Is Shakeology overpriced?

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  • ohmissemily
    ohmissemily Posts: 73 Member
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    Yes, I think it is. I prefer the Body By Vi Shakes which have a tri-sorb protein and taste like cake mix. I can mix it with anything and even make pancakes, protein bars and muffins. Also used as a meal replacement it is only $1.87 per shake which is almost 1/2 the price of a BB shake.




    ive tried both, and right now im chosing body by vi just b/c its cheaper and yes you can make different flavors than you can with shakology. but both are good in my opinion. just body by vi is more realistic for my wallet :)
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    Great post as usual Acg.
  • rebecca0101
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    I just tried the chocolate Shakeology this morning and I did NOT like the taste at all. I was strongly considering buy this product until I tasted it. I wan't a meal replacement that taste good. I am a picky eater and like the taste of fruits but not the actual fruit. lol, And don't like the taste of coffee and the chocolate Shakeology tasted like coffee to me!
  • skinz2k2
    skinz2k2 Posts: 99 Member
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    I just tried the chocolate Shakeology this morning and I did NOT like the taste at all. I was strongly considering buy this product until I tasted it. I wan't a meal replacement that taste good. I am a picky eater and like the taste of fruits but not the actual fruit. lol, And don't like the taste of coffee and the chocolate Shakeology tasted like coffee to me!

    Have you ever tried Vega products? www.myvega.com- clean, vegan, and yummy!
  • rebecca0101
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    Nope never heard of them... This is my first time to ever try and lose weight. Thanks I'll check it out!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,692 Member
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    I just tried the chocolate Shakeology this morning and I did NOT like the taste at all. I was strongly considering buy this product until I tasted it. I wan't a meal replacement that taste good. I am a picky eater and like the taste of fruits but not the actual fruit. lol, And don't like the taste of coffee and the chocolate Shakeology tasted like coffee to me!

    Have you ever tried Vega products? www.myvega.com- clean, vegan, and yummy!
    No soy for me. Though not conclusive, soy may raise levels of estrogen in men. Extra estrogen can lead to gynocomastia and interfere with weight loss.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • JennieAL
    JennieAL Posts: 1,726 Member
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    Has anyone tried NOW brand whey isolate? I'm so on the verge of buying the Dutch Chocolate flavor. It has really good reviews and I use NOW supplements already, like that brand.
  • psych101
    psych101 Posts: 1,842 Member
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    Personally, I'd rather EAT my meals lol

    I bought Insanity online early last year and decided to join the Facebook group for support - wow, I got SWAMPED by messages from coaches wanted to 'support' me and 'oh, have you tried Shakeology?! I can send you a Free Sample, you're not going to get the benefits from Insanity unless you take Shakeology'....until they found out I was in New Zealand and then I never heard from them again.
    BB seems like some kind of giant multi-level marketing pyramid scheme.
  • Marig0ld
    Marig0ld Posts: 671 Member
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    I didn't even need to see the analysis to answer "yes" to the OP! Lol!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,692 Member
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    Personally, I'd rather EAT my meals lol

    I bought Insanity online early last year and decided to join the Facebook group for support - wow, I got SWAMPED by messages from coaches wanted to 'support' me and 'oh, have you tried Shakeology?! I can send you a Free Sample, you're not going to get the benefits from Insanity unless you take Shakeology'....until they found out I was in New Zealand and then I never heard from them again.
    BB seems like some kind of giant multi-level marketing pyramid scheme.
    That's exactly how it's sold, MLM style.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • dane11235813
    dane11235813 Posts: 684 Member
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    Personally, I'd rather EAT my meals lol

    I bought Insanity online early last year and decided to join the Facebook group for support - wow, I got SWAMPED by messages from coaches wanted to 'support' me and 'oh, have you tried Shakeology?! I can send you a Free Sample, you're not going to get the benefits from Insanity unless you take Shakeology'....until they found out I was in New Zealand and then I never heard from them again.
    BB seems like some kind of giant multi-level marketing pyramid scheme.
    That's exactly how it's sold, MLM style.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    That's part of the problem with this kind of product. even if it was the greatest product in the fitness/nutrition world their sales tactics are such a turn off that i'd never buy anything from them.
  • Scorpioangel
    Scorpioangel Posts: 951 Member
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    I reposted below :)
  • Scorpioangel
    Scorpioangel Posts: 951 Member
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    Thanks for taking the time to lay this all out. I still don't think you'll convince anyone who already believes in Shakeology.

    this...

