Does VShred Work? VShred Diet Review.

This VShred review is my professional opinion. Thank you to all of the people who sent me their VShred logins, meal plans, emails, etc etc etc. so I could write this post.

VShred Review 2024

As a dietitian, I always cringe when I come across VShred ads and content. They seem to employ all of the marketing 101 tricks to get people to sign up – a sense of urgency, fear mongering, making the program seem basically foolproof, telling us we’ve been ‘doing weight loss wrong’ this whole time.

I got myself access to whole lot of VShred meal plans and PDFs, and going through them for this VShred review was a rabbit hole I never wanted to go down.

People are always ready to complain about how much they dislike VShred – either they did the program and weren’t satisfied, or they can’t stand Vince Sant, the VShred model and spokesperson.

There are also a sh*t-ton of YouTube videos from legit bodybuilders explaining why VShred may be a scam, and Ben Carpenter, whose content I adore, has taken them on a few times on his Reels.  When legit professionals are all in agreement with how much they dislike a company, we should really listen.

What Is VShred?

VShred is a nutrition and fitness company. The face of VShred is a guy named Vince Sant, who has a lot of muscles and rarely wears a shirt. 

Here’s a screenshot of Vince meal-prepping…without a shirt.

Vince was a fitness model before he got involved with VShred, but now his job title has somehow morphed into ‘celebrity fitness trainer,’ even though many, many, MANY actual fitness trainers will tell you that Vince often demonstrates poor form and some of the exercises he gives out may be potentially harmful.

I’m not going to say anything in-depth about the VShred workouts, because I’m a dietitian and workouts aren’t my scope of practice. What I can say, is that it’s a well-known fact that the VShred workouts seem to be perceived negatively by trainers who I know and trust.

V-Shred Diet Programs.

VShred offers a host of programs like Fat Loss Extreme, Custom Diet and Training for Her (and for Him), Ripped in 90 Days, Clean Bulk Program, 6-Pack Shred, The Booty Builder, etc. 

It seems like the VShred 90 day Fat Loss Extreme program is the most popular with the people I’ve spoken to, but I think it’s safe to say that the other programs that VShred offers are likely a variation of that one, anyhow.

Here’s how the VShred experience typically goes:

Answer some questions on the VShred site to find out which diet and exercise program they recommend for you.

Watch a 60 minute video of ‘world famous fitness model and certified trainer’ Vince Sant talking about your body type and 3 simple fixes to get rid of your ‘soft, out of shape body’ (cue images of women grabbing at their bellies) and get a ‘slim and toned body’ that you’ll want to ‘show off’ without ‘starving yourself.’ And hey, Vince has three ‘fat destroyers’ to help you, but you need to watch until the end of the video for him to reveal them!

Figure out your macros or buy the meal plans for an extra cost.

Do the workouts.

There don’t appear to be any safeguards for age (I selected the ‘teen’ category…and yes, it exists) or warnings about eating disorders or any other contraindications for doing a program like this. Red flag.

The scary thing is that when I entered my 13 year-old daughter’s information into the questions on the VShred site (it actually has a ‘teen’ category), it gave me a 60 minute video of Sant talking about how some women ‘struggle with willpower’ and how VShred can help them get rid of stubborn fat.

Vince also talks about his mom and sisters in the video, and mansplaining about women’s bodies, which I’m sure is meant to spark some emotional connection with us (marketing), but made me want to vomit because it was so obvious.

Vince appeared to be in way over his head with the ‘science,’ talking about metabolism and white fat vs brown fat and somatotypes, which aren’t actually a thing. (I did a somatotype and diet review here)

Somatotype – meaning, being an endomorph, ectomorph, or mesomorph – has not been proven by credible evidence to impact which diet you should be on and your ability to gain or lose weight. But Vince says that Fat Loss Extreme is perfect for endomorphs like my 13 year old daughter. It’s an ‘automated fat loss solution’ that works ‘in a matter of weeks!’

I was starting to slump down with boredom from this never-ending video, when Vince started talking about triglycerides. I got a bit excited because I thought he was going to finally say something smart, but he said this:

“Triglycerides are very large particles that can’t exit the fat cell and therefore get stored away to make up those ‘stubborn, fatty areas on your body that seem impossible to get rid of.”

But wait! He says ‘the cool part’ is that those triglycerides can be targeted and broken down! The fat will ‘just melt off your body!’

Um, yeah, no. Vince Shirtless Bro Mansplainer don’t do that science stuff, everyone! RED FLAG!

Somebody needs to break it to Mr. No Shirt that not only is targeted fat-burning NOT a thing, ‘breaking down’ triglycerides is a normal bodily function, and that NATURE, not VShred, invented that process. 

Can we all say it together? It’s called LI-PO-LY-SIS.

