Optavia® Secrets Revealed: Ex-Coach Tells All (with Former Client, Alizabeth)

The Optavia® diet gets some women great results, but at what cost? Today I'm joined by Alizabeth who is an ex-Optavia® coach, she initially went through the program, lost over 100lbs, and then was recruited to become a coach blinded by the dream of financial freedom. She's now pulling back the curtain to the diet in this tell-all episode. 👀 

We explore the cult-like mentality, the negative side effects of eating less than 1000 calories a day, and how the coaches are more focused on money instead of their clients. We all know how these extreme diets leave people with no support AND how they can just gain it all back once they stop taking their products, but thankfully Alizabeth approached me and she's learnt how to eat grapes again without feeling guilty (an unfortunate side effect of Optavia® she experienced).

If you're curious to uncover the truth about Optavia® and discover how Alizabeth broke free from its grasp, tune in to this episode now!

Listen to my Optavia® diet review here

TOPICS COVERED 👇 

[00:01:43] Getting hooked on Optavia®

[00:06:23] The Optavia® diet experience

[00:10:35] Going from client to coach

[00:15:22] Expectations and requirements as an Optavia® coach

[00:21:21] Negative Side Effects of Optavia®

[00:25:37] Manipulation in Optavia®

[00:30:11] The Struggle with Food and Fear of Weight Gain

[00:32:29] Leaving Optavia® and the Pushback

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Transcript

Michelle (00:00:03) - All right. Welcome back to the Nourish and Free podcast, where we like to discuss how to live your life nourished and healthy while being free from all the stress and anxiety that comes along with food rules and diet culture and just misinformation that we have a lot of exposure to today. So I'm super excited about today's episode because I'm here with actually a former client of mine, Alizabeth, and she's a registered respiratory therapist who happens to also be an ex optavia coach. And Alizabeth, my first question for you is, am I pronouncing Optavia right or is it optavia? I know a lot of people do say.

Alizabeth (00:00:42) - Optavia when they first come into it, but it's actually Optavia.

Michelle (00:00:46) - Oh great. So I got.

Alizabeth (00:00:47) - It. Yes, you've got the lingo correct.

Michelle (00:00:51) - And my phone always auto corrects it to whenever I'm typing it out to Octavia or like octopus. So that's always fun either. Oh, I'm so glad you came on the show though, and I'm really excited to hear your perspective. I, I did a shoot, I should probably check the day.

Michelle (00:01:09) - I'll put a link in the show notes, but I did a like a dietician review from my perspective on what I think about this diet. And that was a while ago. So I've got a podcast episode on that and an article, but I mean, overall, spoiler alert, I kind of feel like it's just one of the worst diets of all time, so I'm excited to hear from you.

Alizabeth (00:01:29) - Hands down, hands here.

Michelle (00:01:32) - And hear your perspective of what it was like to be a coach. So why don't you start off with actually just filling us in on how you got hooked up with Optavia in the first place, and kind of what brought you into that world.

Alizabeth (00:01:43) - Yeah. So I was your typical victim of optavia, if you will. Typically, from an obvious standpoint, even as a coach, we kind of like to target. How do I put this nicely? Women mostly, but either couples and or people that are on the heavier side, you know, just by basing on just looking at their Facebook or Instagram or, you know, whatever, wherever you can find pictures of them.

Alizabeth (00:02:11) - And that's what I mean. I kind of fell prey to that because it was your typical MLM. Everybody starts adding you on Facebook and you have no mutual friends or one mutual friend, and then you deep dive into their profile and think, why did they really add me? And then you see something about some sort of something that they're selling. So I didn't really think anything of it at the time just because I knew the whole like, unique the makeup, the color story, the nails. I feel like everybody in my DMs was either an MLM or somebody from Facebook Marketplace, honestly. Hey girl. So yes.

Michelle (00:02:49) - Girl, I noticed that you.

Alizabeth (00:02:51) - Added me on Facebook, blah blah blah. So yeah, I definitely fell prey to that and had someone that, you know, not very many mutual friends reach out and of course they butter you up like, oh, I see, like what's going on in your life and your kids are so cute. You know, you really hit you on that personal level, that thinking they might actually care or were actually interested in being your friend, whether it's on Facebook or real life.

Alizabeth (00:03:16) - And really, it was just that hook, line and sinker to get you to have conversation. And oh, by the way, like I am an independent coach for a company and I know, like you, I'm a busy mom and blah blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, they're typical. So yeah, I fell prey, whatever you want to call it to that. And I was seriously struggling because I was in the trenches of my second child newborn phase, breastfeeding, gaining so much weight because I'm breastfeeding. I also had my kids 16 months apart, so I hadn't really lost all the baby weight for my first baby. Super vulnerable, super down, super super down about like just my body in general, my eating habits in general. And I was, you know, convinced that I was done having kids then. And I just I had to bounce back. That's what all these women do. They just bounce back when. No you don't. Let's be honest. No you don't.

Alizabeth (00:04:11) - Yeah.

Michelle (00:04:12) - It's it's yeah. The pressure is insane.

