Need to Lose Weight? Try someplace other than L.A.Weight Loss!
Written: Aug 17 '05
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Product Rating:
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| Helpfulness of Suport |
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Pros: None
Cons: False advertising of cost
The Bottom Line: Avoid, Avoid, Avoid!!!!
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| 2buzy's Full Review: L. A. Weight Loss |
Most people need to lose weight at one time or the other and there are a million of diet choices out there to choose from. My suggestion is you AVOID L. A. Weight Loss!
FIRST VISIT
My family eats healthy, mainly because that is all we have available at the house. They also get a lot of exercise, living on the beach, being on sport teams and having siblings to run around with. BUT, when my daughter went to college she suddenly lost all that and gained 12 pounds. She was really upset over it but other than leaving school and moving home she couldn't see how she was going to get it off. She had seen the L.A. Weight Loss ads on TV and felt it work for her.
I went with her to the first visit and it did SOUND like a good fit for her - one on one counseling, a variety of foods, choices from restaurants for dinning out, the fact they add on the weeks you miss for vacations -- all for $5 a week! It was usually $7 a week but they were running a special for the month.
BUT, this is VERY misleading. First, off they take the amount of weight and double that 12x2 = 24 week then they add in 6 weeks of stabilization and then a full year of maintenance! So, instead of paying for the weight loss at $5 a week ($120) the cost goes up another $290 for the extra 58 weeks for a total of $410. They then tell you the great news is that once you keep the weight off for that maintenance year, you get 1/2 of you money off AND if you sign up right then, you get 10% off, a scale, vitamins and a sample box of their protein bars. Also, they will start a personal program just for you which will be ready when you show up for your first appointment, in two days. what will you do for those two days, drink their juice and eat all of the green vegetables and proteins you can with it. In fact they even call you up and tell you to eat nonstop!!
I read all of the info and notice it mentions their L.A. Lites -- so called nutritional bars, shakes, soups and drinks. It states two things, one these will HELP guarantee your weight loss and that they are OPTIONAL. I ask about them, and am told all these great things about how they do wonderful things ranging from controlling hunger, eliminating temptations, protect lean muscle mass and stay fuller longer. But, when I ask for the ingredient list, I am told they "misplaced" theirs but they'd get it for us on the next visit.
My daughter is eager to join and she liked the counselor so we go ahead and sign up -- you have to pay upfront and while she is running the credit card, I notice there is a $89 additional charge and ask about it when she returns. "Oh, that is for the juice, bars and vitamins we give you to get started" Meanwhile they ask some standard medical questions -- operations, medications etc. and the name and phone of your doctor. I ask her if these are the same ones they told us we would get for joining -- they were. She "thought" she mentioned it was an extra charge because many don't "qualify" for the "special" juice quick start.
We leave with all of the items in a little L.A. bag after setting up an appointment in 3 days to get her personal plan.
MENU PLAN
My daughter had drank the juice and ate a ton of green vegetables and protein. She lost a grand total of 1.5 pounds. She was given her so called personal plan which is a colored booklet with the listing of what she should eat and a diary to write down what she ate at each meal and 2 snacks. They seem to have a few color choices based on the amount of weight you want to lose.
Her plan has the following --
2 proteins (mostly 4 oz)
3 vegetables (mostly 1/2 c. cooked, 1 c. raw)
3 fruits (1 sm. orange, 1/2 sm. banana)
2 starches (1/2 c. corn, 1 slice bread)
1 dairy (8 oz. skim milk, 8 oz non fat yogurt)
1 fat (1 tsp butter, 1Tab. low fat mayo)
2 L.A. Lites
1 mortin lite salt
8 glasses of water (8 oz each)
Unlimited decaf coffee or 2 c. regular
The also allow 1 L.A. Snacks
They also list 7 different vitamin and supplement tablets -- all of their brand.
She was to follow the plan, writing down everything she ate and come in 3 times a week. Once she finished her weeks she would come in 2 times a week for the stabilizing section and then 1 time a week for the maintenance period.
L.A. LITES
I look at the menu book and see that they have 2 L.A. Lites and 1 L.A. Snack consumed everyday. I ask about this and am given a SALES PITCH on getting them TODAY for a DISCOUNT -- only offered today of course! I explain that I'm not going to buy something my child hasn't tried nor read what's in them. She agrees to give us one week to "fall in love with the taste" and lets me copy the product info from a sheet they have.
Well to shorten this review I will fast forward and tell you 1. she did NOT like all of the bars and 2. she GAINED weight, 4 pounds. They told her it was "normal" and that she could even add sugar free candy! they PUSHED their L.A. Lites and told us we could buy them for JUST $29 per week - this week only!! This would be an EXTRA $2378!!! but what a bargain because if I didn't buy them right then they would cost MORE!
