The Super Shred Diet Promise

See big weight loss results. Lose 20 pounds in just 4 weeks with the Super Shred Diet!

 

About the Super Shred Diet

Most of us wish we could close our eyes and snap our fingers, only to open them again and see that all our excess weight is gone. Or that we had a genie like Aladdin to wish for instant weight loss! Well, sadly for us, magic only exists in the wizarding world and the only genie in a bottle we may have is Christina Aguilera. But what do we have, is what seems to be the next best thing. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give it up for the Super Shred Diet! A fad diet that came into existence in 2013, the Super Shred Diet was created by Dr Ian Smith, a rehabilitation specialist and quite the heavyweight champion of weight loss. This diet is a four-week super-charged weight loss diet that promises something that may seem more impossible than Sherlock being wrong; it promises that you can lose up to 20 pounds in 4 weeks!

The Super Shred Diet mainly relies on portion control and includes nutrient-dense foods in the meal plan. The idea of the Super Shred Diet involves mainly planning meals consisting of plant-based foods where the portions are controlled in order to create something called a “negative energy balance”. The stored fat provides the body with energy to burn the calories and reduces fat. Dr Ian claims that by just reducing 20 percent at every meal, you can reduce a considerable amount of weight.

The Super Shred is a diet plan that lasts for 4 weeks and has 4 phases. Each diet phase lasts for one week and has a specific list of foods that must be eaten. The diet recommends consuming around 1,600 calories per day for some days and around 900 calories on other days and following a high-intensity exercise routine of around 40 minutes every day.

 

 

A bit of news that may make procrastinators and impatient people quite happy is that the Super Shred Diet is meant to be a short-term weight loss plan and not for use in the long run. The diet plan recommends eating nuts, vegetables, lean meat, other proteins and snack bars when on the diet, and that you consume six meals a day at specific times. Follow this precisely, and lo and behold! Up to 20 pounds gone in just 4 weeks.

 

How Does the Super Shred Diet Work?

It’s often said that the last leg of any race is the hardest. Well, for some of us, that is a highly accurate way to describe our weight loss as well! Those last few stubborn pounds are the hardest to lose, which is where the Super Shred Diet works wonders. This diet has been created to help dieters who have reached a weight loss plateau in shedding the last of the 10-20 pounds of extra weight. The idea is to trick your body into burning calories and fat quickly by varying your diet and thus creating a condition of negative energy balance (where your fat stores are used to provide fuel to your body).

Studies have shown that intermittent fasting can lead to reduced blood pressure, improvement in fat and sugar levels¹ and reduced inflammation in the body². The diet uses intermittent fasting to boost metabolism³, varying the total calorie consumption from one day to another, which confuses the body into maintaining the fat-burning condition. The foods consumed in the later part of the day are mostly plant-based foods instead of meat-based ones which also help in weight loss. On one day of every week in the diet plan, you’ll have to consume reduced number of calories as compared to other days in order to achieve this effect. 

Like we said, while on the diet, you must eat 6-7 meals that are low in glycemic index. Foods such as veggies, chicken and fish that raise the blood sugar levels very slowly are perfect examples. Eating these many meals helps you to feel less hungry and maintain balanced levels of energy⁴.

 

 

Another great thing about this diet, is that the Super Shred Diet can be followed on its own or can be used along with its brother, the Shred Diet. Once you complete the 4-week Super Shred Diet and still feel like you want to lose more weight (we get it, weight loss can be very addictive, but at least it’s the good kind of addiction as long as you’re keeping you’re not compromising on your health), you can move onto the Shred Diet.