    BB is extremely effective at their brainwashingmarketing I liked P90x but the shakeology isnt worth it.

    Time after time I have seen here and firsthand guys and gals who see that they can get the same nutrition for much less yet still stay with shakeology. Doesnt make any sense but there it is.

    good post.

    Could you inbox me about this or direct me to who could help me with a shake like this? The reason I ask is because I always am on the look out for alternatives (so I don't have to wait to get Shakeology, etc.) and am open minded. Let me know! :) By the way I am a Beachbody Coach and never used Shakeology until after I reached my weight. I bought it because it was convenient and had a lot of nutrients in it that I thought would be good for me. I can't seem to find anything with the same taste/nutrients I like though :( Any advice would be appreciated :)
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    Like I've told many people before, I have a good sized supply of *free* chocolate Shakeology. And I have been researching alternatives for a while now because, well, that free supply won't last forever.

    I've decided on making a shake with Green Vibrance + Double Rich Chocolate flavor ON 100% whey protein powder, and just take a Centrum adult chewable vitamin.

    I am a closet Beachbody coach...meaning I don't advertise or try to sell to people, I just became a coach to help and encourage others who choose to use Beachbody products as their form of exercise...but whatever. I said that to say that I have contacted Carl Daikeler himself reference those proprietary blends in Shakeology. He refuses to tell even the coaches what the actual dosage units are in the mixture. He told me that it's because they don't want their "superior" product to be knocked off and copy catted, basically. So in the end, we don't honestly know if those are good or bad prop blends at all. They may be just fine, but we don't know.

    With that said, I chose the above products because there are no prop blends and we can easily see what's in them and how much is in them. They have the same ingredients, often times much better quality than Shakeology, and often times in higher more effective doses than Shakeology.

    I personally chose that particular vitamin since I *need* either a chewable or a liquid...and there's nothing comparable to the best pills in chewable or liquid form. But, Centrums have high doses of a lot of vitamins and minerals, and I don't have to order that product online to get the best price.

    Now, going to price...

    I found a website that sells Green Vibrance in a 2 month supply for $47. I found the protein I was looking at in a 3 month supply for $52. The CVS down the street from my house sells the vitamin for $10, and it's a little more than a 3 month supply. So, to get a 6 month supply of these alternatives which have the same ingredient list as Shakeology and still tastes like a chocolate shake all mixed up together (and have less sugar and less carbs to boot!!!) I would be spending approximately $270 total.

    Compare that to a 6 month supply of Shakeology...even with a coach's discount/free shipping/etc. I would be spending approximately $570.

    So...same nutrition (or better, if you want to argue against the prop blends that Carl refused to let me in on!!!), same chocolatey taste...$300 cheaper for half a year with $600 back in my pocket after a full year.

    So my question is to Carl...what good does it possibly do to offer "the healthiest meal of the day" if nobody can afford it???

    When my supply of freebies runs out, this is what I will be buying. Oh darn, I have to scoop 2 ingredients into my blender instead of just one. That is soooooooooooooooo inconvenient. :laugh:
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    Now, going to price...

    I found a website that sells Green Vibrance in a 2 month supply for $47. I found the protein I was looking at in a 3 month supply for $52. The CVS down the street from my house sells the vitamin for $10, and it's a little more than a 3 month supply. So, to get a 6 month supply of these alternatives which have the same ingredient list as Shakeology and still tastes like a chocolate shake all mixed up together (and have less sugar and less carbs to boot!!!) I would be spending approximately $270 total.