And once and for all, everyone should understand that FAT DOES NOT MELT. If you want to know what happens to fat when it leaves our bodies, read my post on it here. In fact, I’ve never seen an evidence-based company or person use the phrase ‘fat melting.’

Kudos to anyone in the world who had the patience to watch any of the VShred videos at all. Most of them are so long, and so full of pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo and false excitement over NOTHING, that by the end of any of them (and I watched a bunch), I literally wanted to throw my computer across the room. 

In their content, VShred uses the words ‘girls’ and ‘women’ interchangeably, which is misogynistic, infantilizing, and is done to women smaller. But that seems to be a thing with VShred. The company panders to the trashy and grossly outdated idea that women should make themselves physically small. They should also be young, thin, toned and ‘sexy.’ 

There’s also a lot of insinuation that women’s bodies are only ‘sexy’ if they’re sporting a 6-pack. And, that ‘showing off your body’ is something that women want to do, because didn’t you know that our bodies exist solely for the gratification of others?

And what’s even worse is that VShred is making a ton of money marketing this garbage to both men and women. But the company is run by a group of internet marketers: this is what they do. Vince is merely the face of VShred. The other guys are a bunch of marketing bros who are good at selling. 

VShred Before and After Photos.

VShred appears to be really into before and after photos, and let’s face it: they have no research or anything else to speak of that would prove the efficacy of their program. I see this a lot, especially with nutrition MLMs. Red flag!

We already know that these images overall are easily faked, but one of my sources actually told me that VShred stole one of her photos off of an Instagram fitness page, and USED IT to advertise their product. And no, my source never used VShred. Ever.

In their usage of the photo, VShred said it took 4 months for my source to achieve her results, which was completely made-up – she said that it took 18 months. And it doesn’t matter – VShred stole her image. They took it down after she called them on it, thankfully.

VShred review 2024: Nutrition Claims.

VShred seems to routinely make promises of massive weight loss that realistically, would be impossible for most people to achieve – like 21+ pounds in a matter of weeks. Telling people that they’ll lose X pounds in X time is a huge red flag, since weight predictions are tough to make to individuals, never mind as blanket statements to an entire population.

The nutrition claims that VShred makes are often outrageous and not evidence-based. It all seems to be part of the common wellness industry marketing scheme to create anxiety around a problem that you probably don’t have, and then sell you a solution that will fix it. 

For example, Vince talks about low, stalled, or broken metabolic types. That all sounds very dire, and in a lot of people, would cause feelings of fear and urgency (marketing 101).

In reality, there are no such things. You can’t ‘stall’ your metabolism, which theoretically would mean that you’re DEAD. And I’ve seen this ‘broken’ metabolism stuff a lot lately, but it’s also not a thing. Red flag! (Read my post on how metabolism works here)

Your metabolism isn’t an IPhone that you can restart, reset, or break. And even if VShred defends its use of these terms as making it easier for people to understand metabolism, that’s probably not true.

In fact, misinformation like this tends to confuse people, causing them to panic because they truly believe that there’s something wrong with them…when there isn’t.

Vince goes on and on about amazing ‘fat loss’ hormones that ‘control your metabolism,’ and hormonal ‘misfiring’ – as if 1. this is actually how the body works (it isn’t) and 2. He has the information and skills to ‘fix’ your metabolism and fat storage problems.

He creates desperation and then sells the solution, which is a solution to nothing…since ‘hormonal misfiring’ isn’t a thing, and if ‘amazing fat loss hormones’ existed, we’d all know about them by now. Red flag.

VShred’s extremely long and annoying videos are stuffed with science-y-looking stock photos of DNA and scientists in labs, all the while talking about how ‘Harvard scientists’ discovered ‘biological loopholes’ that can help burn fat in 30 seconds. The ‘loophole’ they’re talking about is the hormone irisin, which was written about in 2012 and not widely heard about since. Hm. I wonder why that is?

They also talk about TRPV1, which recent research shows is a receptor in the body that apparently helps produce brown fat cells. In mouse models and lab dishes, with prolonged cold exposure.

Not with VShred supplements and exercises.

This is the thing with VShred and a lot of other nutrition companies out there: they seem to take a kernel of truth, and spin it into something it’s not, usually using outdated and animal research to ‘prove’ their point. Red flag.

For weight loss, VShred lets you choose between a macro plan, or carb cycling aka ‘metabolic confusion.’ (Their name for it, although I’ve seen it before).

But again, your metabolism doesn’t get confused. In fact, just the opposite of that – it knows exactly what to do. And if it could talk, it would laugh at the claims that VShred makes about it.

Carb cycling and macro counting are two calorie-cutting options for weight loss. Both involve a lot of counting and tracking and are definitely the opposite of intuitive.

Here are some examples of VShred ‘personalized’ meal plans:

It’s a low-calorie diet. Period. Who gives a sh*t about the macros? They don’t matter – the calories do. So yeah, 51% carbs looks high, until you realize that total calories are under 1200! WTF!

