Is Optavia a Scam? Or Just Another Expensive MLM Diet?

Want to know more about Optavia? Is Optavia a scam? Or are their diet-plans useful for losing weight and improving your overall health? Continue reading this review to discover the truth about Optavia. 

Quick disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Optavia (or any MLM company for that matter) so don't worry. This is an unbiased, opinion-based review. 

Wanna check out our Optavia Video Review? Awesome, just press play on the video below...

Optavia Essentials, formerly known as Take Shape for Life, is a subsidiary company of Medifast Inc., a weight loss company based in Baltimore, Maryland which is founded on 1980 by a medical doctor William Vitale.

First things first, Optavia is a MLM company in the health and wellness industry. Instead of offering the usual line of supplements, Optavia's products are life-style transformation plans. 

These plans include exercise and diet recommendations tailored to your individual needs. Naturally, the plans are built around using Optavia supplements, but the plans also recommend Lean and Green meals. These meals are supposed to be cooked on your own, with no Optavia supplements (we'll talk more about their plans later on). 

Optavia "Distributors" are called "Coaches", and you can choose to become one, if you want to earn money by promoting the company and opportunity. We'll talk about the compensation plan in the next section. 

Optavia's compensation plan is quite similar to most MLM companies, not much is different besides a few terms. Nevertheless, we'll run through it real quick to give you an idea of what to expect. 

First, let's start with the requirements to join Optavia. 

(Unlike the previous MLM we reviewed, Acti-Labs, Optavia's compensation plan is - once again - unnecessarily complicated) 

Optavia's Requirements:

To participate in the compensation plan you need to...

• Purchase a OPTAVIA Business Kit - $199
• Pay the Admission Fee - $99/annual
• $199 to become Certified (not required, but unlocks more bonuses)
• Minimum Start Up Cost: $298
  

Since Optavia has over 3 pages of "Terms to Learn" we'll skip that section, but you can read more about the 20-page compensation plan here if you want. 

Now: 

Four Ways to Earn Money with Optavia: 

Optavia's compensation plan uses the three standard methods of paying distributors: 

• Client Support Income (Personal Sales) 
• Team Building (The MLM Scheme)
• Leadership Development
• Cash Bonuses

At the initial stages, the standard way to earn is through commissions on direct sells. Coaches earn approximately 15% commissions on all personal sales, with weekly pay-outs. What this means is you earn 15% on Personal Volume the people directly under you generate (also called your Front Line Volume).

If you don't want to recruit new people, then you can choose to only promote the products and plans for a commission. 

Team Building Bonuses

Pretty much every MLM company has these bonuses, so once you're familiar with one, then you're familiar with all of them. Nevertheless, let's brush over Optavia's team bonnus structure. 

These bonuses allow you to earn commissions from people under you, but your rank must be at least one notch higher than theirs. On the other hand, this opportunity is locked unless you become a Senior Coach, and we'll talk about the rank requirements in a second. 

As you move up in ranks, another level of commissions is unlocked. For example, when you're a Manager, then you can earn 6% commissions from your coaches, and 2% from Senior Coaches, and so forth.

The goal is to reach executive director, where you can earn commissions on literally everyone under you. I doubt many people, besides the creators, hold this position. 

There are also other bonuses, such as Fully Integrated Business Coach Consistency Bonus. That's a mouthful. You can earn this bonus when you earn 6,000 front-line volume, five senior coach teams, and 15,000 group volume. If you can do that within three months, a $1,000 cash bonus is waiting for you.

The compensation plan includes a lot of this little bonuses here and there to reward you for working hard. 

Here are a few other bonuses:

• National Elite Leadership Bonus
• Global Elite Leadership Bonus
• Presidential Elite Leadership Bonus
• Generation Bonuses
• Team Growth Bonus

And so on. The details aren't that important, the short version is you need to keep working and moving up in the ranks, and you're bound to run into some bonuses. 

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Breaking Down Optavia's Income Disclosure:

Optavia does have an income disclosure statement. However, the income is listed in ranges, making it difficult to figure out exactly how much income the coaches are earning with the compensation plan. Nevertheless, there are some interesting facts found in the statement we should talk about. 

