If you're looking to shed pounds quickly, the Super Shred Diet may be a good fit for you. Dr. Ian Smith, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Specialist who stars in a hit television series called The Doctors, designed the Super Shred Diet for people seeking rapid weight loss. He discusses details of the diet in his bestselling book. As with any type of weight-loss plan, pros and cons exist for the Super Shred Diet.
What Is the Super Shred Diet?
The Super Shred Diet is an accelerated weight loss plan that focuses on calorie restriction. It claims to help you lose up to 20 pounds in just four weeks. The program includes specific meal plans and grocery lists to help you achieve rapid weight loss.
On Dr. Ian Smith's website, he claims the four-week Super Shred Diet is similar to his Shred Diet, but with two times the intensity for faster weight loss results. Key components of the Super Shred Diet, include the following:
- Meal spacing -- In Dr. Smith's Super Shred book, he guides you to pick low glycemic-index foods spaced evenly throughout the day. Meal patterns include four meals (or meal replacements) and three snacks daily.
- Meal replacements -- The Super Shred Diet includes healthy meal replacements, such as smoothies, shakes, and soups packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Using meal replacements makes following the Super Shred Diet convenient, and while meal replacements help fill you up, they are often lower in calories than an average meal.
- Strategic snacking -- The Super Shred meal plan includes healthy snacks spaced evenly throughout the day to prevent hunger between meals and avoid overindulgence at meal time. The program offers you low-calorie snack ideas to aid in rapid weight loss.
- Diet confusion -- Dr. Smith's diet focuses on continuously changing your daily caloric intake to keep your body challenged and your metabolism high. USA Today notes that the Super Shred Diet restricts your calorie intake to between 900 and 1,600 calories daily, and that your daily caloric allotment changes often.
Exercise Counts
The exercise recommendation in the Super Shred Diet is to get at least 40 minutes of high-intensity aerobic interval training daily. This type of high-intensity training, which is alternating high-intensity cardiovascular exercise with lower-intensity intervals, helps you burn a significant number of calories -- which is beneficial when you're trying to shed pounds.
Is the Diet Effective?
Many customers who have purchased Dr. Smith's Super Shred book, which includes meal plans and grocery lists, have effectively lost weight. Amazon.com's customer reviews give this weight-loss plan a rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, and shows the majority of people who gave reviews were highly satisfied with the amount of weight they lost. Barns and Noble customers give the Super Shred Diet an average rating of 3 out of 5 stars. Some people were highly satisfied; others were disappointed, saying the diet didn't work, or it was difficult to follow. The reason Super Shred Diet is so effective when followed properly is because it significantly reduces your caloric intake and requires you to increase calorie expenditure by boosting high-intensity exercise.
Is Super Shred Right for Me?
The Super Shred Diet is designed for people who are seeking rapid weight loss. However, because this weight loss plan can at times drop to just 900 calories per day, always chat with your doctor before beginning such a drastic weight loss diet. Very low-calorie diets that allow you to lose up to five pounds weekly should be monitored by a qualified healthcare provider, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Because the Super Shred program encourages you to work out at high intensities, check with your doctor to make sure this exercise is safe for you. Sedentary individuals, especially those who are obese, should start with lower-intensity workouts.
