I started OPTAvia 5.3.22

I'm 45 and started in March. I've lost 20 pounds so far!

I have heard nothing but bad things about this company https://www.bbb.org/us/md/baltimore/profile/health-and-wellness/optavia-llc-0011-90288636/customer-reviews. They are a rebrand of medifast who were sued for millions of dollars for running a pyramid scheme, and appear to continue to run their company the same way. The coaches are the distribution hubs for the multi level marketing scheme. This generally means that some people at the top make money, most don’t. As for losing weight, while reviews by journalists at good housekeeping, forbes and other neutral sites say it is indeed possible to lose weight on the program if you follow it strictly since it was supposedly designed to help people preparing for bariatric surgery lose the weight they needed to undergo that so you are eating very restricted calorie amounts (supposedly 800-1000 cal daily) and highly processed food for most “fuelings” , it is not a particularly healthy way to lose weight for most people, and many people regain it. It is also said to be expensive and hard to stick with the plan. And of course since it is a pyramid scheme, eventually people will take a big financial hit.

Reddit and other sites that are shall we say “less objective” have somewhat harsher reviews to put it mildly. I definitely have no skin in this game and no interest one way or the other, but as someone who has just successfully lost a good deal of weight (over 50 lbs, more by now) by just eating normal food and watching calories I am annoyed by companies that sell what appear to be unsustainable methods for weight loss to people, for loads of money, get sued, change their name and then do it all over again.

From the comments above it sounds like the food is not something anyone intends to eat for the rest of your lives so what is the plan for keeping the weight off once you have finished with this? There are some great people on here who have lost and kept weight off for many years who very generously and knowledgeably share their advice and inspiration for free on these various threads (not referring to myself, I am a relative newbie) who offer useful and actionable info about nutrition, workouts and general life advice along the way. I know you probably don’t want this advice, but you might be able to save your money and eat real food, record your calories according to the plans here and participate in some of these discussions and listen to their advice - all for free — and you might do even better.

Either way I wish you good health and good luck!