I have hesitated to post anything about this product for fear of upsetting people or hurting feelings. That is not my intent. I hate to cause conflict. I don't like to argue. So if this post makes you feel that way, I apologize in advance.
I also hesitate to post anything because I dread the comments I will get from those hardcore Plexus ambassadors and users who will want to know details of my life so that they can advise me on how I should try it again and do this or that differently.
I truly believe that Plexus Slim is a gem of a product for some people. After all, if you do a google search of product reviews and before/after pictures of users, you will find TONS of positive images and reviews. But when I first began hearing about it, I searched the internet for both positive and negative reviews. I could only seem to find positive reviews. And it seems like EVERY one of them was written or filmed (some were videos) by someone who sells the product. Maybe they tried it, fell in love and decided to sell it and then wanted to tell about it! And that's great. I admire their ambition and I'm glad it worked so well for them. But I didn't have those results. I wanted to post my review here for those who might be searching or a Plexus Slim drink review before they start the product. I wanted them to be able to find one by someone who does NOT sell the product and who isn't 100% satisfied with the results. (Sorry, Plexus friends!)
So let me back up and start from the beginning. Over a year ago, my sweet friend Jessica started posting to facebook about this wonderful new health drink she was using. She got a sample from someone and used it and fell in love. It has changed her world so much. It helped her lose weight, sleep better and have more energy. She said that she actually felt better/different on the VERY FIRST DAY that she drank it. She ended up signing up to sell it that first day because she was so impressed (and she wanted the discount--and income!--signing up to sell would provide.) For nearly a year I saw her posts about Plexus a couple times a week on Facebook. I read testimonials over and over that she shared. I really liked what I was hearing/reading, but I couldn't afford the products. Their Slim drink (pictured at the very top of this post) is their big seller but they have a lot of other products as well. Just the drink alone costs about $80 per month. With very tight finances, we just could not spare $80 a month. I talked to her several times over the year, checking back to see if the price had dropped. Each time I left the conversation saying "Maybe one day I'll be able to afford it and I'll try it." She was never pushy or insistent like other people who have sold me other things in the past. No guilt or shaming me into buying it by saying things like "Well, yes, it's pricey but you just can't put a price on good health." {Eye roll.} Trust me. Yes, you can. If you can't afford to buy a gallon of milk, you can't afford to pay $80 a month for a weight loss product so guilting me about it is just going to make me mad! But I digress....
Last summer, Larry's blood pressure and cholesterol levels were through the roof. After losing his dad in late May, his health really took a hit and I was terrified that he'd have a stroke or a heart attack one day and leave me a widow. Due to his dad's loss, we inherited a little money that we used to pay off a few things, so it freed up a little money in the budget. So I called Jessica and said "ORDER IT!" I wanted Larry to start using it immediately.
After watching Larry drink it and drop a few pounds and inches right off the bat, I decided to bite the bullet and buy it for myself as well. After all, we can't have daddy going and getting all skinny on us and leaving mama behind, right? That's where this review begins.
On September 8, 2014, I began drinking Plexus Slim every day. I drank it first thing in the morning before breakfast. I made sure to drink tons of water the rest of the day. (The "rules" say you should try to drink about half your body weight in ounces of water each day. That wasn't too hard. I was already drinking nothing but water, so I just upped my intake a tad.) In the first 2 weeks, I lost about 5-6 pounds and lost several inches, all right around my waist and hips. (where every woman wants to lose!) I was pumped!