Alizabeth (00:04:15) - Right. So I had C-sections back to back. So of course my stomach hung a little bit lower than all of my friends that were having vaginal deliveries. And yeah, yeah, just overall hard on myself. So when she reached out, I was like, I don't care what, I don't care what it is, I don't care how much it costs. Like I'm doing this. Like if this is your true claim to fame and this is what's going to get my body to bounce back, then I'm here for it. So that's kind of what how I got to as a client.

Michelle (00:04:42) - And that's interesting because I think you, you speak to something that's happening a lot with women is that they're in a vulnerable position where they're like, yeah, I don't care what it takes. I just want to get this weight off of me. I just want to get back to my old body, especially postpartum. There's so much vulnerability there, and I.

Michelle (00:05:01) - I mean, would you say that like just that vulnerability in and of itself kind of makes you an easy sell where you're just like, I don't even care. Like, just let's try it, you know?

Alizabeth (00:05:11) - Yeah, yeah. And that's exactly I remember telling her I'm like, I literally don't care. What I need to do is I will do it, I will do it. I don't care if I have to pay money. I don't care if it's a pill. I don't care if it's a drink. I really don't care what it is. But if you're going to tell me that I can lose like £15, 20, £30 in a month, I'm going to do it. Yeah. Which is kind of what happened, which is actually disgusting because I, you know, I went on to lose £110 in eight months and geez, at the time I was like, there is nothing on this planet that would ever. I was so grateful, like nothing would ever do this for me. There is no way, no how.

Alizabeth (00:05:50) - There's nothing. No other diet, no other, you know, plan that would help me lose £110 in eight months. And now I see a lot of time.

Michelle (00:05:59) - Yeah. So at the time, you were, like, grateful for that, right? You were like, oh, it's amazing.

Alizabeth (00:06:04) - At that point, I was also like deep in the trenches of the brainwash that came with it though, too. So. Yeah. Yeah.

Michelle (00:06:09) - So tell me about what it was like being on it. I mean, you were really excited, right? Because you were losing weight, but what about the actual feelings and just day to day, what was it like being on Optavia.

Alizabeth (00:06:23) - So the claim to fame, I guess, their hook, line and sinker is that the first month you're just learning like healthy habits. They're teaching you all these habits, which is really nothing outside of. They're teaching you that you need to be in a caloric deficit to lose weight, which we all know that we all know that that's how you lose weight.

Alizabeth (00:06:46) - But the way that they went about it, right, that's the way that they went about it, is if you eat more frequently in smaller amounts, you won't even realize that you're only eating between 700 and 800 calories a day. You won't even realize that. And it's true, because what happens is your body is now trained that starvation is normal and you don't really get hungry. And they would say, well, it's because the feelings have all these things that they that you need in it has the protein, the carbs, the fat and everything that you need in it. So it's not actually, you know, your body compensating for that or adapting to that lifestyle. It's because the feelings are just so great. But if you like to have diarrhea at, you know, any point in the day, I mean, yes, the feelings are great. But again, I didn't care what I was doing as long as I was losing this freaking weight and getting my body to bounce back, I didn't care.

Alizabeth (00:07:39) - I would go through the trenches of the diarrhea and all the things to lose this weight, because that's where I was at. But essentially, yes, they teach you that, you know, here's your healthy habits. We're going to eat smaller meals, frequent, more frequent meals during the day to keep your metabolism up. It's what they would say. So you would eat five fuel lines a day. They were around 100 calories a day and then you would have one meal, which is they would say, keep it between 300 and 500 calories. Definitely not over 1000 a day.

Michelle (00:08:11) - Okay, so you mentioned that it really doesn't get over 1000 calories a day, right? Does that ever change for people or is it always like the same caloric amount no matter who it is?

Alizabeth (00:08:22) - So they said, you know, what they would try to coach you into is that eventually, you know, we don't want you to be on these feelings forever. We're just trying to instill these healthy habits, really get the weight off as quick as we can.

Alizabeth (00:08:36) - That way, you know, you're in that mindset that like, I'm losing. And that was the other thing. Oh, the fat burn stage is what they would refer to it as is after about 3 or 4 days of eating these feelings and, you know, eating the optavia way that you would be in this fat burn stage and you would just be so energized. And so, you know, you were sleeping good, probably like low key dying at the end of the night because you didn't have enough calories sleeping good. And you would just be in this state of fat burn that it would be, you know, the greatest feeling on earth. And I truly think that that was all in my head. I do think that I had periods of, oh my gosh, like, I feel like a million bucks. But I think it was. I saw the scale moving. So obviously I'm on that adrenaline rush of, holy crap, this is really working. But if I were to try to eat 800 calories today, I would keel over.

Alizabeth (00:09:30) - At the end of the day knowing that I did not eat enough. So I know that that was probably mostly in my head.

Michelle (00:09:37) - Yeah. And it's it's interesting because just like the psychology that goes behind what your motivations are like, it really can propel you into doing things that physiologically just aren't exactly ideal and right.

Alizabeth (00:09:51) - It didn't make any sense at all looking back.

Michelle (00:09:55) - Yeah, but when you're so determined, like you were to lose the weight and you're seeing that like positive feedback of like. All the scales moving down. And that's your primary goal, then it's it's easy to get stuck in that and just feel like you're doing the right thing and like, yeah, of course at some point you're going to be burning fat. If you're starving yourself for months at a time, you're also burning muscle. You're also burning all kinds of tissue in your body. And that's like, of course, what they don't tell you. Correct? Correct. Breaking everything down to try and survive. Yeah. So what did the process look like then from you transitioning to being just a client to being a coach for them.