    Compare that to a 6 month supply of Shakeology...even with a coach's discount/free shipping/etc. I would be spending approximately $570.

    So...same nutrition (or better, if you want to argue against the prop blends that Carl refused to let me in on!!!), same chocolatey taste...$300 cheaper for half a year with $600 back in my pocket after a full year.

    So my question is to Carl...what good does it possibly do to offer "the healthiest meal of the day" if nobody can afford it???

    When my supply of freebies runs out, this is what I will be buying. Oh darn, I have to scoop 2 ingredients into my blender instead of just one. That is soooooooooooooooo inconvenient. :laugh:

    Fantastic, glad you've decided to save some money.

    I'm mostly against prop blends as well, but do have some pre workouts that use prop blends

    the cheapest decently put together multi for women is this one; $22.51 for 2 month supply. might be able to find it cheaper elsewhere though

    http://www.amazon.com/Now-Foods-Womens-Softgels-180-Count/dp/B003EXC32I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326682707&sr=8-1
  • dane11235813
    dane11235813 Posts: 684 Member
    Options
    Like I've told many people before, I have a good sized supply of *free* chocolate Shakeology. And I have been researching alternatives for a while now because, well, that free supply won't last forever.

    I've decided on making a shake with Green Vibrance + Double Rich Chocolate flavor ON 100% whey protein powder, and just take a Centrum adult chewable vitamin.

    I am a closet Beachbody coach...meaning I don't advertise or try to sell to people, I just became a coach to help and encourage others who choose to use Beachbody products as their form of exercise...but whatever. I said that to say that I have contacted Carl Daikeler himself reference those proprietary blends in Shakeology. He refuses to tell even the coaches what the actual dosage units are in the mixture. He told me that it's because they don't want their "superior" product to be knocked off and copy catted, basically. So in the end, we don't honestly know if those are good or bad prop blends at all. They may be just fine, but we don't know.

    With that said, I chose the above products because there are no prop blends and we can easily see what's in them and how much is in them. They have the same ingredients, often times much better quality than Shakeology, and often times in higher more effective doses than Shakeology.

    I personally chose that particular vitamin since I *need* either a chewable or a liquid...and there's nothing comparable to the best pills in chewable or liquid form. But, Centrums have high doses of a lot of vitamins and minerals, and I don't have to order that product online to get the best price.

    Now, going to price...

    I found a website that sells Green Vibrance in a 2 month supply for $47. I found the protein I was looking at in a 3 month supply for $52. The CVS down the street from my house sells the vitamin for $10, and it's a little more than a 3 month supply. So, to get a 6 month supply of these alternatives which have the same ingredient list as Shakeology and still tastes like a chocolate shake all mixed up together (and have less sugar and less carbs to boot!!!) I would be spending approximately $270 total.

    Compare that to a 6 month supply of Shakeology...even with a coach's discount/free shipping/etc. I would be spending approximately $570.

    So...same nutrition (or better, if you want to argue against the prop blends that Carl refused to let me in on!!!), same chocolatey taste...$300 cheaper for half a year with $600 back in my pocket after a full year.

    So my question is to Carl...what good does it possibly do to offer "the healthiest meal of the day" if nobody can afford it???

    When my supply of freebies runs out, this is what I will be buying. Oh darn, I have to scoop 2 ingredients into my blender instead of just one. That is soooooooooooooooo inconvenient. :laugh:

    have you tried chopping pills in half? or are you completely unable to take any vitamins in pill form?
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    OK, guys...let's beat a dead horse some more. I just wanted to let you know that I finally got an email response from Carl Daikeler concerning the prop blends of Shakeology and the suggestion that Green Vibrance may be more useful to people, especially concidering the high quality ingredients and lack of prop blends. I will put his entire email response to me in a quote box...and hopefully I am doing it right.

    This is what the CEO of Beachbody had to say:
    Hi Karen -

    There are a lot of good things in Green Vibrance... everything but the protein, flavors, and it lacks many of our unique superfoods.

