Is Beachbody's Rebrand Really About Honoring All Shapes and Sizes? Part 1

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I’ve been contacted by a number of people wanting to know if I think that Beachbody’s rebrand to “BODi” really represents a commitment to weight-neutral fitness. I was hopeful at the start but, unfortunately that does not seem to be the case. It seems like they are, at best, paradigm-straddling and, more likely, co-opting the ideas of focusing on health and not size, but maintaining a platform of weight stigma and weight loss that will allow them to keep the diet culture dollars rolling in.

Before we get started here are some things to remember.

First, we’re going to be talking about health so it’s helpful to remember that health is an amorphous, individualized concept and is not an obligation, a barometer of worthiness, or entirely within our control.

Second, while I can understand how people think that Beachbody is moving to a weight-neutral perspective, they seem to take great pains NOT to say that. They talk about “health esteem,” and “ditch the diet” but they very specifically don’t take a truly weight-neutral or fat-affirming approach.

I’m not going to link to their stuff, if they get traffic it’s not going to be from me.

Let’s take a look:

First, while they pay lip service to the claim that having a “beach body” is exactly what they are trying to get away from, their website is still beachbody.com (bodi.com redirects there.)

The first message is “Yes, you could fail. So what? Success starts with ditching the perfection mindset. See that? You’re already making progress. Smiley Face Emoji Now, let’s take the next step.”

This is what we’ll see throughout – vague references to letting go of “perfection” but referring to “progress” or “journey” in vague ways.

I think that their “Nutrition” page gives the clearest example. Here is a screenshot of the 2B program

There’s a picture of a thin woman with long hair behind a table with various desserts, a pizza, a hamburger and other foods. The text says “2B Mindset can help you achieve a healthy relationship with food and make reaching your goals a positive experience. Provides you with proven guidelines to follow. Designed for those who like to eat a lot of food. Fully savor treats and wine with a positive mindset”

This certainly could be diet talk: “reaching your goals” (what goals do they mean?) and “proven guidelines” (proven to do what, exactly?)

Dig a little deeper into their “on demand” website and you find this:

Picture of a woman in a grocery story overlaid with the text: 2B Mindset The way to eat a lot of food and still lose weight! Learn Llana’s flexible approach to weight loss where you can reach your goals without counting calories or giving up wine, carbs, or treats”

No doubt there about the diet culture.

Back to the BeachBody.com page, farther down, we meet the program’s creator:

Picture of a thin woman with text: Meet Llana Llana Muhlstein holds a Master of Science degree in applied nutrition from Northeastern University and is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist – the highest standard in the field of nutrition. She is also a mother of 3. She’s the creator of 2B Pregnant and 2B Mindset eating plan and author of the bestselling book You Can Drop It! She was an ob*se* child who lost over 100 pounds using the principles that became 2B Mindset.

This is proof of two things. First, this is absolutely rooted in weight loss and diet culture and second, even those who have reached the highest standard in the field of nutrition are still peddling weight loss methods that have been failing almost everyone for a century. In case you didn’t guess “You Can Drop It!” is a weight loss book with such gems as “Water First, Veggies Most, Use the Scale, and Track Your Progress” and Llana’s testimonial: “I still watch my weight. Every. Single. Day.” then, in direct contrast, “You’re going to let go of this identity of someone who struggles with their weight.” Nothing in her program hasn’t been done before and she offers no actual research showing short-term or long-term significant weight loss.

Similarly, Beachbody doesn’t offer any evidence of the weight loss efficacy (short or long-term) of their program, but they do offer this disclaimer:

“Results vary depending on starting point and effort. Exercise and proper diet are necessary to achieve and maintain weight loss and muscle definition. The testimonials featured may have used more than one Beachbody product or extended the program to achieve their maximum results.”

In fact there is not a single study, of Beachbody or any other weight loss method that shows that more than a tiny fraction of people can achieve and maintain weight loss.

Then there’s this:

A picture of a thin woman cooking food for the Mindset MENU – “Flavorful meals for lasting results”

What kind of results, I wonder?

A thin man and thin woman with food in a blender. FIXATE A Fix-approved cooking show. Perfect portions. Delicious recipes. Healthy weight loss.

There’s no mistaking the diet culture there.