 

Guidelines for the Super Shred Diet

• Different Meal Times: Each week of the Super Shred Diet is different. This means you must keep in mind the eating instructions for the particular week. You may have 3 snacks sometimes and sometimes it may be only 2 snacks. Some weeks you will consume 4 meals while other times there are only 2 meals. Oh, and you must never skip your meals. If you are not very hungry, eat only some portion of the meal as opposed to all of it. In case you miss a meal or a snack, this sadly means you can forget about that meal because you may not combine it with your next meal or eat it later. Just wait for your next meal or snack at the specified time with a little more eagerness than usual. Head spinning already? Don’t let this scare you away because you can quite easily keep a track of the diet with a weekly timetable. After all, what are smartphones for?

• Substitutions: Who doesn’t love the freedom of making choices and decisions? Brownie points here, because you can make substitutions wherever needed; however, just because you have the freedom, don’t go overboard with it! It is recommended that you do not make too many changes, as this can reduce your chances of succeeding on the diet. When you are faced with a choice, tempting as it may be to not do so, you must choose the foods that are lower in calories, as natural as possible (i.e. least processed foods) and foods that are rich in fiber, proteins, vitamins and minerals.

 

 

• Slips: If there are “slips” in your eating pattern on the Super Shred Diet (i.e. if you skip any meal, overeat at a particular meal, or eat food not on the menu), remember that it’s a huge setback in your weight loss journey and could very well mean going back to square one. If you slip when you are 1-3 days away i.e. less than half a week away, then you must go back and start the diet from the beginning of the week. If you slip on days 5-7 then go back a day and do it again. If you slip on day 4, then you must re-do day 4 again. However, if you have committed a minor slip such as having a small extra snack or eating your meal half an hour later than the recommended time, you need not start over. Do we hear a sigh of relief? 

• Sample Schedule: If you haven’t figured it out already, timing is an essential component of the Super Shred Diet as it distributes the calories in such a way to maximize the fat-burning and keep the insulin levels stabilized. Erratic hormone levels can result in weight gain and the meal scheduling in the Super Shred Diet keeps the hormones from spiking as much as possible.

 

The Super Shred Way of Losing Weight and Keeping It Off

• Calorie Disruption: The main point of the diet is to not consume the same number of calories each day. Your body must be challenged continuously by changing the foods that you consume and hence, the number of calories. The objective is to keep your body guessing and not allow it to become accustomed to the same kind of food and calories. This keeps your metabolism fueled⁵.

• Strategic Snacking: If you go about it the right way, snacks are a fantastic way to lose weight. No, this doesn’t mean you stock up on the bags of Lays and Oreos. The right kind of snacks can fill you up and prevent you from overeating at your next meal and stop you from consuming too many calories in one meal. Secondly, they keep the hunger pangs away and help you feel full throughout the day. However, you must understand that snacks are not complete meals by themselves and are only bridges between meals to prevent overeating.

• High-Intensity Workout: Any good and balanced weight-loss program should include exercise and the best exercise for weight loss is considered to be high-intensity interval training. Short bursts of intensive workout with small rest periods can burn more calories than a steady rate of exercise⁶. This kind of a workout increases the resting metabolic rate and also the oxygen consumption that results in increased rate of calorie burning⁷.
• Sliding Nutrition Density: The very fancy-sounding “Sliding Nutrition Density” theory simply recommends that most of the calories during the latter part of the day must come from plant-based foods rather than meat. Plant-based foods are rich in fiber and lower in calories that help you feel full for a longer time and stop you from consuming higher calories⁸ when your body metabolism is slowing down.
• Meal Replacement: You can have a soup or smoothie occasionally that is rich in fiber and/or fruit. This helps to reduce the calorie consumption while at the same time you can get all the minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients required. These meal replacements are great for weight loss and are convenient too.

 

 

Shred Diet

Like we said, weight loss of the healthy kind can be addictive. After all, who doesn’t want a toned, ripped body without the love handles and thunder thighs? Well, luckily, if you aren’t satisfied with your weight loss even after the grueling 4-week Super Shred Diet, you can shift to the Shred Diet! The Shred is a 6-week diet plan that educates you to make smarter food choices and lays out specific strategies for daily meals and exercise plans. This diet specifies guideline of what you must eat, how much you should eat, how many calories to consume and also timings and spacing of the meals. The Shred Diet recommends that you vary your nutritional picks; this keeps the body guessing and helps to increase your metabolism and lose weight while reducing the probability of getting bored with the food, employing a concept that is popularly called “Diet Confusion”.

