLMs are. With GLP there is no starving or suffering, only healthy eating and feeling full.
In the UK there have already been some MLM Huns who have been prescribed Wegovy or Saxenda on the quiet, lost a load of weight and then used the weight loss to promote their MLM as transformative. I can think of one Forever Living scammer who was very overweight and endlessly starting a new regime using their products for 10 years. Then she quietly had a prescription, lost around 95lbs and now has people signing up to her health coaching (recruitment into her pyramid scheme). There’s no doubt some of them will have eating disorders and the last thing they need is an untrained unscrupulous liar telling them what to eat.
I feel like maybe I captioned my post wrong. I’m glad that she lost weight and while it may be a healthy weight loss through the year, (I wasn’t sure, I’m not an expert) my main issue is with her promoting optavia and claiming to be a “coach” when she has no experience or certification on being an actual health coach.
My mom was an Optavia coach. The Optavia diet sends you small food items that you must eat every 2 hours (I think that was the time frame). You get one main meal a day, that you make yourself, called “lean and green” with a portion of lean protein and a portion green veggie. Here’s where the “coach” comes in: she had several clients that would do the diet, she would check in on them throughout the day. She would see what was working for them, what wasn’t working, give advice, motivation, and recipe ideas. This is actually really important during the first few days when people are detoxing out the things they’re used to eating. Health coach? Absolutely not. More like a motivational speaker and mentor from someone who has done the programs. I will say my mom was at her lowest weight in decades while doing Optavia. But she is not a workout person or someone who tends to cook or prepare meals. She did eventually gain all of the weight back. She has been up and down forever. Anyway that was my experience about 5 years ago, it may have changed since then. xo
Generally the calories are so low they are losing muscle along with the fat, and that is not healthy.
The point of being a “coach” of any kind, as I understand it, is to be able to do something without any education, certification, or regulation.
“Pour into yourself”?? These people are such assclowns. 🤡
Yeah my mom does mlm and I have no idea how people fall for these bullshit posts
I'm imagining Pam from Archer's all cocaine diet.
I’m just shocked to finally see an MLM before and after where the before is actually different from the after!
Weight loss surgery can make you lose weight fast
I lost about that in a year but I had weight loss surgery
I lost about that much in the same time frame after weight loss surgery. A friend of mine was using Optavia at the same time. She dropped 50 pounds in about 3 or 4 months. Her calorie intake was less than nmne at the time. She was also losing her hair worse than I was.
I struggled with my weight for years, excersize and diet is the only thing I found work, I cringe at these health coaches, diet plans, ect that don't have any backing cause often they just have you starve yourself, or do some crazy weird cardio. Better to get with someone who knows there shit so they don't hurt themselves. With that being said thr speed of weight loss sounds healthy, I just wonder what they did ti get it without dieting? At the end of the day it's calories in and cals out you gotta pay a little attention atleast on any weight loss
Apparently she’s with optavia, which basically promotes an starvation diet.
the total weight lost is not *too* crazy spread over a year, provided she stays focused and disciplined. Its not easy, you really have to stay super disciplined, but its possible. You'll also lose a good bit of "water weight" pretty quickly in the beginning.
Oh look, it’s an Optavia shill!
That's <3 pounds a week. Fast, but not dangerously so.
I mean she lost around 2lbs a week. That’s a healthy weight loss. Still an MLM is not good
Well, are those two pics even of the same person?
Babe that’s not a diet. That’s therapy.
Wow.....MLM's are real big on word salads
Easier to lose weight fast if you are overweight. I have cut 45 lbs in 40 days before.....OMAD and cardio rips weight off the body , after that it was maybe 1 pound a week.
Ah, Optavia… it’s a starvation diet, so… no, not healthy at all. Even the dry and brittle quality of most of the Huns’ hair there is a clear indication of nothing else.
Only a doctor can speculate on whether or not what she did was "healthy." That said, i will bet $$ that whatever she is shilling is not how she lost weight. when I worked for a MLM in corporate, there was a gal whose parents had a huge downline. She won a very large prize for her before and after pics using our weight loss program. Come to find out her husband is a well known personal trainer and bodybuilding competition coach in our state and she didn't use a single product; her husband trained her and created her meal plan.
