Shakeology Review

Note: I am not affiliated with Beachbody in any way.  I am not a coach, nor do I have family or friends that are coaches.  I receive no financial gain from any of my personal thoughts below.  My sample was from a Beachbody coach that is not a family member or friend.  All thoughts are mine alone (well and Adam’s).

Upon returning back to my apartment from vacation I excitedly went to my mailbox hoping to find…a Shakeology sample!  And sure enough once the bags were in from the trunk and I got to my box, I found what I was looking for – my sample had arrived!  Terry G (you can check out his blog here) is a Beachbody coach and recently made a couple posts raving about this Beachbody product.  I had been hearing the buzz for quite some time, and his offer for a free sample was just too good to pass up.  Thanks Terry for providing this sample!

So, what is Shakeology?

From Beachbody:

Shakeology^® is the most delicious, nutrient-dense, superfood-packed protein shake on the planet.

Essentially it is a meal-replacement shake full of tons of super foods and protein.  Instead of a shake that is only Whey protein, it is a shake packed full of nutrients.  This is obvious from the back of the sample – the list of ingredients went on and on!  It touts things like antioxidants, digestive enzymes, phytonutrients, folic acid, biotin, and a whole lot more.  Shakeology is sold as another product of Beachbody – similar to P90X or Insanity.  The tagline for it is: The Healthiest Meal of the Day.

My bias going into it

I’ll be honest:  I’m not a fan of shake meals.  They never satisfy and normally I end up feeling so hungry I make reckless decisions (why yes I think I need to eat this whole box of white cheddar cheez-its).  Back in the young, foolish days when I just wanted to be skinny and health wasn’t really important to me, I did the whole shake meal bit.  But truthfully, I hated every second of it.  Deprivation is a no-go for me.  This theme has stuck with me, and I won’t follow eating plans that make me feel like I’m hurting myself by not eating enough.  So meal shakes don’t have the strongest history with me.  Protein shakes and smoothies however, I do like!  Because Shakeology has the “meal” aspect to it, I was leery to give it a try.  Even if it tastes amazing and is healthy, if it doesn’t fill me up, it’s not going to work for me.

How I liked it

Armed with the sample I headed to the kitchen to mix it up.  I was looking forward to trying the shake and saved it until after a workout.  I wanted to try it two ways.  The first was the powder mixed with water.  I wanted to see what it tasted like on its own without any flavors impacting it. Pure Shakeology, if you will.  Second I wanted to try it following a simple recipe of adding a scoop of protein powder, ice cubes, and peanut butter.

First up… Shakeology alone

I mixed the sample packet with water and blended it in my handy travel blender (an awesome gift from my sister – thanks Jules!).  The powder looked pretty similar to protein powder and dissolved into the water quickly and easily.

Then I gave it a sip…

I can’t make this stuff up.  Seriously Adam took this picture of me.  It makes me laugh out loud every time I see it.  Naturally I thought you all might enjoy it.

It. Was. DELICIOUS.  I mean knock your socks off good.  (Hence the cracked out face above).  I recovered from my shock in order to get this posed approval shot.  But seriously – I was stunned.  It was divine.  Smooth, chocolatey, and legitimately yummy!  Wasn’t this supposed to be health food??

Next up: Shakeology recipe.

After we both tried Shakeology with just water, we mixed up our recipe.  It called for a scoop of chocolate whey protein, ice cubes, and a spoonful of peanut butter.  This puts the shake at about 500 calories – more in the ‘meal replacement’ category.  I could see something like this for breakfast post work-out.  With all the ingredients added (super simple – just the way I like it!), Adam mixed it all up.

Look at those mad mixing skills.  Such expertise.

And there’s the sip…wait for it, wait for it…

BAM!  He loved it.  His reaction was a little over the top I thought.  Someone is feeling a little dramatic.

But then I gave it a try.  Oh Mylanta.  Seriously it was a milkshake.  I wish I could say I was exaggerating.  It was like a chocolate peanut butter milkshake.  I kept sipping it again trying to see if the taste would change or if there would be an after taste.  Or maybe I was just imagining the flavor?  But no – every single sip was a delightful treat.  I ended up drinking the whole thing…not the best idea after a nighttime workout (yeah, I had some difficulty getting up for day 1 post-vacation).  But it was absolutely, fantastically delicious.  A total shock.  Adam even said immediately after trying it…”so I think we should get this.”  Mr. “I don’t really have any interest in Shakeology” himself!

Okay it tastes great, what more?

After drinking the shake I knew two things:

1. It’s healthy for you.  The stats are really terrific.
2. It tastes amazing.

An hour or two after drinking the shake I noticed my 3rd revelation: it’s filling.  I went to bed maybe 1 -2 hours after drinking the shake and I actually had difficulty falling asleep because I was so full.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I don’t think I’ve experienced that “full” feeling at any point during P90X (except maybe this past week on vacation ;)).  Eventually I fell asleep, but when I woke up I was still full!  And even this morning I wasn’t starving for my mid-morning snack.  Now before I start praising it as a miracle, I’ll temper that with saying I did eat the shake at night – kind of a weird time to drink a meal shake.  I’m not used to eating at night and it’s totally possible that sort of messed me up.  I would need to try it a few more times to really confirm how long the fullness lasts if I have it for breakfast.  But even with all those stipulations, I feel it is filling enough that I wouldn’t have any qualms using it as a meal.

Now what’s the catch?

Well… you know it can’t be too good to be true.  There is a catch.  It is crazy expensive.  But I suppose you get what you pay for, right??  For a one month supply it comes in around 140 a month (one shake per day).  Probably around a 6 dollar breakfast (if you include the protein and peanut butter).  Put that way, it may not seem so crazy expensive. The argument is “that’s cheaper than a bagel and coffee at Starbucks” or any other on-the-go breakfast.  But for me that argument doesn’t really work – I never eat breakfast out and don’t have a regular Starbucks habit.  So this would be a big change financially for me.  At the end of the day, I just need to decide if it’s worth the investment.  Really that’s what Shakeology is: an investment.

Right after our first sips Adam and I flew to our computers to crunch some numbers and look at the budget.  For two people it would be around 300 bucks a month for this breakfast (our mixed up shake).  Yikes.  I felt all my excitement go out the window.  But then we started brainstorming. What if we only had it every other day or a few times a week?  Surely we’d still see health benefits and could stretch our dollars a bit more.  Or – what if we just try it for a month and see how we really like it on a daily basis?  Or what if we cut costs throughout the month in other ways?  The ideas were flying around, and in the end I think we decided this is something definitely worth trying to fit into our lives and budgets…specifically what that looks like remains to be seen.  I don’t think we’re ready to take the plunge quite yet financially (See Costa Rican vacation post below ;)).  But I’m thinking of beginning to use it when Adam moves to Nashville.  Although we have separate apartments, we share our grocery bills.  When we started P90X, we figured it would be easier to just do all of our meals and food together.  Once he moves I’ll be back to paying for my own groceries, and I tend to eat a little less – so maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to find a way to have Shakeology.

To sum it up

Shakeology is a tasty, healthy, and filling meal replacement (or protein shake enhancer).  It’s delicious and has plenty of truly nutritious ingredients.  However, it’s expensive and an investment to consider before making the commitment.  Would I recommend it?  At this point I’d say at the very least try it and make your own decision.  Once I buy the month supply, I’ll be sure to share my thoughts after more regular use.

-Kelly

 

Edit: Check out my updated thoughts on using Shakeology!

 

Have you used Shakeology?  Have you heard the hype?