Alizabeth (00:10:35) - So I as a client obviously you know, anybody that loses weight, you're going to post about it on social media some way somehow, or you're going to post a picture and somebody's going to see you and they're going to point out.

Michelle (00:10:46) - Oh, before and after, side by side. It's so clear to me when somebody is on that program because they do this side by side before and after. Yes. Like the pic collage. Like it's like, so do they tell you to do that specifically or is that just like part of the culture? Yes.

Alizabeth (00:11:04) - And honestly they always say like use pic, collage, collage. I don't know if that's like I don't, I don't know, maybe they have some sort of like, you know, partnership with them. I'm not really sure. But yes, the.

Michelle (00:11:17) - The.

Alizabeth (00:11:17) - Increased downloads of Pic collage over the last couple of years have got to be like through the roof.

Michelle (00:11:22) - Yeah, I can just because. Yes. Also they never say what program, which I think is such a red flag.

Michelle (00:11:30) - So I'm curious too. And we'll definitely get to the question too, about you becoming a coach. But was that something that they recommended you guys do is refrain from saying what program you were on until you really. Yes.

Alizabeth (00:11:43) - Yes. And it wasn't until I became a coach that I really, truly realize, like, it's not an MLM, it's a it's a cult. It's a freaking cult. Like everybody that is in it. Everything that they have, you do all of the expectations. It's just it's just like definitely like a cult like mentality. But as far as, like, you know, becoming a coach, it was more, you know, people were seeing my pictures that I post, whether it was a before and after or not. It was, you know, what are you doing? Like you, I literally lost £110 in eight months. So people are obviously that's red flag. Hello. She lost half of herself in the last eight months. But yeah, it was mostly people reaching out.

Alizabeth (00:12:22) - And my coach was like, you know, is anybody asking about like your weight loss? Like what are you telling them? And, you know, I would tell her that I was sharing things and whatnot. And she's like, you know, you could make so much money as a coach. Like, you really should think about being a coach. And it was just a little like subtle hints like that. But then she got her coach and her coaches coach in it and were like, hey, we noticed a lot of people. There's a lot of traction, like on your post of like your before and after or like your most recent picture that you posted and people are really wondering what you're doing. Like, have you considered coaching like there's financial freedom in coaching too. And at the time I was not making yes, I'm a respiratory therapist, but I wasn't making the greatest money like the job that I was at mean, as a respiratory therapist. It was definitely on the low end, like I was making like $22 an hour and I had two kids in daycare.

Alizabeth (00:13:11) - So again, I'll do anything for, you know, anything then.

Michelle (00:13:17) - Right?

Alizabeth (00:13:17) - Like financial freedom and weight loss, like, hello, I'm here for it again. I will do whatever it takes.

Michelle (00:13:23) - It's a very sexy offer.

Alizabeth (00:13:25) - Yes, yes. For anybody that is mean, vulnerable or not, I mean, that's a really good offer. So that's kind of how I got into coaching because it was like, you know, you really only need five clients and you're going to be making like $1,000 a month. And I mean, they weren't kidding, but they didn't tell me, you know, what was really included in the coaching other than the financial freedom aspect of it. They didn't tell me that I would have to. Once I got coaches under me, I would have to coach them, which I'm disgusted and embarrassed over how many people I coached into. It's basically like I had this like. Hogwash mindset over this. With this cult mentality, I literally just brainwashed a bunch of people underneath me, and I've went back to a couple of girls that I coached that I'm still friends with on social media and like, apologize.

Alizabeth (00:14:15) - Like, I'm so sorry. Like, I truly hope like you're doing well because I know how much I struggled after the fact. And like, I just hope that you're doing well and I hope that, you know, you've gotten out of that optavia mindset that was, you know, supposed to be this holy grail for the rest of your life, whether it be financial freedom or weight loss or, you know, getting your body back after babies, like, whatever it was like, I truly hope like you're doing well. Yeah.

Michelle (00:14:45) - That's powerful. If you felt like you had to go back and apologize to people because, I mean, you were just doing what you were told, essentially, and what you were taught and what.

Alizabeth (00:14:53) - I was trained to do.

Michelle (00:14:55) - Yeah. And so eventually get out of that and zoom out and be like, oh, shoot that. I don't love the impact that that had. I mean, I think that's great that you have been able to hopefully reconcile with people and, and pick up the pieces there, but also like just some grace for you, you were doing what you thought was best at the time, right? Right.

Michelle (00:15:14) - So yeah, I mean, tell us more. Why do you feel like it was a cult and what kind of expectations did they have on you?

Alizabeth (00:15:22) - So once you started coaching, obviously you got to download pick collage. Um. Requirement number one. Right. Oh my gosh. The other thing was about the whole not you're not allowed to say what the diet is. And they would tell you, you know, you have two choices. You can represent yourself or you can represent optavia. And I was always like, well, why wouldn't you want people to know like you're optavia? And they said, this is literally what they said. If they know what diet you're promoting, that gives them the opportunity to Google it. And if they see anything bad, they might not take your bait. Okay. And I'm like, okay, so I'm going to do my own Google search. And obviously I was definitely brainwashed. So I'm like, oh, these are people that probably didn't have success on the program.

