Buy my meal replacement shakes and lose weight fast!! Woo alert!

Ok, the title is shameless click bait, but I really need to have a good rant with folks who are of a similar mind!

I've spent the last year losing 63lb (so far, 14lb ish to go) and I have one acquaintance I see every Sunday. She's seen me lose weight, she knows how I've done it and she's asked me for advice.

Now, she's posting on Facebook about how she's lost 7lb in a week doing some meal replacement shake thing, some other crap called 'skinny juice' plus 'body wraps', where you basically cover yourself in goo and expensive cling film and lose inches! I mean, c'mon!!!! So much woo I feel like I'm going to explode!

Apparently, "eating real food doesn't work for everyone" and "not everyone's body works the same"! Sure, because expensive milkshakes will teach you loads about portion control and your body obviously defies the laws of physics! I'd love to know how she thinks this is sustainable. I'm sure she'll lose weight for as long as she drinks the shakes - less calories than what she was eating - but it'll all go back on again, long before the wedding that she wants to be thin for!

Garghhhhhh!!!

There's zero point saying anything to her - she's seen me have success but chosen what she thinks is the easy route - but keeping myself from saying 'you're kidding me, right?!' on a weekly basis is giving me a headache and I really needed to share!

End of rant!
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Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    At least she isn't selling them yet?

    Some people think it's too hard to just eat fewer calories and they want that magic.
  • philippakate197
    philippakate197 Posts: 125 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    At least she isn't selling them yet?

    Some people think it's too hard to just eat fewer calories and they want that magic.

    Not yet, although considering the shameless marketing she was doing I doubt it'll be long!

  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Don't post any before/after pictures anywhere she can access them. There have been MLM salespeople who steal their friends' pics and post them all over the place, claiming that the results came from whatever snake oil they're peddling. Several people have posted about it in the past here on MFP.

    Good for you for recognizing a scam when you see it, and realizing that those products are nothing but a big rip-off. The only person who benefits from them is the person selling them.
  • JaneSnowe
    JaneSnowe Posts: 1,283 Member
    tlflag1620 wrote: »
    It's frustrating. One of my Facebook friends just chronicled her cabbage soup diet (ugh). She lost eight lbs in a week (peed it out, obviously). That was over a month ago... No mention of her progress since then. I'd wager she regained the water weight and is either right back to where she was, or maybe one or two lbs lighter (certainly not Facebook worthy). I just didn't respond to any of her posts related to that fiasco (no liking, no commenting). People need to figure this crap out for themselves, really. That and this is someone I knew in grade school and high school, but haven't really talked to in a long time. If she was someone I was close to, I wouldn't call her out on FB, but I would have been very tempted to say something privately.

    Maybe ignore her posts for a while... In a few weeks, if that, she'll see that her gimmicks didn't work and will stop posting about them.

    I did reply asking for some information on how it works....strangely had no reply!!

    I'm just going to keep doing mfp, look hot and awesome, and wait.

    Report back if she tries to explain how it works!
  • philippakate197
    philippakate197 Posts: 125 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Don't post any before/after pictures anywhere she can access them. There have been MLM salespeople who steal their friends' pics and post them all over the place, claiming that the results came from whatever snake oil they're peddling. Several people have posted about it in the past here on MFP.

    Good for you for recognizing a scam when you see it, and realizing that those products are nothing but a big rip-off. The only person who benefits from them is the person selling them.

    Yikes, really?! I've put a couple of pics on Facebook but I don't think even she would be daft enough to pinch them - I see her every week and she knows I'd rip her to shreds!

    I was not above considering these scams back in the day when I didn't know any better, but I've read enough on here now to be able to spot woo at a thousand paces!

  • philippakate197
    philippakate197 Posts: 125 Member
    JaneSnowe wrote: »
    tlflag1620 wrote: »
    It's frustrating. One of my Facebook friends just chronicled her cabbage soup diet (ugh). She lost eight lbs in a week (peed it out, obviously). That was over a month ago... No mention of her progress since then. I'd wager she regained the water weight and is either right back to where she was, or maybe one or two lbs lighter (certainly not Facebook worthy). I just didn't respond to any of her posts related to that fiasco (no liking, no commenting). People need to figure this crap out for themselves, really. That and this is someone I knew in grade school and high school, but haven't really talked to in a long time. If she was someone I was close to, I wouldn't call her out on FB, but I would have been very tempted to say something privately.

    Maybe ignore her posts for a while... In a few weeks, if that, she'll see that her gimmicks didn't work and will stop posting about them.

    I did reply asking for some information on how it works....strangely had no reply!!

    I'm just going to keep doing mfp, look hot and awesome, and wait.

    Report back if she tries to explain how it works!

    I will! I get that the meal replacement shakes just give her less calories so she's in a deficit, but I'd love to hear some of the broscience about the body wraps!
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    OMG! I'm right there with you! Two good friends are selling Thrive. According to them it's NOT a weight loss plan. What it does is fill in your nutritional gaps so that you have more energy to exercise and you're not munching on snacks all day because you're getting the correct nutritional supplements. All you have to do is wear their patch, take their vitamins in the morning and a half an hour later drink their protein shake. Even though it's NOT a weight loss plan, you WILL lose weight.

