Teddi Mellencamp is John Cougar Mellencamp’s daughter and a current castmember on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. I’ve only seen one episode this season after we decided to watch it for our weekly Zooms. It was a lot of drama and I could not keep all the older white blonde women straight. (I really couldn’t even though that describes me.) Teddi is the youngest person on it, she just had a baby in February and she’s 39, although I would have guessed she was younger because she’s not all botox’d and filled like the other castmembers. Teddi is a wellness and fitness coach and she charges quite a bit for her services. You can see the prices right on her website, which I appreciate because so many of these coaches charge based on what they think someone will pay. It’s $599 for the first two weeks and then $399 a month after that! If you want to stay on her program after losing weight it’s either $165 a month or $99 a month depending on what level you are in your weight loss journey or something. So this is for people who want to spend a lot to be held accountable.
However Teddi’s diet doesn’t sound sensible, healthy or easy to maintain. Several of Teddi’s former clients have come forward to say that they’re only allotted 500 to 1,000 calories a DAY. One woman said she wasn’t even allowed to have carrots. These anonymous comments were shared by an influencer named Emily Gellis, who is now getting doxxed for speaking out against Teddi’s program. Teddi defended herself with a video saying she’s proud, her program has helped her, her plan doesn’t count calories and people know what they’re getting into.
Mellencamp’s accountability program came under fire earlier this week, after social media fashion influencer Emily Gellis Lande shared anonymous messages from former All In by Teddi clients alleging the program allows for up to 1,000 calories a day. (For the average sedentary adult, 1,600 calories is the lowest calorie level at which it may still be possible to meet most of your nutrient needs through food, according to the dietary guidelines outlined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.)
Many also claimed that Mellencamp’s accountability coaches demand 60 minutes of cardio daily.
“One day I added carrots to one of my Meals and was told that in the future it needed to be a green vegetable because carrots have too much sugar,” one person alleged, sharing an anonymous account with Lande on Instagram.
Lande, 34, said several women told her they were only allowed a cup of soup for dinner.
Lande, who recently made headlines for sharing allegations against Tanya Zuckerbrot’s F-Factor diet, believes Mellencamp’s plan promotes disordered eating.
“Teddi’s diet is starvation with cardio,” Gellis Lande told TODAY. “I want to prevent other people from falling for this scam.”
The reality star has replied to Instagram comments stressing that her staff are “accountability coaches that hold clients accountable to their personal goals and coaches are not trainers and nutritionists.” Mellencamp also wrote that she is an AFPA-certified nutrition and wellness consultant and personal trainer. On Tuesday, Mellencamp, the daughter of musician John Mellencamp, took to Instagram to address the drama surrounding All In by Teddi:
“I am so incredibly proud of the over 15,000 lives we have helped change,” she began. “I 100% feel confident in the fact that we let you know before signing up, exactly what the program entails. If it’s something that you want to do … we are there to do that for you. If it’s not something you want to sign up for, you don’t.”
In a comment shared with TODAY, Mellencamp addressed these claims and shared additional details about the All In by Teddi meal plan.
“Our meal plan has evolved and our focus has always been clean whole foods. There are a variety of nutritional food options on our menu. Nowhere in our suggested meal plan does it mention a specific calorie count,” Mellencamp explained.
And regarding the soup comments, Mellencamp noted that “… We have found soup to be easy to digest in the evenings, which is why a lighter meal such as soup, salads or veggie-prominent dinners are encouraged while on the program.”
I watched Teddi’s video defending her service and she’s super defensive and comes across poorly, in my opinion. Also, if 15,000 people have taken this program as she claims that’s almost 900,000 just for the first two weeks! She’s surely made a million dollars just off selling this. As I mention often I’m a calorie counter. I lost and maintain weight using the free app MyFitnessPal. If you log less than 1,200 calories a day the app will tell you that’s unhealthy and you should eat more. If I’m working out I need to eat at least 1,500 calories a day or I will be so hungry. I have no idea how she’s promoting an hour of cardio and less than 1,000 calories a day! It doesn’t matter if her diet doesn’t technically count calories, if it has less calories/food than you need to survive that’s disordered and is teaching disordered habits. This is a lesser concern, but it’s also counterproductive for weight loss because when you restrict too much you can end up bingeing.