Though the Shred is a 6-week program, you can follow it for more than 6 weeks, but remember that a set of six weeks is considered as a cycle. Once you have completed one cycle of 6 weeks and you want to lose more weight, you can follow another cycle again. In case you’re someone who thinks variety is the spice of life, you can change the order of the weeks in the new cycle in a manner that works best for you.

 

The 6 phases of the Shred Diet are:

• Week 1- Prime:  This week is an introduction to the Shred Diet where you learn about the significance of meal spacing, techniques of snacking and suppressing your hunger without too much calorie consumption.
• Week 2- Challenge:  In this phase, you work to let go of some of your bad eating habits and adopt newer and healthier ones that to follow for the rest of your life.
• Week 3- Transformation: This is the toughest phase of the Shred Diet (you’ll soon see why!)
• Week 4- Ascend: This is the turnaround week.
• Week 5- Cleanse: This week pays special attention to boosting the ability of your liver to detoxify your blood by eating foods that activate the special liver enzymes.
• Week 6- Explode: Hurray! This is the last week of the Shred Diet cycle.

 

For the purpose of maintenance, you can choose one week of the Shred Diet cycle and follow it strictly. After 6 months of maintaining your weight loss, you can follow this process once every two months.

 

What’s on the Menu?

To make the journey a little easier and show you how nice we are, here’s a sample menu of all the foods and meals you can eat in each of the specified time periods. Remember that this is only a sample, and you must build a schedule that works best for you depending on your sleep-wake cycle and work schedule. But also keep in mind that you must follow some basic guidelines that the diet plan lays out:

 

 

• The waiting time between a meal and snack should be around 1 ½ hours except for the last snack, which can be eaten more than 1 ½ hours after the meal.
• The waiting time between meals is 3-4½ hours.
• Your last meal must be eaten 90 minutes prior to your bedtime. If you are eating very late and are going to bed right after the meal (which, let’s face it, is more the norm than exception with current lifestyles), then eat half the meal.
• Follow the meal plan as per the guidelines. This also includes the substitutes.
• In Week 3, snacks are optional but it is strongly recommended that you eat snacks. In Week 3, you can eat a “floating bonus snack” which is an extra snack apart from what is recommended by the meal plan. (Treats aren’t only for our furry friends!). However, before you celebrate with abandon, keep in mind that this snack must be 100 calories or less. This is meant to be an emergency snack and you must eat it only if required.

 

Week 1: Foundation

• Eat 4 meals a day 3-4 hours apart and eat 2 snacks between meals 1 and 2
• Drink 1 cup of water before each meal
• 8.30 am- Meal 1: 1 hour after waking up, which means 8.30am if you wake up at 7.30am
• 10.00 am- Snack 1:  1 ½ hours after Meal 1
• 11.30 am- Snack 2: 1 ½ hours after Snack 1
• 12.30 pm- Meal 2: 1 hour after Snack 2
• 4.30 pm- Meal 3: 3 hours after Meal 2
• 7.30 pm- Meal 4: 3 hours after Meal 3

 