There are also tons of promotions for “Shakeology” which reminds me that Beachbody is an MLM, so people can pay $39.95 and become a “Team Beachbody Coach.” Then they can earn commission from selling Beachbody Products (like Shakeology) or their workout programs and/or create a “team” and get some of their earnings.

Their exercise programs are also far from being diet culture free:

Not a lot of body diversity here and programs with names like Muscle Burns Fat, Brazil Butt Lift, 21 Day Fix, and Morning Meltdown are definitely giving me diet culture vibes.

If you look at the description you see that they are still deeply ingrained in weight loss culture:

A thin woman holding a dumbell behind her. Program title is Barre Blend Description is “Barre, Slim & Sculpt, Equipment Optional, Defy your limits. Define your body.”

Picture of a thin woman frozen in a running position. Text “Piyo - Slim and Sculpt. Equipment Optional, The perfect combination of Pilates, yoga, and fat-burning cardio.”

Picture of a thin woman lifting two dumbbells. Text: Job1: Slim and Sculpt, Cardio, Cycling, Prioritize yourself with these 20 minute workouts.”

Picture of a thin woman standing with her hand on her hip. Text: 4 Weeks for Every Body Slim & Sculpt, Strength, Low Impact. No-impact 30-min per day, 4 days per week with amazing results for every body.”

As I was working on this piece I received a PR email (having a Substack means getting a ton of unsolicited PR emails) about Beachbody’s rebranding.  

It touted their new “For Beginner’s Only” program which is taught by an instructor who appears to be the only even remotely “plus-size trainer” for the company. She identifies as “curvy” and has information on her website about how to  “drop belly fat” (complete with video instructions for taking a waist measurement) and a blog post about whether exercise or diet is more important for weight loss (adhering to the old calories in/calories out myth) so, again, the people who are creating the programs are still coming from a place of promoting weight loss and promoting thin bodies as better than fat bodies.

The press release also included:

Moving away from the Beachbody name, the Company is committed to honoring individuals of any size, shape, or health situation with a platform and app that meets people where they are and offers personalized, effective solutions that fit with each individual’s life and lifestyle.

You would be forgiven if you thought that meant that they are coming from a fat-affirming (or, at least, weight-neutral) place. Except it also said:

But after observing the uptick in mental health challenges since the pandemic and seeing that 74% of Americans remain overw*ight or ob*se today, despite the efforts of the fitness industry, BODi had to make a change.

If you want to “honor individuals of every size and shape” you don’t talk about fat people existing as a bad thing, suggest that the existence of fat people is an affront to the “efforts of the fitness industry” (totally erasing fat people and others in the fitness industry who aren’t coming from a place of anti-fatness,) or lament the fact that the fitness industry hasn’t been as successful at fat eugenics as the folks over at Beachbody would have hoped.

Then we get this:

Before they engage, they need to know how they’re going to overcome the obstacles which have derailed them in the past. That’s the power of a Health Esteem routine. It’s built for real life, with recovery tools so people never feel like they failed, and it’s how a great life can co-exist with the pursuit of health and fitness goals. Nobody else was enabling that. Now we are.”

Beachbody claiming that “Nobody else was enabling that. Now we are” is ludicrous. Actual weight-neutral, body-positive, and fat-positive instructors and facilities have been doing this since at least the 1960’s, long before Beachbody existed. Beachbody’s decision to co-opt the language of that work (while still selling doomed-to-fail weight loss) without credit is bad enough, but to then erase the existence of the people whose work they are co-opting is, honestly, disgusting.

To me this seems very similar to Weight Watchers “rebrand” to WW, claiming to be about health, co-opting anti-weight-stigma language while still selling weight loss. It turns out that Weight Watcher’s rebrand was temporary and they went right back to their old tricks, time will tell if Beachbody is the same.

In Part 2 I’ll report back from the free trial I signed up for to see if this is really a rebuild of their brand or just a fresh coat of paint on a dilapidated, crumbling building.

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More research and resources:
https://haeshealthsheets.com/resources/

*Note on language: I use “fat” as a neutral descriptor as used by the fat activist community, I use “ob*se” and “overw*ight” to acknowledge that these are terms that were created to medicalize and pathologize fat bodies, with roots in racism and specifically anti-Blackness. Please read Sabrina Strings Fearing the Black Body – the Racial Origins of Fat Phobia and Da’Shaun Harrison Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness for more on this.