This is a crash diet and exercise. You can do it for free.
Ask Siri to set an alarm and read you pro-ana websites at set intervals, or any time you feel like eating. Also free. AND WILL KILL YOU.
Sounds like the service Teddi’s “accountability coaches” sell.
I hope they go out of business.
Wait isn’t this the woman used in all those funny cat memes?! 🤔
I , too, use MFP and love that the tool is free and keeps me focused on my eating plan.
I can not fathom eating less than 1,000 calories a day!
Same, and I don’t exercise. I can’t imagine that limit if I did. Totally not maintainable.
Isn’t this similar to what it’s claimed Adele did? 1000 cal., green juices, and HOURS of cardio/exercise.
As someone who lost an amt. of weight comparable to an adult male’s body weight (and has kept it off for 15 yrs), I can tell you: crash diets don’t work. Fads don’t work. Extreme cal. reduction won’t work. Restriction of foods doesn’t work. All of those set you up to eat more and gain more than you started out to lose. And when you hate yourself for not having the willpower to stick to it, you end up eating more, too.
Honestly, you can eat pretty much anything, but with PORTION CONTROL. Do five to six SMALL meals a day to keep your blood sugar levels consistent (which helps fight hunger). Get in ALL your food groups, esp. fruits and veggies; and don’t skimp on your protein of choice, you NEED that for your muscles.
And you *do* have to get off your butt and burn some of it up. Can’t escape it (damn it! lol).
When I read that her program “allowed” PROTEIN on a cheat day? WTF? Protein isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. God, Teddi’s awful.
Yeah, this makes no sense at all, never mind how unhealthy it is. How are people not fainting from hunger? I count calories as well, and I know if I’m on the low end for a few days in a row (say less than 1400 or whatever target I happen to have set) I get a bit dizzy, tired, etc. Less than 1000 and I’d be chewing on my sofa cushions.
It’s hard to explain, but when you are extremely hungry due to disordered eating, it can create a high that you chase, similar to a drug. There’s a reason eating disorders are treated similarly to substance abuse issues. It’s a type of addiction.
I will add that in addition to the “high”, you also just get used to eating so much less a day that you don’t feel hungry. Once you get past the initial stages, the hunger pains may not be there, which makes it that much easier to keep going with it.
This. I’ve done this diet many, many times in my past (in my 20s). It was a badge of pride how little I could eat while working out a lot–I was proud of my discipline. I always had the hunger pangs, but they were just part of me looking the way I wanted to look.
It is very unhealthy and I don’t suffer from that anymore. I’m not surprised she is pushing this and I’m glad others are now learning what they’re paying for before signing up for this nonsense.
Yes to both of your points. I got used to eating very little, but I also still got hunger pangs, which I also treated as a badge of pride, ugh. Eating disorders are an absolute hell & very misunderstood.
Not only the high, it also numbed overwhelming emotional pain I was feeling. I wasn’t conscious enough to realize that’s why I was doing it, so I could figure out how to stop.
An eating disorder almost killed me. It was hard enough fighting my way back to life, without some scam lifestyle and diet coach bullying back into insanity. If I’d met these people, I’d. Be. Dead.
[It’s still hard for me to talk about]
Hugs, @Chanteloup. Mine almost killed me, too. I’ve lost friends to it. Recovering was the hardest thing I ever did. It took years for “the voice” to get out of my head & it still tries to sneak back sometimes. It’s a unique mental & physical torture. So it really infuriates me to see someone selling this to unsuspecting people who may be harmed.
@Lizzie
Yes
💯
Thank you so much, @Lizzie Bathory. I thought for years I was alone. All the hugs back to you and more xo
Stop listening to celebrities for health and nutrition advice! Have a few session with a registered dietitian, they are the actual nutrition experts.
This! There is a big difference between someone who did an online “certification” to claim a nutritionist credential vs a registered dietician, who holds a degree, did an internship, and passed a licensing exam with ongoing education requirements. And most trainers are not RD’s or qualified to give nutrition advice.