I told them she was going to see our doctor with all of the information BEFORE we bought anything. she then started to push the FB500 and a few other supplements that would ASSURE her to lose weight! I asked for those ingredients and she only had one but I asked at the desk and got another.
We then gave the information to my sister and brother (both doctors) as well as dropped them off at our doctors office for him to review. Now here's the great part -- ALL OF THEM SAID TO STOP EATING THE BARS AND THAT THERE WERE SOME QUESTIONABLE PRODUCTS IN THE SUPPLEMENTS They said she would GAIN weight by consuming the high amounts of sugars in the bars! They also said she should take a regular Calcium pill (theirs contain sugar)and to go back to her regular multi vitamin and not take the TWO a day vitamins they sell. Apparently, they had too much of some things and not enough of others and she would get the PROPER balance from a regular vitamin with minerals instead.
THE SALES PITCH
Once we got the information on the L.A. Lites we told them we didn't want to get them. That was when we were informed that if my daughter didn't eat them (2 a day) we wouldn't be able to get our 1/2 back at the end of her maintenance period. She gave her a box of the juice mixes to try.
My daughter went in by herself for the next few weeks and on EVERY visit (3 times a week) they would try and sell her the L.A. Lites and some of the supplements. She would explain she wasn't going to take them, that they are written up as optional and that she wanted a plan without them THEY SAID THEY DIDN'T HAVE A PLAN WITHOUT THE L.A. Lites! I figured I'd go in but she wanted to handle it herself and one visit when she had the girl she liked (they rotate) she told her she wasn't going to eat them and since they advertise it as optional, they need to provide her with a plan to follow WITHOUT the L.A. Lites.
The girl gives her a different color plan and tells her to follow it EXCEPT to cut out the L.A. Lites. The difference? ONE MORE VEGETABLE! So, she still has only two proteins per day even though they took out 2 bars daily that state they are PROTEIN bars and replace them with one vegetable! Yea, that makes sense!
One moment they are saying, "Don't worry about the sugars, worry about the calories" and then the next time it is "Don't worry about the calories, worry about the sugars!" I think it is VERY clear that the representatives are there to sell their products and are NOT educated enough on the program and diet to be giving out information!
~~ ** ~~ ** ~~ 2BUZY'S FINAL THOUGHTS ~~ ** ~~ ** ~~
My daughter is still going in but only 2 times a week instead of 3 as she really doesn't have time for the 3rd weekly visit. We know we won't be getting any money back and have accepted that.
She is losing the weight but she is sure it is mostly because she has stopped eating after 7:30pm -- her biggest weakness. They STILL bring up the bars about every other visit but since she is losing the 2 pounds per week, they aren't pushing it.
My daughter figured out it was the late night eating with friends that was probably how she put the weight on in the first place. Granted, it was writing it down in the L.A. WeightLoss food diary that brought it to her attention but she did notice and stop it on her own. Nobody ever looked at her dairy!
I have a MAJOR problem with the fact that L.A. WeightLoss does NOT want people to exercise until they have lost all of their weight! when asked about that we were told two things - 1. Muscle weighs more than fat so they might not lose the pounds and 2. there is no need to exercise with the diet until you need to firm up AFTER losing the weight! MAJOR RED FLAG here! My daughter is back in the gym :-)
I also worry about the advertising -- saying it is $7 a week when they fail to add in the $29 more per week for the L.A. lites they expect you to buy. After a major lawsuit, they now have it written where it is optional BUT they don't have a single plan for their customers that don't want to use them.
Also, they also have all these photos of people with their weights listed and most of them saying things like, "I lost 22 pounds in 11 weeks" or, "I lost 48 pounds in 24 weeks" which equals 2 pounds per week, exactly what they advertise BUT all of them also say, **Not typical results If they aren't typical WHY is that what they say you'll lose??
If you don't lose your weight by the time your weeks are over, you have to pay EXTRA for the additional weeks it takes to lose them. SO, if they are telling you that you will lose 2 pounds per week on the plan shouldn't the examples of people doing just that be typical??
As far as my daughter goes, she has learned where she was eating more and some about portion size. She has also learned that having someone cook for you, makes it A LOT easier to eat healthier than grabbing food on the run! Could she have learned this without joining, of course but it was because of her joining that she did.
I am giving the L.A. Weight Loss one star because I feel like they are not a good choice. They seem way TOO interested in selling their products and way TOO LITTLE concerned about their clients who don't wish to buy into it all. I also don't like the fact that the so called counselors are not trained in the area (or gone through the program themselves)and that the information they give varies from day to day.
Recommended:
No
Approximate Monthly Cost (US$) 5 per week
Food Variety Restrictions A somewhat varied menu
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Epinions.com ID:
2buzy
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