Alizabeth (00:16:16) - Or I tried every diet under the sun. Nothing's going to work for me. But yeah, Google was not. It was just not good. So it was down to like, even if you posted your fueling, which you were supposed to, there was a requirement for how many posts you would post today. There was a group on how to gain traction in your business, and pretty much it was like on Monday you're going to post for before and afters. On Tuesday you're going to post your fueling. On Wednesday you're going to post like because there's a Healthy Habits book, which I definitely have burned and hopefully the ashes are blowing away somewhere, I think. Um, but I had.

Michelle (00:16:52) - A copy of it online somewhere. And is that the one where they tell you they give you tips on how to, like, eat out at a restaurant? Yes.

Alizabeth (00:16:59) - Yes, yes, down to everything that's what you would do on Wednesday. And then on Thursday you would post like your own personal story, and then on Friday you would post like a friend or family because that was more personal and you can resonate with it like there were things they were called boot camps, like like gain traction in your business or like business boot camp or whatever it was to help, you know, make it not so cult like.

Alizabeth (00:17:22) - But this is what we're going to do to gain more people. So even when you were posting your feelings or posting like a snippet from the book that you're reading, it was you always covered up the optavia because you don't want people to Google or figure out what the diet is, because it's not a diet. We're getting away from that diet mindset. It was 100% a diet, okay. It was 100% of diet because you could not sustain this way of living for the rest of your life. So yeah, it was cover up. Don't show any part of the book. Don't show any part of the feelings. Like I would post pictures of the feelings with my thumb over the optavia logo and then post about it, and that literally that was another thing. They're like, if you do that, people are going to send you messages that are like, hey, what is this? Like, what? What is, you know, what are you eating? And then there's another opportunity for you to share your business with them hook, line and sinker.

Michelle (00:18:13) - Yeah. And I think that's so telling that they don't want people googling it. And I can see the, the on one side of it, I can see what they mean, where it's like, okay, we don't want people to just like Google it and then figure it out on their own. Maybe. But it sounds like they were more concerned. And then what I mean is like, not sign up. But it sounds like what they were more concerned about is like, we don't want them to see the bad press. And I mean, Optavia used to be medifast and then it went through a lawsuit.

Alizabeth (00:18:42) - Yes. And that's.

Michelle (00:18:44) - Yes. And so it's like, do you really care about your coaches or do you just want to continue to make money? And you know that if people associate this with the bad press, they're going to realize how much of a scam it is. Right?

Alizabeth (00:18:58) - And we were told to never talk about medifast. And if anybody brought it up like, is it? Yes, it was once Medifast, but we are no longer an Optavia has changed and evolved greatly since then.

Alizabeth (00:19:10) - No, no, it's literally the same thing. Like it is the same thing.

Michelle (00:19:14) - I think it wasn't the difference like Medifast was just the feelings before. And then they added on the coaching side of it with Optavia. Is that right?

Alizabeth (00:19:22) - Healthy habits.

Michelle (00:19:22) - Book okay. Gotcha.

Alizabeth (00:19:24) - Yeah, yeah. Whereas Medifast, they're like, you know, you didn't get support with Medifast. It was kind of like it was kind of like Nutrisystem where like you buy the food, you eat the food, and then the results come where optavia obviously, you know, they coach you through the hell that you're actually going to live and have the support system of other people that are also swimming through hell with you. And you guys can like, sympathize together, which makes it better, right?

Michelle (00:19:49) - Brutal. So what's something that I mean, you already brought up a lot of really good things, but is there something that you wish people knew about Optavia before they got hooked in and joined?

Alizabeth (00:20:02) - I mean, first and foremost, it's not cheap, like $400, but probably between 4 and $600 a month is what you're going to be spending, which they'll tell you that you could get it cheaper because occasionally your coaches will have like these credits, which is really just taking their own earnings and putting it towards yours to make it look better.

Alizabeth (00:20:24) - Um, so that is the first thing. The second thing is you don't realize that reverse dieting, I had never heard of it, but if you don't want to gain everything back and then some, I don't really know any way around it, because you're obviously not going to eat 800 calories for the rest of your life, and at some point, your body's going to adapt to the 800 calories to where you eat 850 and you're going to gain weight back. Yeah. Um, the mindset is, if anything, it put me in a more of a diet mindset than I had ever been in because I was so conscious of everything that I put in my body. Not. From a healthy standpoint, but from it better not be more than 100 calorie standpoint, because that's what my feelings were, and that's how I was able to keep my weight off, is because I knew my feelings were only 100 calories. So literally going to the store and buying those 100 calorie snack packs was what I did for a couple of weeks after I stopped.