People sent me weeks and weeks of VShred meal plans, and the lowest calorie day was 1195; the highest, just over 1500. For most people, this level of calories is NOT sustainable, and it can be unhealthy physically and emotionally. 

Sure, you’ll lose weight on a low-calorie diet. But there’s a reason why most dietitians won’t do meal plans: they don’t teach you how to self-manage your food decisions, and you can’t follow one for the rest of your life. 

VShred has no psychological or emotional component, either (not that that would make up for it being a diet – see my Noom review for my take on that. VShred is like, ‘eat this, do that, take these supplements, and your life will be transformed.

The fact that VShred makes weight loss appear so simple, is a recipe for emotional disaster. Weight loss is rarely simple – in fact, it’s often very complex. Selling it as simple creates guilt and shame when we inevitably fail at the diet.

One person told me that despite telling her VShred ‘coach’ that she didn’t like certain foods, they would continue to show up on her meal plan week after week. VShred doesn’t say a lot about their coaches’ qualifications, but it’s unlikely that they’re qualified to counsel anyone on eating.

She also told me this:

“I used to be part of the private FB group VShred for Women. I remember it being just awful – cult-like even. “Vince would be so mad at me because I ate this or didn’t do that…”. I wanted to say “Vince doesn’t know you’re alive…” And such madness around monitoring every bite, every kind of food. If you didn’t have an eating disorder going in I felt like you would develop one if you stuck around it for any length of time.“

Yikes. 

VShred PDFs.

In their daily emails, VShred shares a lot of PDFs that are designed to look like tips to make your life easier, but there is very obvious marketing in them.

Take this PDF about ‘Cravings.’ It gives some of the worst suggestions ever on how to handle cravings (chew gum? Drink water with BCAAs? Buy smaller dishes? No legitimate nutrition professional would ever give these recommendations) RED FLAG!!

There’s ALWAYS a 20% off/sale tag on pretty much everything VShred sells, which gives the illusion that you’re getting a deal.

You aren’t. There’s really something suspicious about a product that’s ALWAYS on sale.

There’s always a money grab at the end…always. These supplements have never been proven to fight cravings.

Guess what does fight cravings? EATING. Notstarving yourself on a low-calorie diet or restricting certain foods, and figuring out where the cravings are coming from in the first place. VShred probably won’t help you with any of that, though.

VShred supplements.

I’m convinced that VShred makes a large percentage of its money on their supplement upsell. They claim that supplements ‘aren’t necessary,’ but then promote them EVERYWHERE, especially in their daily emails. 

A follower sent me this VERY LONG, very spammy email that recently arrived in her inbox. This is a typical VShred email. 

You’ll see that it’s not only full of gibberish, but also tries to sell VShred supplements and programs over and over again throughout. Red flag. And the low-bar ads at the very end? They’re like the epitome of spam.

It’s entirely marketing. But VShred knows that the more you’re exposed to these sales links, the more likely you are to eventually cave and buy the product. 

Clicking on the link brings you to a lovely 10 minute video of Vince in a muscle tank talking about human growth hormone. You can then purchase SCULPTnation’s HGH Booster for your supposed ‘HGH deficiency.’

Except that the prevalence of adult onset HGH deficiency is rare. As in, you probably don’t have it, and you definitely do NOT need this supplement. Further to that, the ingredients in SCULPTnation HGH Booster likely aren’t effective for HGH deficiency.

They’re just B vitamins, some plant that research shows isn’t effective for testosterone boosting or anything VShred is selling it for, and a bunch of amino acids. 

Waste of money.

SCULPTnation also has a ‘Fat loss stack,’ which includes its fat burners, BurnEvolve and BurnPM. These supplements, like all fat burners, are probably useless.

As a side note, VShred seems to slap the ‘fat burning’ claim on a lot of its supplements, which is a RED FLAG. If any food, drink, or supplement burned fat, the weight loss industry would cease to exist. Not only that, but VShred wouldn’t be selling it. It would be prescribed by doctors. Red flag!

Vince states that ‘diet and exercise aren’t as scientifically supported as the ingredients in Burn,’ but he’s full of sh*t. Not only that, but how in the world would you ever be able to target fat burning at night (as in BurnPM)? It’s a frigging fairytale.

In Short.

It would be impossible to go through every single bit of VShred nutrition content and debunk or fact check it all. But from everything I’ve shown you, hopefully you’ll understand that a company that puts out what appears to be misinformation like this is probably doing it habitually. The bottom line is that I don’t recommend VShred for anyone.

Does VShred work? If it does, it’s because it’s low calorie and highly structured – not anything that most people can sustain for the long-term. The supplements appear to be overpromising on stuff they can’t possibly deliver. I’m not sure about the workouts – but if they’re not recommended by people who know their stuff, then I’d think twice about those, too.

Total red flags: 19. Was I overly generous to VShred?