    It is simply is not true that it equates to Shakeology. We have other rare superfoods etc. and not just a combination of different protein powders and some green blends.

    People can get all those things and certainly make it themselves if they want to and or add more of what they want and customize it. It all depends on what someone wants or needs indeed.

    We do not list all the individual blend because that is our intellectual property and how we protect our R&D. We're not coming from the place of hiding something but by honoring the time the team spent creating the synergetic capacity of our product and not simply handing that over to copiers. More does not necessarily mean better especially when you are talking about hundreds of phyto-chemical and biological interactions. It is most important that the ingredients work in union. Shakeology is the sum of the individual parts working in unison. Shakeology IS a whole new superfood entity now delivering benefits that cannot be measured by just talking about all of what is in it. That is like saying your individual cells are the value of your body when all of your cells working together in harmony is what equals your living body.

    We do list out the total of the blends. And since we don’t have any ‘filler’ or cheaper ingredients just to increase volume there is no ‘hiding’ necessary. Most people have no idea what the amount of an ingredient means anyway.

    Also, what Shakeology is is we have done the gathering and proper blending for the customer.

    A rare and real difference to 99.9% of the nutrition products out there is that virtually no other or a rare few can say where their ingredients are truly are coming from direct sources. We travel the world so we know by working directly with the countries of origin, the farmers, researchers, producers at the place where the superfood is grown and strive everyday to better our supply, growing conditions and better the life of the farmer. Most competitors cannot say they actually SEEN the fields, met the people and put their hands in the soil, watched how the food was processed and delivered in their product.

    The bottom line to it all is how someone feels when they take it. That's the proof. And regardless of the formulation, if it doesn't make them feel/perform better, then perhaps the formula is not right for them.

    I hope that helps add more color to what this product and our philosophy is about.

    Carl

    Love it or hate it, that was his answer to me...

    And in response to the cutting of the pills: I commonly do this for certain medicines, but have found that when you do this to vitamins they are very bitter because I can taste the middle part. A lot of times the bitter taste literally prevents it from going down the hatch...funniest example of this was when the doc gave some fenergan (or however it's spelled...it's that anti-nausea pill) and I could take it because the pill was too huge, and when I chopped it up, the insane bitterness made me involuntarily throw it up. But most vitamins I've tried have this same effect on me.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    OK, guys...let's beat a dead horse some more. I just wanted to let you know that I finally got an email response from Carl Daikeler concerning the prop blends of Shakeology and the suggestion that Green Vibrance may be more useful to people, especially concidering the high quality ingredients and lack of prop blends. I will put his entire email response to me in a quote box...and hopefully I am doing it right.

    This is what the CEO of Beachbody had to say:
    Hi Karen -

    There are a lot of good things in Green Vibrance... everything but the protein, flavors, and it lacks many of our unique superfoods.

    It is simply is not true that it equates to Shakeology. We have other rare superfoods etc. and not just a combination of different protein powders and some green blends.

    People can get all those things and certainly make it themselves if they want to and or add more of what they want and customize it. It all depends on what someone wants or needs indeed.

    We do not list all the individual blend because that is our intellectual property and how we protect our R&D. We're not coming from the place of hiding something but by honoring the time the team spent creating the synergetic capacity of our product and not simply handing that over to copiers. More does not necessarily mean better especially when you are talking about hundreds of phyto-chemical and biological interactions. It is most important that the ingredients work in union. Shakeology is the sum of the individual parts working in unison. Shakeology IS a whole new superfood entity now delivering benefits that cannot be measured by just talking about all of what is in it.[ That is like saying your individual cells are the value of your body when all of your cells working together in harmony is what equals your living body.

    We do list out the total of the blends. And since we don’t have any ‘filler’ or cheaper ingredients just to increase volume there is no ‘hiding’ necessary. Most people have no idea what the amount of an ingredient means anyway.

    Also, what Shakeology is is we have done the gathering and proper blending for the customer.