Alizabeth (00:21:21) - Another thing is like the hair loss, oh my God, you're going to lose massive amounts of hair. And that is a couple girls that I coached or that were also clients that I know about have come back to me and they're like, dude, did you lose like hair on Optavia? Because like, I actually had a client of mine send me a picture and she had bald spots on her scalp from doing optavia just because the nutrients aren't there. If you don't take care of your body, your hair, skin, and nails are going to be the first signs to show that. So that's another thing. But also, I think you said it in the beginning is like just the pure muscle loss. Like, yes, my body was small and yes, I got down to a disgusting, sickening weight, but my body was so flabby because I had lost all the muscle. And like, now I'm in a state where I enjoy going to the gym. I enjoy lifting weights because I love the endorphins, I love the dopamine hit I get from simply fueling my body.

Alizabeth (00:22:26) - And I don't work out because, oh, I just had a cheeseburger now. And now I need to go work it off. No, I go because I feel freaking phenomenal after the gym, and I know that my body is going to continue burning calories after the gym. And so I don't really care. I don't care what I'm going to, what I'm going to eat for the rest of the day, or what I ate because I know how my body feels after the gym, but trying to rebuild that muscle now? Oh, for someone that's super impatient, like. I just hate it's. I think I beat myself up more for that. That I put myself through optavia to lose so much weight because I didn't think about the muscle at the time, and muscle takes so long to build that. Like that's my goal right now, is just to build some of my muscle back. And I know it's taking a while and I know it's, you know, a consequence of my own actions of choosing optavia.

Alizabeth (00:23:17) - So I would say, unless you're looking to never build muscle again in your life, lose all of your hair, spend a lot of your money, and then spin your tires trying to get back into a somewhat normal not diet, just literally a way of living normally, enjoying your family, enjoying the things that you eat, and being able to go out and not stress over what food you're going to come across. Just don't just just don't. Even if you see Activia, you run the other way.

Michelle (00:23:50) - Yeah. If you see those Side-By-Side photos and no branding, you run the other way.

Alizabeth (00:23:56) - Yes.

Michelle (00:23:59) - So, I mean, you brought up something really important here, which is these, these clinical signs of malnutrition, which is, number one, the hair loss. Number two, you're eating like 8 to 900 calories a day, and then three, you've lost. I mean, you said like basically half of yourself in eight months clinically that is malnutrition. And that's something that you could get diagnosed for in a hospital and or reimbursement from insurance, you know, like it's serious.

Michelle (00:24:28) - And that's what these companies are facilitating and promoting and encouraging is getting you to a state of absolute malnourishment and pretending like it's something to be praised. And it's something that's normal and it's exciting because now you get to start selling more people on it, and you get to bring in more money and have financial freedom. But I mean, really, it is pushing people into a dangerous nutritionally. What's going on there is dangerous and physically so bad it can break down your heart muscle. It can do so many things that put you in a very bad position. And so I really worry about this with other people, like how far it's going. You know, losing over £100 is insane in that short amount of time. And it's just I wonder how many people are going through the same thing and then having some physical consequences. And I've even heard of like, gallstones with Optavia. And I can imagine like the heart issues people are having. And it's just it's scary. So what made you what was kind of your breaking point then where you were like, I'm disillusioned.

Michelle (00:25:37) - I see the flaws. I'm out.

Alizabeth (00:25:40) - So there. I think that's what came with coaching was like the deeper end you got, the more people were in your business. So my coach started to get more in my business. Like it was like she wasn't checking on me to see how you're doing or like, hey, what are you doing today? It was basically like, how many clients have you talked to today? Are you checking in on your clients? But it got to the point of like gaslighting where they would ask you, like, you know, you've got like 20 people underneath you. Like, how does that make you feel like, well, obviously good. Like I'm making, you know, good money and I'm, you know, supporting 20 people. And then they would say things like, well, do you think you're managing them well? And I'm like, I think, I think so, yes. And they would say, well. Well how like, how do you know you're supporting them.

Alizabeth (00:26:31) - Well like, what are some things that you're doing. So then it got to the point where I'm like, are you asking me because you think that I'm actually not doing good? Or are you genuinely, like, worried about, like, my coaching? And you want me to succeed and you want me to get more people. So it kind of got to that point, which is kind of where I was really off put by it, because, again, I had two small kids, so I couldn't make coaching my life. And my coach didn't like that. You know, she's like, you got to spend more time on, you know, they would have weekly. I think it was on Wednesdays, like weekly calls with doctor A who is like the founder of Optavia. Um, Dr. Anderson, I believe his name is, um. Yeah. So. Right. So, like, you would get on they want you to be on these, you know, educational calls. And it would be like, why aren't you happy on them? Like, do you want to grow like, or is this not something you're interested in? Or, you know, if you can't manage your clients, right, like if you can't manage your clients or if you're not willing to jump on these, like, educations to like, grow your business, like I'm willing to, like, take over, you know, some of your clients.

Alizabeth (00:27:33) - Well, of course you are, because that's like 5 to 10 grand that you're going to be taking from me. So then I felt like my coach, she actually went behind my back to two of my clients that were going to be potential coaches for me. And both of those clients came to me and were like, hey, like, you know, she's really talking to us about coaching. Like, would she be would we be under her or would we be under you? And I'm like, no, like you would be under me. And then she's like, well, she told us that we could call Optavia, like customer support and tell them that we wanted to be under her and we wouldn't have to be under you. And I'm like, oh, okay. So I see what's going on. It was like my coach was like almost like cherry picking my clients that she thought would be good coaches, and then going behind my back and doing the same thing that she did to me. Whereas like, oh my gosh, like, I think you really should be.