    Yeah, right.

    (Cue the rolling of the eyes)

    She's a good friend and I'm not going to ruin our friendship by calling her out but I really, really want to.

    What I hate is that they're preying on other people's insecurities and giving them false hope. That's what bothers me the most.
  • philippakate197
    philippakate197 Posts: 125 Member
    Forty6and2 wrote: »
    I was contacted by a family member on FB asking me how I lost so much weight (didn't post progress pictures, but it's pretty easy to see the progress from what I do post) and I told her (more-or-less) "I found out how many calories I need to consume in order to lose a pound a week and I eat that. I eat less and I move more, period"
    Of course, that simply can't work for everybody because she's a special snowflake who NEEDS something else. So now she's on a low carb diet (20g a day) and constantly contacting me asking "How many carbs are in oranges?" "Are there carbs in nuts?" "Can I eat [such and such food]?" It's annoying af. But I've started telling her that butter is a carb, so at least I can troll a little while I'm at it.

    Oh, you could have so much fun with that! Have you told her how many carbs are in vegetables?!

    I don't quite trust myself not to say something extremely sarcastic so I'm letting it all out here instead!
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    edited June 2016
    shinycrazy wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    At least she isn't selling them yet?

    "Yet" is the operative word in that sentence.

    Oh yeah. When I started one of my former best friends asked me how I was doing it. I led her to MFP. She joined, got a Fitbit, and lost about 10-15 pounds before getting off track. And two years later, what did I see her post about on FB? That she's now shilling MLM products (the one with the wraps). She posted last week about some undereye treatment to relieve bags...I saw no difference in her before and after.
  • sashayoung72
    sashayoung72 Posts: 441 Member
    YASSSS!!! I completely understand, agree, all the above!!! I have so many friends in life, on facebook, IG, etc. "oh how are you losing the weight?" when i tell them counting calories and moving more (nothing dramatic, mainly walking) they want to know "no, really....WHAT'S THE SECRET!!!???" Then later they have posts of break through weight loss using some ridiculous diet or product and back to posting pics of food and no more mention of said diet.

    I had a public weightloss IG account and after several hundred ITWORKS and Shakes etc I finally closed it. The cherry on top was a weightloss coach that wasn't taking no for an answer, and I was having better results than her so she wanted me to become a coach, like huh??
  • philippakate197
    philippakate197 Posts: 125 Member
    Sharon_C wrote: »
    OMG! I'm right there with you! Two good friends are selling Thrive. According to them it's NOT a weight loss plan. What it does is fill in your nutritional gaps so that you have more energy to exercise and you're not munching on snacks all day because you're getting the correct nutritional supplements. All you have to do is wear their patch, take their vitamins in the morning and a half an hour later drink their protein shake. Even though it's NOT a weight loss plan, you WILL lose weight.

    Yeah, right.

    (Cue the rolling of the eyes)

    She's a good friend and I'm not going to ruin our friendship by calling her out but I really, really want to.

    What I hate is that they're preying on other people's insecurities and giving them false hope. That's what bothers me the most.

    I feel your pain!

    It's people making money out of it that makes me so damn furious!
  • Forty6and2
    Forty6and2 Posts: 2,492 Member
    Forty6and2 wrote: »
    I was contacted by a family member on FB asking me how I lost so much weight (didn't post progress pictures, but it's pretty easy to see the progress from what I do post) and I told her (more-or-less) "I found out how many calories I need to consume in order to lose a pound a week and I eat that. I eat less and I move more, period"
    Of course, that simply can't work for everybody because she's a special snowflake who NEEDS something else. So now she's on a low carb diet (20g a day) and constantly contacting me asking "How many carbs are in oranges?" "Are there carbs in nuts?" "Can I eat [such and such food]?" It's annoying af. But I've started telling her that butter is a carb, so at least I can troll a little while I'm at it.

    Oh, you could have so much fun with that! Have you told her how many carbs are in vegetables?!

    I don't quite trust myself not to say something extremely sarcastic so I'm letting it all out here instead!

    I got tired of looking things up for her on MFP so now I reply exclusively with snark. I told her about MFP numerous times, so she can come look up any vegetables she wants (because I don't give a kitten about carbs, so I never pay any attention)
  • philippakate197
    philippakate197 Posts: 125 Member
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    Ah yes, like one of my ex-coworkers who lost 80 lbs in a year through MFP and working with a personal trainer 4 times a week who now sells It works wraps, pills, etc.

    All with her before/after,

    Those poor poor suckers.

    Oh good grief, that makes me mad! Making money by lying about how you lost the weight, basically pimping herself out!! Garghhh!
  • Annahbananas
    Annahbananas Posts: 284 Member
    edited June 2016
    Ok, the title is shameless click bait, but I really need to have a good rant with folks who are of a similar mind!

    I've spent the last year losing 63lb (so far, 14lb ish to go) and I have one acquaintance I see every Sunday. She's seen me lose weight, she knows how I've done it and she's asked me for advice.