    A rare and real difference to 99.9% of the nutrition products out there is that virtually no other or a rare few can say where their ingredients are truly are coming from direct sources. We travel the world so we know by working directly with the countries of origin, the farmers, researchers, producers at the place where the superfood is grown and strive everyday to better our supply, growing conditions and better the life of the farmer. Most competitors cannot say they actually SEEN the fields, met the people and put their hands in the soil, watched how the food was processed and delivered in their product.

    The bottom line to it all is how someone feels when they take it. That's the proof. And regardless of the formulation, if it doesn't make them feel/perform better, then perhaps the formula is not right for them.

    I hope that helps add more color to what this product and our philosophy is about.

    Carl

    Your response should simply be, can you provide me any peer reviewed research showing that oral supplementation of any of the ingredients have been shown to work synergistically together in humans.

    And you could ask him about this, the latest blog posting on Yacon (http://www.shakeology.com/web/shakeology/the-blog). The studies that were linked to had subjects consume Yacon syrup (not powder like ShakeO) in dosages ranging from .14-.29g per/kg of bodyweight in one study to 20g a day in another study, yet the entire prop blend that contains Yacon is only 1.15g. So if a person weighed 18lbs and the entire blend was Yacon, maybe it might be of some benefit. OR it's much more likely that it's severely underdosed.

    Yacon syrup: beneficial effects on obesity and insulin resistance in humans. Clin Nutr. 2009 Apr;28(2):182-7. Epub 2009 Feb 28.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19254816
    "We used two doses of yacon syrup, 0.29 g and 0.14 g fructooligosaccharides/kg/day"

    Effect of Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) on Colonic Transit Time in Healthy Volunteers
    Digestion 2008;78:30-33
    http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=fulltext&file=000155214

    "in a dose of 20 g daily"
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,692 Member
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    Your response should simply be, can you provide me any peer reviewed research showing that oral supplementation of any of the ingredients have been shown to work synergistically together in humans.

    And you could ask him about this, the latest blog posting on Yacon (http://www.shakeology.com/web/shakeology/the-blog). The studies that were linked to had subjects consume Yacon syrup (not powder like ShakeO) in dosages ranging from .14-.29g per/kg of bodyweight in one study to 20g a day in another study, yet the entire prop blend that contains Yacon is only 1.15g. So if a person weighed 18lbs and the entire blend was Yacon, maybe it might be of some benefit. OR it's much more likely that it's severely underdosed.

    Yacon syrup: beneficial effects on obesity and insulin resistance in humans. Clin Nutr. 2009 Apr;28(2):182-7. Epub 2009 Feb 28.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19254816
    "We used two doses of yacon syrup, 0.29 g and 0.14 g fructooligosaccharides/kg/day"

    Effect of Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) on Colonic Transit Time in Healthy Volunteers
    Digestion 2008;78:30-33
    http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=fulltext&file=000155214

    "in a dose of 20 g daily"
    One thing I hate about supplement advertising is when a company touts "clinical study shows the active ingredient......" suggesting that just because the ingredient is in there product, that it's going to work the same way as the study. As Acg pointed out, dosage is important IF basing the claim on a study and if the dosage doesn't match, then the outcome is different. MuscleTech does this alot. If you read any of their ads, they always tout "the key ingredient" in their proprietary blend has been clinically proven, however they don't say that their actual product has had clinical studies done on them.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • dane11235813
    dane11235813 Posts: 684 Member
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    One thing I hate about supplement advertising is when a company touts "clinical study shows the active ingredient......" suggesting that just because the ingredient is in there product, that it's going to work the same way as the study. As Acg pointed out, dosage is important IF basing the claim on a study and if the dosage doesn't match, then the outcome is different. MuscleTech does this alot. If you read any of their ads, they always tout "the key ingredient" in their proprietary blend has been clinically proven, however they don't say that their actual product has had clinical studies done on them.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Muscletech has made a disgusting amount of money doing this. i can't stand how they prey on the naive people out there.