Not always, I didn’t deep dive on Emily Gellis’s instagram and she exposed Teddi after exposing a RD Tanya Zuckerbrot, who’s registered dietitian plan includes protein powders that make people I’ll in addition to extreme restriction. Diet culture is the true root of the issue
If people are that stupid to pay good money to this person, they almost deserve what they get.
Exactly. People serious about losing weight in a safe and controlled way shouldn’t turn to a celebrity trainer with no actual credentials. If you’re dumb enough to pay $600 for 2 weeks and follow her silly program then you get what you deserve. There are bigger problems in the US than silly reach people choosing to starve.
People don’t go to actual nutritionists or dieticians because the goal isn’t health, the goal is thinness. That’s the root of the problem.
This. My grandmother is a retired nutritionist and I went to her as teen when I became a vegetarian to help me understand my nutritional needs. She worked in hospitals and built plans for people to help manage their health with support from their diets. Sometimes that includes losing weight, but a real nutritionist is there to focus on improving an individual’s health.
Yeah, that’s starving yourself for a short-term result. The 1,200 goal on MyFitnessPal is hard enough, although I’ve found that it does make me second guess reaching for the chips and snacking on something healthier instead. More importantly, I use it to track how much sodium I have in my diet.
I agree with all of this. I also use MyFitnessPal; in addition to the amount of sodium I eat in a day, I also like that I see what other nutritional needs are being met (or not met) by my food intake.
AFPA is a fitness organization that offers certifications. Like take an online course, study, take an exam, now you are AFPA certified in nutrition. This program was likely hundreds of dollars and took 20 to 40 hours to complete. Her credentials are better than nothing, but if that’s all she has i wouldn’t trust her advice. Especially if she’s the expert.
This is nothing like the credentials of an actual nutritionist. Who has to have a qualifying 4 year degree and then work an extra year after graduating on a very rigorous program. Then you become a nutrionist or dietician and are regulated by professional guidelines and ethics.
Exactly!! Unless they’re a professional nutritionist or an actual doctor who’s also a nutritionist, I would not be taking her advice!
I dunno. Seems like “nothing”would be better. A bullshit certification is letting her promote disordered eating with an air of credibility.
I would drop dead if I did an hour of cardio and ate less than 1,000 calories per day. Granted, I’m a 6’3″ male but this isn’t healthy for ANYONE. Also, I’m a Real Housewives enthusiast and Teddi is about as entertaining as watching paint dry.
I hear ya, Grant. When I was 18 I went on a diet where I ate about 800 calories a day, did minimal exercise but I had a very active lifestyle. I dropped 30 pounds in one month but I also got a severe case of mononucleosis & was sick as a dog for nearly two months. And I agree with you about how boring Teddy is. She’s only on there because of the nepotism connection & because she’s Kyle’s favorite.
Not even b/c of the nepotism anymore because she hasn’t actually been able to deliver Dad to an episode of the show in three freaking seasons. She’s still around because she’s Kyle’s favorite, PERIOD.
The smoke is so bad where I live that I’ve been too nauseous to eat very much, but I’ve had to force more calories on myself (as someone who is in the process of losing weight, that is a very weird sentence to write) because I wasn’t getting enough to keep my body running and it was physically painful. I don’t think I broke 1000 calories until yesterday and it was miserable. I can’t imagine doing that while trying to exercise 60 minutes a day and actually function. Any Instagram diet plan that tells me to restrict my calories to around 1000 is fully getting ignored.
She’s basically getting paid a lot to give people eating disorders. I did the 500-1000 calorie a day thing (plus at least an hour of exercise) for years. And guess what? I was extremely sick with an eating disorder. This is horrible. Glad she’s getting called out.
She’s made a ton of money telling people to starve themselves and over-exercise. Oh to be famous for nothing and cash in on it…
I’m currently trying Noom, but it doesn’t seem to be anything more than a glorified calorie counter. There’s no need to pay for that when I already can do MyFitnessPal for free.