• In 2017, the company had 15,000 consultants (coaches).
• 29.79% of coaches earned zero dollars. No earnings. 

Income ranges and coach distribution: 

• $0.01 - 100 - 11.23%
• $100 - 250 - 10.32%
• $250 - 500 - 7.96%
• $500- 1,000 - 10.56%
• $1,000 - 2,500 -  12.23%
• $2,500 - 5,000 - 6.55%
• (From here percentages drop drastically) 

Looking at this chart, chances are you think that doesn't look too bad. Twelve percent, the largest group of coaches, are earning between $1,000 and 2,500 dollars - it doesn't look bad. 

Here's the kicker:

Those are annual earnings, not monthly income. It's not profit, either. Suddenly that 12 percent group doesn't look that impressive anymore. Turns out, they're earning between $83 - 208 a month. Not much at all. 

Another interesting factoid is most of the members, (29.79%) earn nothing from the opportunity, but they still have to pay the minimum required fees. We're also not accounting for what these people spend inside the company, either.

Chances are they dropped a lot of cash into products and promotional materials, and got nothing in return. Not very fun!  

So what is it that you'll be promoting as a coach, besides the MLM opportunity? If you don't wish to harass your friends, maybe you'll choose to only promote the products for the sales commissions.

If that's the case, here is a brief overview of the Optavia products, or Optavia Fuelings as they like to call them. 

The majority of Optavia products are low-calorie meal replacements, which you're supposed to consume every few hours.

​Essentially, they're energy and health-bars, similar to the ones you can find in any health store. But it's not only that. 

They sell products in the following categories: 

• Drinks
• Kits
• Meal Replacements
• Meals
• Shakes and Smoothies
• Soups
• And various snacks. 

The bars are by far the most popular category, with over 12 variations. In comparison, the other categories only have a few products, the drink category only has two drinks. 

From the looks of it, the products themselves aren't bad. Most people like them, but complain their a bit pricey for what you get. Overall, they look like regular health supplements.

Nevertheless, this is what you'll be promoting as an Optavia coach. 

Now, is Optavia a Scam? 

Being recognized as one of the trusted companies in America by Forbes and supported by science, Optavia is not a scam. 

​The MLM strcuture rarely works, and resembles a pyramid scheme, but it wouldn't be fair to call it an outright scam. 

Nevertheless, it's not something we recommend. 

Here's what we liked about Optavia: 

The company was founded in 2002 but it's founder was involved in other health companies before that. Medifast, the parent company, was founded in 1980 making it one of the oldest MLM companies out there. 

But not necessarily  for the reason you think. See the weight loss plans are basically built on the concept of calories in and calories out. You can accomplish this with their products or with good old fashion self-control - and that's usually cheaper too. Plenty of people say they have lost weight with Optavia. 

The company is somewhat transparent with their earnings, so you can have an idea of how much coaches earn inside. Check out this breakdown of the income disclosure statement before you continue. 

It is has it's problems, too. 

There's more to becoming a health coach than paying an admission fee. Most of the people who promote Optavia aren't actual health coaches. They don't really know what's best, and most don't have much experience. 

We're not just talking about the admission fees and kits here, the products themselves are quite expensive. There are a lot of other fees to factor into the plan too, most people lose money with the opportunity.

On average, people spend $350 a month on the company, and most people make no earnings. You also have to pay for shipping too. 

Naturally, they're trying to make as many sales as possible, but when you design diet plans that revolve around your products, somethings not right. With their plans you need to consume boxes of energy bars a day.

Do you really need that, though? I imagine you could cut out their products entirely and replace them with something healthier. 

Numerous reviews online mention Optavia's poor customer support. It seems like it takes a long time to get someone to  fix small issues. Looks like the internal team needs some work, as calls are often left un-answered, and finding someone who has the authority to make a decision is a hassle. 

MLM companies rarely work, and Optavia is no different. Granted, there are likely some people making money with it, but that doesn't mean it's something we recommend. 

An alternative would be something that doesn't charge you hundreds of dollars and have an ridiculously complex compensation plan. If you're looking for an opportunity that's incredibly easy to start, check out our recommended program below. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this Optavia review. Hopefully now you know that even though Optavia is not a scam, it's not something we recommend. Leave a comment if you have any questions.