Have you heard of Thrive? It’s a three point weight loss program that promises to help management weight, improve cognitive performance, help digestive and immune system, helps with healthy joint function, supports lean muscles, and helps with aging and antioxidants. to good to be true? Well, maybe.
Thrive was developed by a Texas company called Le-Val in 2012. Their website promoting Thrive flashes photos of the lives of the rich, luxurious cars, and active, lean, thin, and beautiful men and women promising that users will look and feel just like the people in the ads if they use their products. In reality, these men and women more than likely have never had to use any sort of system to look like they do.
What is Thrive?
According to their website, this is an eight-week program – called a lifestyle plan. (Lifestyle? Do you plan on using the system for life? If not, it’s called a fad diet.) The three part system consists of dietary pills, shakes and patches- called Derma Fusion Technology or DFT. The cost for the system ranges from $100-$300 a week- depending on what you’d like to accomplish.
PLEASE NOTE: results differ from person to person and results ARE NOT guaranteed.
Since the product rollout
From the minute this product rolled out in 2012, social outlets immediately started warning consumers about this product. Products like Thrive and other dietary supplements do not have to be approved by the FDA or any other organization, but they must report all complaints, incidents and adverse reactions to the Food Trade Commission (FTC).
Reports of adverse reactions started flying in after the product was distributed to hundreds of consumers. Concerns of abdominal pain, headaches, increased blood pressure, hospitalization and emergency room visits were reported. Hundreds of reports to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), police departments and social media filtered the complaints along with the FDA. After the BBB reported a F+rating, the FTC conducted an investigation into the claims and made the company right some wrongs. But, still the company has faced lawsuits and other negative reviews.
According to Tina.org, the company will not provide supportive data that the products actually work. Also, this site insists that the comments on their website are those of current and past individuals that help promote and sell the product. The company is a typical pyramid system that concentrates more on getting the product sold and getting people to sell the product for huge discounts.
With over 70,000 complaints, the most frequent were related to horrible customer service, credit cards being charged even after the program was cancelled, charges on credit card for free samples, discolored skin, muscle cramps, hot flashes and more.
According to the Amazon reviews, only a few rated the product with five stars. The majority only averaged two stars with complaints about the taste of the shakes and patches don’t work or stick.
Sitejabber.com had reviews as recent as yesterday stating that the product was not safe and the company should be shut down, the same credit card complaints stating that “once they receive your card, it’s hard to stop the automatic withdrawals.” They pretty much all claim the industry is a scam.
Consumercompare.com contains comments that the product doesn’t work, that expired products were being shipped, that they were a waste of money, and that the product contains a “ton of caffeine.” It was also committed that the company has great marketing, but a lot of unhappy customers and no clinical support.
In 2017, a judge decided in favor of a blogger, Layman.com after Thrive’s owners sued the blogger for his comments regarding their product. In the decision, it quotes the FTC, “Lose weight with our miracle diet patch or cream! You’ve seen the ads for diet patches or creams that claim to melt away the pounds. Don’t believe them. There’s nothing you can wear or apply to your skin that will cause you to lose weight.”
So, as the saying goes – if it sounds too good to be true, it normally is.
If losing weight, getting in shape, boosting energy, and improving health is what a person is seeking – the only “right” way to do that is hard work, eating right, taking the right supplements, exercising, drinking water, and keeping motivated. So far, a miracle pill has not been created. As with any fad diet, once discontinued, all symptoms return and sometimes worse when the product is discontinued.
What are your thought on Thrive?
City Skipper Gal 