But then I stalled. Actually, I gained back a couple pounds. I had not missed a day of my drink. I hadn't cut back on water. I was still eating well and doing all the same things I was those first couple weeks. Jessica reminded me that daily fluctuations in weight are normal and maybe I'd see more loss in the coming weeks. I tried to determine if maybe I'd gained a little because it was "that time" (sorry to any guys reading this!) but alas, it wasn't. My weight yo-yoed for weeks. Up and down, up and down by 2-4 pounds. But having those inches gone was enough to keep going. Jessica shared some testimonial where a lady had only lost 1-2 pounds but over a few months' time, she dropped several clothing sizes. That sounded good. I joked, however, that if I only lost inches but never lost weight it would be hard to explain being a 400 pound size 2. LOL! {Note: I do not weigh 400 lbs, but some days I sure feel like I do!}
As the months went by, I grew frustrated that my weight loss/inch loss remained stalled right where they had been since 2-3 weeks in. I began asking questions of Jessica and everyone else that I came in contact with who had any connection to Plexus. I have several friends who sell it, a few who use it. I googled videos of people who had good results and I tracked some of those people down via their blogs or on facebook. They all sort of shrugged their shoulders and said they didn't know why it wasn't working. Most of them suggested I add more products to what I was already doing. (In other words, spend more money on Plexus products.) Some suggested that maybe I had a "candida overgrowth". I googled that and found that in the list of like 500 symptoms, I only had maybe 2 of them. Since that didn't seem to be the obvious reason why Plexus wasn't really working for me, I started zoning out when people mentioned that. Honestly, I couldn't bring myself to shell out MORE money for more products that might or might not do me any good. Because with each one, everyone said to give it several months at least before I determined that it was or was not working. Seriously folks, I'm already spending $80/mo EACH on both my husband and I to get this one product. No thanks. Some suggested a "cleanse" product. For a girl who already deals with (ahem...) IBS/potty issues, that sounds kind of horrifying. No thanks. Others suggested the "accelerator" product. It's their 'diet pill' sort of thing that revs up your metabolism (heart rate?) and is supposed to make the drink work faster/better. Again, that one scares me a little. No thanks. I felt like the drink would either work or it didn't. And for me, it didn't appear to be working, but I kept hoping it would.
By about 3 or 4 months in, Larry quit bothering to drink his Plexus each morning. He wasn't seeing results either. I canceled his shipments and kept crossing my fingers hoping "This will be the month it works!" for myself. After all, every time I talked to one of my Plexus friends, they kept telling me the same thing "Everyone's body works differently. For some people, it takes a little longer. Keep going!"
At about the 5 month mark, Jessica asked me to recount my health issues to her to see if she'd missed something. I told her the only one I have. IBS. She suggested that I try JUST the probiotic Plexus makes. It's called ProBio5. She said for some people, it's a gut health thing. And if they can get their gut healthier, then the Plexus Slim drink "kicks in" and starts helping more. Since I already take a probiotic, I figured switching to a different brand/type wouldn't hurt. I bought it and gave it a shot. It ended up working very well! I could definitely tell a difference with it and on days when I forget to take it, I can TELL! I've been taking it since the first week of January. This is it, below. {If you want more info about that, comment or email me. I'd be glad to share more about it, but that's a whole other story.}
This month, March 2015, marks my 7th month of drinking a daily Plexus Slim. I have called Jessica and asked her to cancel any further shipments of the drink for me. It just doesn't work for me. And obviously after this long, it's not a matter of not giving it enough time. Folks, that means that in the past 7 months, I have spent $532 on a drink that has not worked for me. (That's not even counting the first several months that I was spending double each month to buy for both Larry and me!) I have given it a longgggg try and it just didn't help me like I hoped. I plan to continue taking the ProBio5 because it's been wonderful, but as soon as I use up the remaining package of Plexus Slim, I will no longer use it. (By that time, it will have been over 8 months since I started it....I still have almost a full month's worth on my kitchen counter!) And no, I don't want to just throw it away. After spending all that money on it, I will drink it. If for no other reason than to help me drink more water each day!
In conclusion, my results with Plexus include a loss of less than 10 lbs in the first couple weeks and a handful of inches, also in the first few weeks. I will admit, the inches have remained gone, but nothing else has changed. I don't sleep any better. I don't FEEL any different at all. I don't have any more energy than before. Seriously, nothing changed after the first couple weeks.
I hate to be negative because that's just not my personality, but at least for me, Plexus was not the "magic pill" I had hoped for. We all keep hoping to find such a thing, but obviously there is no such thing. We all know what must be done to lose weight and I will have to enlist the ol' notebook and pen and just do it! The only thing that has ever been a successful weight loss tool for me is keeping a food journal. Writing out EVERY bite I eat all day & tracking calories is the easiest way for me to lose weight. Eating better, moving more...if only there were a magic pill.
