A friend (although not someone I would consider a close friend) recently sent me a FB message asking if I'd be interested in joining her and a few other ladies in keeping each other accountable with excercise, eating well, etc. I've recently had a baby and am looking up tone up a bit (something I'd previously mentioned to her), so naive me said sure, count me in.
She then sends me a link for the $140 beach body/shakeology kit and says to let me know once I've purchased it. So annoying! She really is a nice person but this is frustrating. I'm not interested in this and now I'm in an awkward situation. I don't want to be a huge jerk but I need to back out. How would you go about this?
Okay, full disclosure: I'm a beachbody discount coach. (The "discount" means, "I'm only a coach to get a 25% discount on the products. I don't sell anything to anybody.") I fell for one of those $140 "challenge packs" almost 2 years ago. (21 day fix). Turns out that plan was glorious, GLORIOUS!! I lost almost all of my baby weight (26 pounds) that year (2014). Then plateaued. Then lost the last 10 pounds late last year.
I really really like the workouts. I have a few now (including P90X, that I got 4 or 5 years ago because my husband was traveling so much and I couldn't get to the gym). I also like shakeology, but had honestly planned on canceling after the first month (and didn't).
That said ...
you really don't have to say anything. I've had a few people ask me what I did to lose the weight. I tell them. I like the 21 day fix so much that I bought the base kit (no shakeology) as a gift for 2 people. One, my sister, who wants to lose weight and is having a hard time after 50. One, my babysitter, who really just wants to tone up, she's plenty trim.
If your friend pushes you on it, just say "thanks, but I'm really not interested in that right now".
There are a lot of beachbody coaches in my town - at least, I know it now because I know what to look for. I see posts on the local swap pages a lot.
Some of them are great - they actually hold free workouts every day, or several times a day - these are people who have access to gyms. I think it's probably a pretty good deal to work with them. I personally like working with a group.
Some don't have anything like that, but they do encourage you and work with you one on one. Kind of like how Weight Watchers has meetings, that personal connection can really help.
A lot of times they will have "free challenges" where they will have a week of clean eating, or a week of fun workouts posted, or whatever.
But, there's often a seedy underbelly too. Maybe not too seedy, but annoying? For example, 21 day fix. I've seen people ask about that on the local swap page (unsolicited people just asking about it), and they will ask "can I do it without the Shakeology?"
I generally stay out of it, but the answer, of course, is "yes". You can buy the base kit without the shakes (which are not necessary), for a lot less money. But they don't necessarily TELL you that because - if you sign up with them as your coach, and buy the shakeology, they get a 25% commission every time you buy it. There's not a lot of money in just selling 5 people a base kit once or twice a year.
So I know a few people in internet land who do this as a living. I haven't really delved into how it works honestly (because I don't care), but it seems like in order to make regular income, you have to get "points", and you get points by selling the challenge packs, and that requires NEW customers. Seems like eventually you'd exhaust your circle of friends/ acquaintances, and everyone else's too.
Fine if you get 10 people to buy shakeology from you every month, that's what, $350 a month? That's not going to make you the bucks. But if you build a team below you, you get more money. I don't really know, but personally, it seems like an awful lot of work. (That said, I know a few people who are coaches who are fabulous at it - great motivators, they have websites with delicious recipes and meal plans, they have good workout challenges. But most of this you can get for free.)
(However I do love the workouts, so maybe you can check out craigslist or just buy them. I've also been pinning some good you tube videos. One of the internet coaches held a December challenge group. I didn't play along because we were sick, but she linked some great videos.)
Sorry that was super long. I would just say that you aren't interested.