Alizabeth (00:28:22) - I think you would be a great coach like this. Financial freedom, this, you know, your success story, like doing the same thing she did for me, but with my clients. So I was like, I can't do this anymore. Like, I don't want to pick up any more clients. Like, I want to finish like my clients like coaching them out. And that was the goal was you get your client and you keep them until they want to be a coach, and then they're on your on their own. And that was I was like, I'm just not interested in anymore. And it was like, I really need to step back and think, like, is it making me happy? And honestly, it wasn't. It was stressing me out more than anything. And that's when I started to kind of be like, you know what? I'm just going to I'm just going to eat, like, I'm just going to eat whatever I want. I'll do my feelings, like during the week, and then I'll eat whatever I want on the weekends.

Alizabeth (00:29:05) - And when I tell you my weight in a month probably shot up like £25. And that was only eating like decent amount of food. Like not junk food, not fast food, normal food with my family on the weekends only and doing fueling during the week. I shot up like £2,025 the first month that I was basically off Optavia yeah, like absolutely disgusting. And I know my body was like, Thank God we're coming out of starvation. But totally.

Michelle (00:29:33) - Yeah, well, yes. And your body was like, I'm not even sure that we're out of it for real. So I need to, like, preserve everything that we got here and.

Alizabeth (00:29:41) - All of it. And to this.

Michelle (00:29:44) - Yeah. And plus Optavia is so low carb that just on a cellular level, you're gaining all of this water weight back that you lose on a low carb diet. So it's like a lot of that wasn't even fat. Like that would have been very surprising if even half of that was fat. Like a lot of that was probably like more tissue coming back into play and water and all of that.

Michelle (00:30:03) - But of course, when you're going through that, it's like, oh my gosh, I just gained like £25 of straight fat, like right.

Alizabeth (00:30:11) - Right, right. I'm like, oh, okay, I'm on my way to be fat again. It's fine. And then I got pregnant. So but I was able to like manage through my pregnancy. It was just it was just so different because I felt like almost like when you're stuck on a stranded island and you've ate twigs and berries for a little over a year, and you finally get rescued and you make it to civilization and back to an actual town that has, like any foods you want in it. And it's like, do I eat it? Because no, like I was so freaking scared to even I don't think I touched fast food for probably a solid six months. I didn't touch it for the sheer fact of I was so scared that anything that I put in my body that I was, I was going to blow up like I was.

Alizabeth (00:30:53) - If I looked at a cheeseburger. I was certainly going to gain £15 from looking at the cheeseburger. So as all these healthy habits that they taught was no scare tactics is what I would call them, because it was horrible. It was frightening to go back to the real world. Um.

Michelle (00:31:09) - Circling back really quick, when you're a coach, do you earn commission based off of the people that you bring up to be a coach?

Alizabeth (00:31:17) - Yes. So that's why you're kind of you get as many clients as you can, and then you pick out which clients you think would be coaches. And then kind of. Coach them up to be a coach and then you get commission off of them, but also you get commission off your clients as well. I mean, don't get me wrong, the money was phenomenal until tax season and you realize that one they don't take out taxes. So you had to pay back and taxes. But for the little bit of.

Michelle (00:31:44) - Right.

Alizabeth (00:31:45) - Right. They so mean. Yes. And it was it was great I mean it was good money.

Alizabeth (00:31:52) - But robbed innocent people is basically the way that I look at it now. Like looking back like innocent, vulnerable people. That's what I feel like. It was just like straight robbing.

Michelle (00:32:03) - Yeah. Yeah. I mean that's that's a diet right there. Right. Highly profitable, preying on vulnerable people, low cal dairy or low cal diet that leads to malnutrition. That's that's a diet. I've ever seen one. Yeah, yeah. So I'm curious, when you decided to leave, was there pushback?

Alizabeth (00:32:29) - Oh, yeah. Oh, so much pushback. Like, you know, what do you want to do with your clients? Well, I honestly don't care. Like I'm leaving, like, I don't at that point. Didn't care what my clients did. Like, I really didn't feel like I was connecting with a whole lot of them. Anyways, I felt like my coach had stolen 90% of them stolen, you know, because they're, you know, our income. She had, you know, went behind my back to kind of take a lot of mine under her wing.

Alizabeth (00:32:54) - And a lot of them were going to her for things. And that was kind of like she that again, the gaslighting, she's like, well, why do you think they're coming to me and not you?

Michelle (00:33:01) - Oh my God.

Alizabeth (00:33:02) - Well, because you're the one reaching out to them and they know that you're, you know, way deeper in this business and probably know more than I do. So of course they're going to go to you for support. Like I'm going to go to a professional before I go to, you know, personal opinion. Yeah. So yeah, there was definitely pushback. Definitely. Like, are you sure this is what you want to do? You know what? This is done for your family. You know, you know what the program has done for you. Like, are you sure this is what you want to do? And after I said yes, like that, was it like they took me out of all their little Facebook groups? I would say 80% of the coaches that I was friends with unfriended me on Facebook.

Alizabeth (00:33:41) - Oh, wow. And I don't know if that's like a we're afraid she's going to bash us or we don't really need you in our lives anymore because you're not making us money.