I disagree on Noom. I find the psychological insights very helpful, group support is great and it really forces you to think through your good choices. Still Nooming:)
YES! Noom is great – there is so much great content, like research-based concepts and how to apply to your life (as a prof, I love theory to practice). It has worked great for me, when nothing else really did – 30 lbs so far – and feels really sustainable. It’s hardly about calorie-counting at all, in my opinion.
I’m glad it’s working for you, that’s great. I was hoping to get more out of those aspects of it, but just haven’t.
Yeah I’ve found with Noom there are either people who can really get into the non-calorie counting aspects and those who don’t want that and generally don’t find success with the program. I think those of us who need to explore the “why” behind how we got the weight we did find the most benefit with the psychological aspects. For those who don’t need that, it may not be worth it to them.
Proud Noomer here, 1 year and 1 month in and I’ve lost 155 pounds. Only 15 to go for my goal weight!
Wow, that’s fantastic!
Congrats to you Angie on your outstanding achievement! I wish you much success in the maintenance of your goal (the part I usually have the most trouble with, of course).
Ive been on Noom for 7 weeks and I like it. I don’t really feel like I’m on a diet, more like I’m making better choices. I’ve lost 13 lb so far and am going for slow weight loss. I tried MFP and I think it will be great for maintenance but right now I need some accountability. I’m 61 and I’ve ‘done’ weight watchers, Dr Bernstein (don’t waste your money-run!), various crash diets. The ‘coach’ I’ve been assigned aligns well with me, I’m not looking for a friend, we touch base once a week unless I initiate more contact. I’m not into group things, which is why I hated Weight Watchers meetings but again I participate as much as I choose too on Noom. I log my weight, meals & check the step counter frequently to stay on target.
I found noom to be a complete waste of time. I checked it out for a month when a health coach I know got a job with them. It definitely wasn’t for me. I thought their nutrition advice was weak (however I am deeply into ancestral health, so it would be hard to please me with run of the mill nutrition advice). I also don’t really like or need a “coach.” I coach myself and seek out experts for information. I’m actually super pleased to hear the voices on here talk about their success with Noom.
This reminds me of the time I was working hard to stick to 1200 a day and I was losing weight but my BP was high. My MD who was EXTREMELY thin suggested I try 800 calories for a while. I didn’t go to her after that. She also said stress has nothing to do with BP and I just really needed to try harder.
So, at first I was a little annoyed that people were coming for this woman, when there actually is good research that fasting and extreme (short-term) diets are medically sound ways to lose weight. Dr. Jason Fung is a proponent of this, but a lot of dude-bro docs and nutritionists are really into this right now. It seemed a little sexist that a woman advocating this method is called-out when these dude bros are treated as though they are on to the next best thing.
But her site makes it clear neither she nor her “accountability coaches” have any credentials, or are following or implementing science-based methods, and this clearly isn’t medically-supervised. It’s also disturbing that many of these women post before and after photos where their “before” is already pretty darn thin. It’s a personal choice if they feel they need to be thinner, but I don’t know that it’s sending the best message about health.
ETA: And this extreme, science-based calorie limitation is usually compared favorably to interventions like gastric bypass, or interventions that might already harm your health. So probably not appropriate for someone who is already quite thin.
I’m short and when I was young, I could totally live on 800 a day. Some days less some days more. I lived on homemade frijoles a la charra, soups, veggie sammis, etc. An hour of walk-jog-walk lol and an hour of rollerblading (don’t laugh). Lost a ton of weight, felt the best I’ve ever felt, looked the best I’ve ever looked BUT, I’d never recommend calorie numbers to anyone much less earn a living from that advice.
I like the experience sharing. I think smaller frames would probably need less calories. I have been doing Intermittent Fasting for 3.5 months and have dropped 13 lbs. Trying to lose about 25 more. BMI is not really accurate due to different combinations of muscular/build makeup. I.F. has helped me lose a sugar addiction and reduce cravings of bad foods. I feel great too. I think it is how these bodies were designed to be run. My mental state is great: mood, clarity, energy. I do a bit of calorie estimation at the end of the day, but try not to get hooked into the shame thing. That is totally counter productive to eating well. Cheers
The MFP app gave me great results. 60 pounds in 4 months. It also gave me an eating disorder. I was doing 1000-1200 a day and exercising. Calorie counting is a dangerous trap for some people.
