Why I Quit Being a Beachbody Coach

About 5 years ago, I was not loving my post-partum “mom bod” but didn’t know how to get back into a healthy eating and workout routine without going to a gym. As a mom of youngins, I didn’t have time to drive to a gym, workout, and drive home. Enter Beachbody.

Beachbody promises results with workouts you can do from home, eating plans, and a group of people who will support you and hold you accountable along the way.

I started with Autumn Calabrese’s 21-Day Fix program. Back then, you bought the DVDs for each program. In 21-Day Fix, Autumn says something like, “Give me 21 days and I’ll give you the body you’ve always wanted.” While this is obviously a unrealistic, I was hopeful that if I put in the work, I’d see results.

I followed the 21-Day Fix workout plan and food containers. I went through the program about 5 times before buying my next set of DVDs. But I loved the camaraderie, the changes I felt in my body, and the hope that Beachbody gave me.

What I wish I knew before signing up as a Beachbody coach:

• Your coach discount on Beachbody products basically just pays for shipping because shipping is NEVER free.
• You pay a monthly ~$16 fee for the back-end coach online “office.” If you’re military, it’s free.
• There are already very well-established coaches, making six or seven figures a year. This is not typical for most coaches.
• Your advancement in Beachbody is based on recruiting more coaches and them recruiting more. Yes, creating a pyramid. No matter how many participants you get, if they aren’t coaches who also get coaches, you won’t grow in your “rank.”
• If you don’t sell enough each month, you don’t get the monthly prizes, the higher status, or the higher pay rate.
• Their online support is all out of the country. I started using only live chat so I knew what they were saying and then got a transcript so I had proof when they messed up my order or monthly points.

I was never in it for the money. I honestly just wanted to share these amazing workout programs and knowledge, but there was pressure to do more and sell to grow rank and earn more money.

There were always success stories of coaches with full-time jobs that run their business in just 2 extra hours a day. Coaches who were thousands of dollars in debt when joining and now are debt free. Moms who were coaches only while their babies slept. Coaches who quit their full-time job or their partner retired because they made enough money for two people.

But these are a small percentage of coaches. When you hear success stories daily, it’s easy to forget this.

It didn’t all involve money. Other inspiring stories of body transformations or coaches who’ve “found their tribe” and have all of these friends from across the country who they’ve met through Beachbody.

Health. Great body. Extra income doing what you’re already doing. Helping others get healthy. Have fun and make lifelong friends.

It all sounds great, doesn’t it?

Honestly, at the beginning, I really loved being a Beachbody coach.

Why I loved Beachbody:

• I reconnected with old friends and family, while meeting new friends — all likeminded people, who want to get healthy.
• The Beachbody on Demand (BODi) programs are awesome and there are so many!
• I felt more in control of my eating. Knowledge is power.
• I was able to get in good workouts from home.
• Beachbody encourages coaches to do personal development daily. I learned so much and my mindset started to change.
• I learned new tools like canva, Facebook ads, Hootsuite, and more. I had my own Facebook page!
• I fell in love with PiYo and even got certified to be a PiYo instructor (if I ever wanted to).
• I could do everything from home on my own timelines.

Then one day, I realized I wasn’t actually coaching.

I’m cheering people on? Yes. Am I helping them choose the best BODi workout for them? Yes. Am I instructing them or actually “coaching” in any way? Absolutely not.

A friend came to me with a real health issue, and I had no clue what to do. I’m not a doctor or certified as a health instructor. I felt awful and like a liar.

Then, talking about feeling like a liar…

I was on a call where someone talked about how you are your brand. Your photos, your story and your journey are why people join your groups. However, by that time, my health was significantly on the back burner. I had gained weight, was getting little sleep, and had no life outside of work, my kids and Beachbody. I felt awful and looked awful; my body even was breaking out into hives due to significant stress and little rest.

How was I supposed to tell others I was healthy and happy when I was frazzled, tired, sick and stressed to the max? I didn’t want to be fake.

I started to realize that while some people could do it all, I could not.

Reasons that Beachbody coaching was no longer for me

In the end, these were the reasons that Beachbody coaching wasn’t for me:

• The joy of coaching was overshadowed by the sales.
• I would reach out to people to say “hi” and felt them immediately getting nervous I was going to be an icky sales pitch.
• I learned the term “MLM” and the negativity that went along with it.
• I was tired of taking extra time to do anything because I had to stop and take photos for social media first.
• I was never “present” anymore; I was always on my phone.
• My lack of sleep caught up with me. I was staying up until 1 and 2 a.m. to respond to people, “like” posts, and schedule my posts for the next day. I got maybe 4-5 hours of sleep.
• I was on social media all the time. It was no longer fun for me, but work.
• I felt the pressure to share my life on social media daily to stay in front of people. But, I didn’t want to post about my kids and they’re a huge part of my life.
• I drank Shakeology daily for months and then my body started rejecting it and had to stop. How can I tell people to drink it when I couldn’t?
• I had zero downtime. I was always thinking of my next post, replying, “liking,” etc.
• I had to figure it all out myself. Nobody was spoon-feeding me information, posts, “how-tos,” etc. I understand why but it’s a big learning curve that I didn’t have time for.
• Most of all, I realized I was no longer focused on my health journey.

I had a third kid and stopped actively coaching although participated in the groups. Eventually, my annual Beachbody income became lower than what I was spending on Beachbody on Demand (BODi) plus the coach online office fee.

At that point, I finally quit.

It took me years to actually quit because I felt like people were counting on me. But ultimately, I needed to focus on my health, not theirs.

As you can see in my blogs, I still do BODi workouts and am a huge fan of Autumn Calabrese’s workouts. PiYo is still my go-to active rest day program. And I am forever grateful for what I’ve learned through portion fix and the personal development.

But now, I’m just a BODi user, and I’m OK with that.

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Are you a coach or former Beachbody coach? I’d love to hear if any of the above spoke to you or about your experience. Or are you thinking about becoming a coach and have questions? Please, comment below!