Michelle (00:33:49) - So either way, yeah, either way, that's probably how it came across. Like, oh, I guess you don't care about me anymore. Yeah. You're not making money off of me.

Alizabeth (00:33:57) - Correct? Yeah.

Michelle (00:33:59) - So you are on the program for eight months. Became a coach. How long did you were you coaching for before you left?

Alizabeth (00:34:06) - I think I was a coach for like six months. I know it was not as long as I was a client.

Michelle (00:34:12) - Sure. So overall, you were in the program for about a year and a couple of months a year in some change. So then you left. At what point did you reach out to me? Because I do remember you saying very specifically, you were like, something needs to change. I'm afraid to eat grapes right now. And I know that's not okay.

Alizabeth (00:34:31) - Right? I mean, fruit, I mean, that was the other thing on Optavia you don't eat fruit because it's too high in carbs and sugar. So I didn't have a single fruit for almost a year because you did not eat fruits on Optavia, you didn't eat fruits. It's just not right. If you wanted to eat something, it was strawberries, blueberries or raspberries. That's it. Because those were like, you know, the healthy.

Michelle (00:34:51) - Yes.

Alizabeth (00:34:51) - The berries are. Yes. The berries, you can only have berries. Yeah. So yeah, I think it yes. If it has carbs in it you put that stuff down. So. I would say like it had to be within probably three months because I know that I had started gaining, I had started gaining my weight back. And it was like even if I wanted to maintain my weight, even if it even if I wanted to slow down my weight loss or build muscle or anything at this point like I had no other. I feel like anything diet related or anything that I knew about good food, bad food, healthy food, junk food was out the window because the only mindset that I could focus on was, whatever goes in my body has to be 100 calories or less, like you can eat five times a day, as long as it's 100 calories or less.

Alizabeth (00:35:42) - So I'm literally googling like, how many calories in a cup of grapes? How many calories in two ounces of chicken like it was down to that point? And honestly, yeah, I think that's when I reached out to you because I was like, there's something has got to change, which mean our I think I don't even remember how we got to be friends on Instagram, but it was just like a couple things that you're posting about, you know, get out of that diet mindset. And I'm like, oh, this is Jesus. Jesus sent me her because I need to get out of the diet mindset as well. Someway, somehow. And again, I was like, I don't care what the price is, I don't care what what it takes. As long as I can undo whatever happened with Optavia and I know that I went into Optavia is like, I don't care what the what it takes, I don't care what the money is, I don't care. You know what I have to do if I have to stand on my head, I don't care.

Alizabeth (00:36:33) - I want to do it. And that's kind of how I felt with your program, was like, I didn't care what it cost. As long as I can get back to somewhat normalcy and out of this body dysmorphia diet mindset and mean even when I hear the word diet out of anybody's mouth, I'm just like repulsed by it anymore. Like, please stop. Yeah. Please stop. Right? Instant bar. Yeah.

Michelle (00:36:58) - So what was it like for you then? Going through my process and having my philosophy, you know, being exposed to that, do you feel like it was worth it for you then?

Alizabeth (00:37:10) - Hands down. And like I've told a couple of my clients that I had with Optavia is like, look, this is what I had to do. This is how much it costs. And I promise you it will be worth every freaking penny, because just going through the process was like, it was almost like I got like everything prior to optavia like the brain cells that I had lost, the hair that I had lost what my body needs.

Alizabeth (00:37:35) - Like I remember one of the first times that I think it was maybe in one of your first modules is basically just like, go out and eat like something that makes you happy and remember messaging you. And I was like, dude, I just ate a quesadilla from Taco Bell and like. I don't know how I feel right now about this talk, this freaking Taco Bell that I just ate. And you said to me your body needed to eat, so you ate. And that has stuck with me. For what? Think it's been three years, two and a half years since I did your program. And it's just like, yeah, you're right. You know, my body does need to eat. And after I eat, I don't need to punish my body for it because I was freaking hungry. And yes, was it the healthiest choice? Probably not. Am I going to feel the greatest after Eat It? Probably not. But am I going to go to the gym and beat myself up over it for the rest of the day? Absolutely not.

Alizabeth (00:38:26) - Because my body needed to eat.

Michelle (00:38:28) - Yeah, exactly. Which did I mean, debatably that made it healthy for you, if that was what you needed and you'd been starving for like 14, right? Right, right. Yeah.

Alizabeth (00:38:39) - And I didn't gain £50 after that one quesadilla I promise.

Michelle (00:38:43) - So absolutely. Yeah. So I mean, it has been a while. It's been about two, two and a half years since you finished. So I mean, I think one of my favorite things is to hear long term wise. How that type of a process has affected my clients. So where do you feel like you're at now with your relationship with food and and your health?

Alizabeth (00:39:05) - Oh my God, it's tenfold better than where I was at with Optavia. I did actually end up circling around and getting all of my hormones checked after. About six months ago I did and they were as to be expected. They were pretty shitty. Um, and I know like because after optavia, I also I started on like ADHD medications, which ended up being mom burnout and it wasn't actually ADHD.