Just want to put it out there: Emily got all the viral clout for dragging Teddi, but Tracie Egan Morrissey originally posted the first screenshot about one of the meal suggestions (the orange lettuce “tacos”). Emily reshared the Instastory and didn’t credit to Tracie. It was all on Tracie’s IG, not sure if it’s still there. There was also a lie on Reddit that Tracie was the one who doxxed Emily, but that’s also untrue.
To clarify, someone DMed Emily a screenshot of Tracie’s story and the DMed screenshot cut out Tracie’s name. It was a screenshot of a google search, not some exclusive Tracie got. She literally just searched Google. Then she lost her shit on Emily for not giving credit when Emily reposted the DM she received. She didnt know it came from Tracie originally.
Edwin, Teddi’s husband, was giving out Emily’s private number.
I do Noom and get 1500 calories a day as my basic budget with added calories when I exercise.
I’m seeing osteoporosis in her near future.
I came here to make the same comment. Enjoy your brittle bones.
That’s no lie.
Teddi is an a-hole. Not surprised she comes across as defensive cause that is her go to response even when shes inserting herself into things that arent her business. I hate watching her.
I love calorie counting. It really changed how I was eating. I didn’t notice what I was doing until I saw it in print.
I totally agree with you. I don’t think people have to do it forever, but it’s a great way to educate yourself. You can eat a little of one thing or a lot of something else for the same calories, and I was often surprised at how many or how little calories were in a given item. It also forced me to eat mostly whole foods because it was easier to track calories that way. But I can see how it could turn unhealthy. I did it for about 6 months (missed some days for sure) and lost 30 pounds.
On another note . . . I’ve never seen any of these Housewife shows but I see plenty of ads and gossip about them and it strikes me that not a single one of those women look healthy or even pretty. Their hair, make-up and clothes are so over the top that it ages them and makes them look unhealthy. This woman for example looks so pretty in workout clothes and so awful in the shots from the show.
Why TF would you pay money for a “fitness” coach who is not a trainer or nutritionist? What a cop out. We’ll help you lose the weight you imagine you need to lose but we have no idea if what we’re doing is safe, healthy or effective bc we have no training. And if you don’t like our methods too bad we told you we don’t know what we’re doing.
Im disappointed when i search for a workout buddy how many have major control issues with food and treat working out in a bulimic mindset, i ate this now i have to workout to offset it. So you ‘earn’ food instead of listening to body cues on what you need. I got bad messages like that growing up and im working to unlearn them so I’ve had a hard time finding workout buddies myself who dont reinforce those messages
I read in other articles that clients must sign an NDA before starting the program.
I can’t think of 1 good reason why that would be necessary other than to muzzle people about this awful business. Super shady.
If someone is signing up for a Real Housewife fitness plan and spending that much money instead of using a non celeb trainer or free or cheap app then thats not a smart investment and what do they expect? There are literally hundreds of apps and reasonable plans like WW. What kind of idiot pays $$$ to be told they can’t have carrots?! This whole situation is dumb and people have too much money if they’re wasting it on a wealthy celeb. Get a real trainer at your local gym and give
Your money to someone who is actually qualified and needs it.
Interesting that lots of people are saying an app, a diet plan, or a trainer “gave” them an eating disorder. Sorry, but take some responsibility. It may have played on your existing insecurities or predilections, but if you choose to follow the app, diet or trainer then you had a part to play too.
Who said that? Genuinely asking, I didn’t see that in the comments.
What I said is that I was extremely sick with an eating disorder and didn’t understand what role it was playing for me [a deadly way to numb extreme pain], so I was losing no matter how hard I tried to fight it. If I’d listened to these “coaches” I’d be dead.
You can be losing your way and still someone can contribute to pushing you over the edge.
I was extremely vulnerable at that time. I’m glad I didn’t find them.