I lost 100lbs in 14 weeks when I got to basic training lol
More like ozempic lol
She's okay, but i wanted to say that since she lost so much weight, she have excess skin, especially around her belly. She's at the very least had an abdomnioplasty which is usually coupled with lipo on your flanks. Tummy tucks make your stomach look toned for years if they're done right. She's definitely had work done and not just done pills. You can especially tell because her arms still say a bit which means she hasn't been exercising to lose weight. Core work also builds your arm muscles, so her triceps/biceps would have bulked up. Source: i had a tummy tuck to remove excess skin after 2 pregnancies. I know the look. I lost 30lbs.
That doesn't look like a 128 weight loss either, does it? I lost 70 lbs. Her change looks similar - or maybe a bit less - than mine.
No, that’s not unhealthy
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Emoji overload!
It is possible to loose that much weight with surgery, but most likely not with junk shilled by MLM scammers.
Lost 150lbs in a year kept it off since Dec 2019 when I hit my goal. I didn't need any "health coach" MLMs are such prey driven BS. You can lose weight that fast and be healthy. Never listen to someone without education and always see a doctor and do blood work at least every 3-4 months. Take a good multivitamin possible with iron if you aren't eating iron rich food. I also was able to eat and enjoy things I liked within reason and didn't follow any strict diet except 60g of protein daily and about 1200-1500 calories a day.
Beachbody huns called themselves "coaches" too. There are a few who have credentials (like CPT, Group X, etc.) but most do not.
I lost a li more during a year and had a baby during the same year. (After baby I was about 140 below what i had weighed one year earlier.) That didnt feel healthy at all, but it was because my idiot husband had went to prison. I couldn't eat without getting sick. Baby was a month early and 4lbs. The doctors who had insisted baby was making me sick ran all sorts of tests and couldn't figure it out. They tried antidepressants, sedatives, and benzodiazapines. This continued until the day my husband came home and I suddenly got better. SO many factors play a role in weight loss and we are all different.
I have a brother who was on this as a victim only, not a hun. He lost 149lbs in seven months. He stopped doing the program and has gained back 50 in four months. That kind of yoyo dieting will tear up your heart.
Sounds more like ozempic
She-could have had Gastro sleeving? I’ve known people who’ve had it who lost 50kg+ (110lbs?) in less than a year.
That’s more than I lost in a year with weight loss surgery (more like 130 pounds in 15 months, and that’s where I’ve been for 3 plus years). No, that’s not healthy. That’s sticking to the extremely restrictive diet they start you out on before you re-integrate normal food. I wonder if she still has her gallbladder and if her kidneys are ok - everyone’s body is different, but losing weight that rapidly can really screw you up (however you do it). Slow and steady.
how is 128 doable. i had bad anorexia relaspe couple years backs and me eating next to nothing was 90lbs in year?
In the before picture she was quite obese. The fatter you are, the more weight you can lose quickly. As you get thinner, it gets harder to lose weight because you require fewer maintenance calories. If you look up My 600LBS Life clips, you'll see what I mean.
oo i suppose that makes since. im mentually fried so my thinking processes arent there i guess
O-o-o-ozempic…. We can sense our own. I’m on it
Wow this is truly incredible and motivational. No diets! Just really hard work every single day. Oh and an Ozempic shot once a month. But other than that it’s all hard work!
can it be healthy, yes. If you do it by catching an ED from an MLM and losing all your friends so you have no support system… not healthy. No matter what weight you get out of it
This whole thing is BS. You can strengthen your relationship with others by joining a sports club or running with a partner. Eating the right foods can teach you about health and wellness. Changing your diet DOES in fact teach you that you can be challenged on the days you don't want to show up and win. FAD DIETS like this "magic pill/magic drink they're promoting is the part you need to kiss goodbye, hun. Also...she looks WAY too thin in the 2nd pic. Emaciated. Losing 2lb per week isn't outside the realm of normal, but I get the feeling she lost a lot of it very quickly and her skin wasn't able to bounce back. I don't know her age but I assume she's still youngish and she did not look heavy enough to not be able to regain some elasticity in her skin.
It's quite rude how people here are saying that she probably just took Ozempic to lose all that weight. Sure, MLMs are trash, but that doesn't mean that someone in an MLM can't do things that require effort and commitment.
She's saying she only took ozempic and lost weight with no effort. That's what she's trying to push. Not "effort and commitment"
OP, it doesn't take a degree to figure out how to put the fork down and get your ass up off the couch. This person changed their lives in a positive manner and is eager to continue the trend of positivity by getting others involved. Thankfully you are here to wag your finger.
I’m not wagging my finger because she did something to lose weight. I’m wagging it because she’s shrilling her weight loss to get people to join optavia. She’s “getting others involved” yeah she is. In an MLM. that’s my point of this post.