Could We Start Again, Please?
*Note: This article is intended for our Canadian customers.
An open letter from Carl Daikeler, CEO of Beachbody:
Since we launched the category of the “In-Home Boot Camp” with Power 90 in 2000 under the flagship name, Beachbody, things have changed.
It’s now become clear that something is missing.
Our industry has done a lot of good things, and we’re proud of everyone who took the initiative to get more active and be conscious of their food choices in the pursuit of completing any of our programs.
We’re proud of every transformation story and before and after photo.
But we have come to realize that for many who achieved those success stories — including me — those short-term successes were often overshadowed by going right back to the “same old habits.”
Now, there’s nothing wrong with the same old habits if that’s the way you want to live and feel unless you constantly beat yourself up for those habits and live in a state of permanent dissatisfaction with yourself — until you’re pursuing the next transformation.
And there’s the problem. The flaw is not in the program or the approach. It’s just missing the step of detaching our self-esteem from the outcome.
But this is a playbook the industry has run since the ’70s, relying on our own perception of our “imperfections” for our motivation.
That message, amplified through social media, has become, “If you look good, you will be happy.”
Deep down we all know that message is not true. You’re not happy because you look good; you’re happy when you FEEL good.
And we don’t like being manipulated by the premise that all that matters is how we look.
So many of us avoid fitness and nutrition altogether to avoid the mindset of “Permanent Dissatisfaction.”
That’s one of the reasons why, despite the growth of the industry, over 100 million people in the U.S. alone are overweight or obese, and vulnerable to lifestyle diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, strokes, depression, and anxiety.
As an industry and as a company focused on helping people lead healthy and fulfilling lives, if we perpetuate that mindset, we will fail.
We have seen that our happiest subscribers and Coaches are the people who embrace who they are and the lifestyle they want to live before they begin a program.
This is the combination of having inner reflexes to maintain positive self-esteem at the same time as engaging in lifestyle transformation directed at what makes people FEEL the best.
Achieving a before and after photo or “goal weight” is a component of success for some people — everyone wants to FEEL good.
And that kind of success is called Health Esteem.
Embracing who you are now – appreciating all the things that are strong and capable of which you can be proud – creates a sense of “Instant Satisfaction.”
And that’s why over the next several months, we are making a significant pivot to serve people with a platform designed to do exactly that: Support the whole person and help them achieve that kind of instant satisfaction, a positive Health Esteem.
And to do that, one of the changes we need to make is our name.
We never intended for the name Beachbody to represent an ideal.
Our mission has always been to help people achieve healthy, fulfilling lives. But society now uses the term differently.
Truth is, there’s no such thing as a “Beachbody,” except that EVERYONE has a body, and everyone is welcome at the beach.
So rather than fight to overcome the perception that Beachbody equates to an ideal, we need to start again.
Over the course of the next 12 months, we will transition our name from Beachbody to BODi.
With our name change will come the evolution of our platform. We will integrate an entire layer of personal development and mindset content into the experience.
Our approach will ensure fitness and nutrition don’t become the enemy of who we are as individuals but are key components driving our appreciation of who we are and who we want to be.
Fitness, nutrition, and mindset each play a critical role in what we will call a “Health Esteem Routine” – choices made by the individual according to how they want to feel and live.
BODi will celebrate and enable Health Esteem, and the experience will be radically different, simple, and rewarding for our subscribers.
It’s been a productive 23 years under the name Beachbody, and that means it will take some time to complete this transition. The Beachbody name will continue to appear on our website as we begin our transformation journey, but we are embracing the category of Health Esteem and the BODi approach starting now.
Many exciting changes will come as we invite people to explore their fitness and nutrition through the lens of Health Esteem.
The simplest first step can be as fun as learning how you can eat more dessert and be proud of it, without guilt or regret (truly).
In fact, we’ll show you how dessert can actually enhance your well-being with our Gourmet Superfood Dessert recipes!
But part of this shift is also acknowledging the possibility that for some, we played a role in projecting the notion that fitness and nutrition are about chasing an ideal, and for that, I apologize.
We’ve never felt that, but how could you have known, based on the “Beachbody” connotation?
I hope we can fix that.
The content and approach we’ve created to get healthy results are proven.
With the addition of mindset and being clearer with the intent of our programs – achieving a positive Health Esteem – our hope is that tens of millions more people will feel welcome and will feel like we do:
You are successful the moment you realize you can appreciate exactly who you are today — and that satisfaction can coexist with the desire to make changes that will help you feel even better.
So … could we start again, please?
This is Health Esteem. And we are becoming BODi — where it always feels good to be you.
And we are grateful for the opportunity to serve you in a way that is fun, healthy, and incredibly satisfying.