    Now, she's posting on Facebook about how she's lost 7lb in a week doing some meal replacement shake thing, some other crap called 'skinny juice' plus 'body wraps', where you basically cover yourself in goo and expensive cling film and lose inches! I mean, c'mon!!!! So much woo I feel like I'm going to explode!

    Apparently, "eating real food doesn't work for everyone" and "not everyone's body works the same"! Sure, because expensive milkshakes will teach you loads about portion control and your body obviously defies the laws of physics! I'd love to know how she thinks this is sustainable. I'm sure she'll lose weight for as long as she drinks the shakes - less calories than what she was eating - but it'll all go back on again, long before the wedding that she wants to be thin for!

    Garghhhhhh!!!

    There's zero point saying anything to her - she's seen me have success but chosen what she thinks is the easy route - but keeping myself from saying 'you're kidding me, right?!' on a weekly basis is giving me a headache and I really needed to share!

    End of rant!

    My friend also said she's losing 7 pounds a week in those body wraps and the fruit punches . I won't glorified the company name because I looked them up and they're a scam

    It seems like my friend and your friend was told to put the same message on their fb
  • Enjcg5
    Enjcg5 Posts: 389 Member
    Ok, the title is shameless click bait, but I really need to have a good rant with folks who are of a similar mind!

    I've spent the last year losing 63lb (so far, 14lb ish to go) and I have one acquaintance I see every Sunday. She's seen me lose weight, she knows how I've done it and she's asked me for advice.

    Now, she's posting on Facebook about how she's lost 7lb in a week doing some meal replacement shake thing, some other crap called 'skinny juice' plus 'body wraps', where you basically cover yourself in goo and expensive cling film and lose inches! I mean, c'mon!!!! So much woo I feel like I'm going to explode!

    Apparently, "eating real food doesn't work for everyone" and "not everyone's body works the same"! Sure, because expensive milkshakes will teach you loads about portion control and your body obviously defies the laws of physics! I'd love to know how she thinks this is sustainable. I'm sure she'll lose weight for as long as she drinks the shakes - less calories than what she was eating - but it'll all go back on again, long before the wedding that she wants to be thin for!

    Garghhhhhh!!!

    There's zero point saying anything to her - she's seen me have success but chosen what she thinks is the easy route - but keeping myself from saying 'you're kidding me, right?!' on a weekly basis is giving me a headache and I really needed to share!

    End of rant!

    My friend also said she's losing 7 pounds a week in those body wraps and the fruit punches . I won't glorified the company name because I looked them up and they're a scam

    It seems like my friend and your friend was told to put the same message on their fb
    But IT really WORKS!
  • RosieRose7673
    RosieRose7673 Posts: 438 Member
    Forty6and2 wrote: »
    I was contacted by a family member on FB asking me how I lost so much weight (didn't post progress pictures, but it's pretty easy to see the progress from what I do post) and I told her (more-or-less) "I found out how many calories I need to consume in order to lose a pound a week and I eat that. I eat less and I move more, period"
    Of course, that simply can't work for everybody because she's a special snowflake who NEEDS something else. So now she's on a low carb diet (20g a day) and constantly contacting me asking "How many carbs are in oranges?" "Are there carbs in nuts?" "Can I eat [such and such food]?" It's annoying af. But I've started telling her that butter is a carb, so at least I can troll a little while I'm at it.

    Haha! I wish I knew how to post gifs.

    I just think of mean girls when Regina asks, "is butter a carb?"
  • AgidGirl
    AgidGirl Posts: 138 Member
    Forty6and2 wrote: »
    I was contacted by a family member on FB asking me how I lost so much weight (didn't post progress pictures, but it's pretty easy to see the progress from what I do post) and I told her (more-or-less) "I found out how many calories I need to consume in order to lose a pound a week and I eat that. I eat less and I move more, period"
    Of course, that simply can't work for everybody because she's a special snowflake who NEEDS something else. So now she's on a low carb diet (20g a day) and constantly contacting me asking "How many carbs are in oranges?" "Are there carbs in nuts?" "Can I eat [such and such food]?" It's annoying af. But I've started telling her that butter is a carb, so at least I can troll a little while I'm at it.

    OMG this post had me laughing out loud! Special snowflake LOL for dayzzzzzzzzzzzz!
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    Zombie thread.
  • Enjcg5
    Enjcg5 Posts: 389 Member
    I know this is an old thread but just week- a FB friend whose family is high level purium person boasted about a 10lb weight loss using their detox for a week etc... and the weight loss will continue using supplements XYZ.... I immediately thought to myself... it was water weight and you were starving! However, they sold some of those detoxes in a matter of minutes. I quickly unfollowed said friend because I was so close to saying things that were not nice.
  • Nudgey02
    Nudgey02 Posts: 24 Member
    This has been a very interesting read, thanks for bumping it with your comment Enjcg5. It might be an old post but still very relevant. Where I live the main scam is Herbalife, everyone seems to be selling it, no one seems to keep their body shape after their 30 day transformation though! They're always back on another transformation, then another a few month later. Definitely not sustainable or healthy.
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