Alizabeth (00:39:32) - So from that standpoint, I was then on Adderall, which is obviously not good for your body either, which is, you know, a totally other subject in itself. But as far as like the diet, like just my mentality after like going through the program, it's just realizing that you have to eat like you have to fuel your body. Is it always going to be the best? No, but as long as you don't. And that's the other thing I feel like I learned the most is like binging is I binge so much because for 14 to 16 months I couldn't have anything. So now, you know, with your program, I was able to, you know, you eat as much as you want and then you stop because you can have it again later if you want. And you know. I just. A lot of the times I'll find myself like leaving food on my plate, which I know is something that I learned from you as well, is like just because something is on your plate doesn't mean you have to eat it all and think that, you know, a lot of even kids these days still have parents that are like, you've got to finish your food, you have to finish your plate, you have to finish your meal, you have to finish your dinner.

Alizabeth (00:40:37) - And I know that I came from that kind of household, but then I was, you know, on dieting and then, you know, I would make a plate of food and obviously I can't be wasteful. So, yeah, just leaving food on my plate is something else that I learned that I still I still do to this day is because, okay, put it away and eat it later, or maybe eat it tomorrow. But just because it's on your plate doesn't mean you have to eat it. Which is something I did not learn until I went through your program. So that was another one that I still use to this day.

Michelle (00:41:08) - Yeah. So I mean, it sounds like some of the things that we talked about and you learned through working with me has stuck with you, which is like, yes, that's what I always want to hear.

Alizabeth (00:41:20) - Oh yes, oh yes, yes.

Michelle (00:41:23) - That it was actually.

Alizabeth (00:41:23) - And if anybody asked me like after like after optavia, like, you know, what did you do.

Alizabeth (00:41:27) - Like the first thing I say is like, you know, here's her Instagram. This is what you do first and foremost. This is what you do. You reach out and you pay your money and you do your things because it's worth every freaking minute of your time and every penny that you have to pay to go through this. And like, honestly thinking about it, it's so like it just makes sense. They just make sense. I guess that's yeah.

Michelle (00:41:53) - Well, any other thoughts that you have on Optavia other long term effects that you notice that you want people to know about? Yeah. Anything that we missed that you want to bring up, just.

Alizabeth (00:42:02) - Like long term effects. Like I said, the whole muscle wasting the I mean did nothing but instill a diet mindset in me as much as they try to tell you, you know, get out of the diet mindset, that is the only thing brainwashing diet mindset that it got me into the hair loss, the hormones. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Alizabeth (00:42:23) - It's just I wish I could say something good about it. Like I really wanted to be that. I don't want to be totally pessimistic about it. And I was trying to think, ever since you asked me to come on here is like, what is one good thing? Like I got out of Optavia and like, I've thought about this for like a couple weeks, I can't, I cannot think of anything like maybe the friendships. But like I said, I'm only friends with, you know, maybe 1 or 2 people of the almost probably 50 to 75 people that I either coached with or coached, you know, under me. Like, I wish I could think of something positive, but I know I wish I would have never done it, done it. But I guess maybe there's my positive, you know, because I did it. I obviously learned a lot about bad side of, you know, effects of basically malnourished, like being malnourished and malnourishment. It's just horrible. And I guess maybe the other good thing is I went through it, you know, when my kids were young enough that they didn't see me go through it because I have a daughter and I know, like, kids are bullies.

Alizabeth (00:43:26) - I know that, you know, girls get made fun of for being overweight. Mean boys get made fun of for being overweight too, but feel like, you know, little girls. It's definitely it's definitely worse on little girls. And knowing that I have a daughter that didn't have to see me go through that horrible time that I put my body through in my mind, through, and coming out of it like I'm glad it was then and not now, because she's six and I cannot imagine the questions that she would have and the things that she would be seeing from a six year old standpoint of like, why is mommy doing this? And I can't. I guess I'm thankful that I went through it at the time that I did. Yeah.

Michelle (00:44:01) - Well, I think that's a good way to put a positive spin on it is just like, you know what? Because I went through such a horrible experience, I learned a lot about what not to do, you know?

Alizabeth (00:44:11) - Correct. Yeah.

Michelle (00:44:12) - Whenever. Yeah.

Michelle (00:44:13) - Whenever you go something through something horrible, that's at least what you can learn from it is like, okay, now I know what I don't want in my life or what I don't want to continue doing or continue feeling like. And now I know what I want to do with my daughter. And in terms of her, like what I instill in her with body image and food habits and everything, and and your sons too, obviously. But it's. Yeah, like you said, it's a little bit different with girls. So yeah, I mean, I can't tell you enough how much this is a rock star episode, and I can't wait for people to listen to this. 

Alizabeth (00:44:46) - Like, seriously, I know.

Michelle (00:44:47) - I'm sure it's intimidating to talk about, especially when you're coming from something that feels like such a cult mentality. And I'm sure you got backlash for leaving. It's probably a little bit scary to talk about it publicly, so I appreciate you a lot for that. And yeah, I know it's going to save a lot of people the trouble, the money.

Alizabeth (00:45:09) - Yes, yes.

Michelle (00:45:11) - Yeah. So thanks so much Alizabeth. It was so good chatting with you and I'm so glad you're still doing well after working together. It's been a joy to stay connected with you and see how you've been doing. So I'm really grateful for you.

Alizabeth (00:45:23) - Yes. Thank you for you just being you.