Lol. I don’t see any post saying that. I had a genetic/family predisposition to eating disorders, plus trauma history. I view it as walking around with a gun pointed at my head, waiting for something to trigger it. And then one day, boom. For me, it wasn’t a diet plan or a trainer (or an app because I’m an old). But it easily could have been. It was a few small, random seeming things that pulled that trigger & almost killed me. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness (& often co-exist with other mental illnesses & trauma responses, which makes them very tough to treat). My eating disorder was so tied up with my identity, I didn’t know who I was without it. I didn’t exist as a person. I had to re-learn how to eat. I didn’t know how, when or why normal people ate.
I have friends who couldn’t get out, not because they lacked responsibility, but because the disease is so strong. For a very long time, I didn’t want to live. And I don’t judge the people who decided not to, because I know what it feels like to look into that abyss. I did hard work to survive, but I was also just very, very lucky.
@Lizzy I agree with every word. Thank you for putting it so intelligently. For me the trigger was a boutique manager I worked for telling me that if I could fit into the tiny size 0 designer jeans, I could have them … And I was an educated young woman studying medicine at the time. But I did it. And so began my terrifying trip down a long and slippery slope. This was many years ago and I am now thankfully well. But still, even now, in my 50s I am still occasionally vulnerable. If this sort of thing along with social media had been around back then- I would not be here. Hugs to you. x
@Mustlovedogs I’m glad you’re still here.
It’s called normalization of eating disorders lol. People can defend it all they want, but unless you are an extremely tiny person in a very sedentary lifestyle, your body is going to burn through an average of 1000-1200 calories just to commit basic life functions, and that’s on the low end. Adding any sort of exercise on top of that is going to increase your basic calorie needs to maintain weight. Sure, to lose weight, you want to intake less than your outputting, but there’s a balance there. Too much dropped too fast, and you shock your metabolism into thinking it’s in starvation mode, which can actually have the opposite effect over the long run, and, over time, your body adjusts the metabolism correctly and you stop losing weight. Sure, you can literally starve yourself if you want, but there’s a shit ton of detrimental impact that comes with that as opposed to regulated loss.
People like me with metabolic disorders (thyroid, GI, pancreatic, etc.) find these diets absolutely useless, anyway. We can’t really lose weight through extensive calorie reduction. We have to simply increase our exercise, watch what we eat, and try to maintain a steady state on diet. Otherwise, our weight isn’t going anywhere.
There are some diet plans out there than now encourage very low calories. Probably the most popular one is fast800 which combines a Mediterranean diet with intermittent fasting and was developed by Doctor Michael Moseley. This VLC diet is backed up by lots of scientific evidence. If your 800 cals is divided by 2 or 3 meals all containing good healthy fat, protein and some healthy carbs such as brown rice, oats or beans you can eat really well.
Havi said that his diet is not a long term approach ( max 12 weeks) and then he advises you move to a 5:2 approach then fully a Mediterranean diet for maintenance.
I guess I’m saying it can work and be a healthy approach if down correctly but doesn’t sound like Teddi has the same sort of background to back up her eating plan at al.
I hate to say it but this is probably how skinny style icons, stars and aristocratic beauties like Kate Middleton, Rose Hanbury, Queen Letizia, Angelina Jolie and countless fashion models keep their tiny figures. They eat under 1000 calories a day. Might not need to count those calories, they just consume very little food. There’s not really any other way to be THAT skinny.
As long as we admire and venerate the appearance of such wafer thin women, there will be ultra low cal diet plans promoted by people like this sad Mellencamp housewife. And there will be tragic eating disorders developed daily. It’s a vicious game.
Truly this post is very trigerring , I’ve suffered from disordered eating my whole life and I’m so happy Emily is exposing this for what it is
Oh my this sounds like Nxvim, blackmail for eating really? This woman should be jailed for her fraud. She is bilking people, she has no experience other than she was fat. Just because she is doing something so unethical and telling people yeah it’s wrong but it works is just plain stupid. You wanna lose weight? I will embarrass you into submission then take your money. Wow great life choices there.
Looking at that family photo makes me feel so sad for those little girls….