Foods Included

• Fruits: 1 piece of fruit or ½ cup of small or large fruit or berries, 2 lemons + 6 servings of fruits in Week 1 (canned or frozen fruits, sugar-free and packed in water): lemons (must have) + berries, banana, apple, blueberries, cherries, grapes, blackberries, mango, melon, grapefruit, kiwis, pineapple, pear, raspberries, plums, watermelon, and strawberries
• Breakfast Options: 6 breakfast meals in Week 1: grains (oatmeal, cream of wheat, low-sugar or sugar-free, cooked), cereals (Cheerios, Fiber One, Kashi 7 Whole Grain Puffs), eggs, bacon (pork, turkey), egg whites, bread (whole grain, whole wheat), grilled sandwich (with 2 slices of bread with 2 slices of regular cheese), whole-grain pancakes, fat-free or low-fat yogurt
• Beverages: Water (plain or fizzy), green tea or hibiscus tea (6 cups) + 32 additional drinks such fresh juice, milk, tea, coffee, diet soda, flavored water, almond or soy milk (unsweetened, low-fat, reduced-fat or fat-free), iced tea (unsweetened), and lemonade
• Alcoholic Beverages: 3 alcoholic beverages in Week 1: light beers (3), wine (3 glasses), and mixed drinks (2)
• Salads: 1 small and 4 large green garden salad: lettuce, onions, olives, tomatoes, beets, and carrots
• Vegetables: Must have 12 servings in week 1 + optional 3 further servings (canned or frozen): tomato, broccoli, cabbage, avocados, green beans, leeks, kale, cauliflower, celery, bell peppers, corn, cucumber, garlic, spinach, sweet potatoes
• Meat and Fish (skinless): Must have 4 servings that can go up to 5 servings in Week 1: chicken, turkey, lean beef, fish (baked, grilled, broiled, but not fried)
• Snacks (optional): 7 SHRED bars, 7 SHRED pop popcorn, natural peanut butter, frozen grapes, fruit, nuts, seeds, deli turkey slices, vegetables with guacamole, wasabi peas, baby carrots, and roasted chickpeas
• Soups, Smoothies, Protein Shakes: 1 cup of soup (must have) 6 + 12 additional servings of others in the list: soup (low-salt, no potatoes, no heavy cream)- vegetable, lentil, split pea, black bean, chicken noodle, chickpea, tomato basil, minestrone, fruit smoothies, and protein shakes
• Optional Meal Choices: Pasta (1 cup), cheese pizza (2 slices) lasagne (with or without meat), and veggie burger
• Sweet Foods (100 calories or less): Jelly, sugar packets, half-and-half, and syrup (1 ½ tablespoon)
• Fatty foods: Butter, grated cheese (1 tablespoon), and extra milk for cereal
• Meal Enhancements:  Ground beef/marinara sauce, and cheese
• Condiments: Mustard, and mayo
• Spices: All spices (unlimited), and salt (not more than ½ teaspoon per day)

 

 

Week 2: Accelerate

• 3 meals and 2 snacks
• Drink 1 cup of water before each meal
• 8.30am- Meal 1: 1 hour after waking up, which means 8.30am if you wake up at 7.30am
• 10.00am- Snack 1: 1 ½ hours after Meal 1
• 12.30pm- Meal 2: 2 ½ hours after Snack 1
• 5.00pm- Meal 3: 3 ½ hours after Meal 2
• 8 pm- Snack 2: 3 hours after Meal 3

 

Foods Included

• Fruits: Same as week 1: 2 lemons + 6 other servings of fruit
• Breakfast Options: Same as week 1: only 4 breakfast meals for this week + grits
• Beverages: Same as week 1: only 21 drink options for the week + water
• Salads: Similar to week 1, with more number of salads
• Vegetables: Similar to week 1: must have 6 servings + 4 further servings (optional)
• Meat and Fish: Similar to week 1: must have 2 servings + additional 3 (optional servings): other options: chicken fingers, lean hamburgers, cooked cod, shrimp, lean country ham, chicken stir fry, chicken or turkey sandwiches, and turkey burgers
• Snacks: Same as week 1
• Other Snacks: Fudgsicles, peanuts, tuna, small baked potato topped with salsa, low-fat frozen yogurt, all-natural granola, hummus, hard-boiled egg, and olives
• Soups, Smoothies, Protein Shakes: Similar to week 1: must have 4 cups of soup, plus 11 additional servings from the list in week 1
• Optional Meal Choices: Pasta (1 cup), brown rice (1 ½ cups), chickpeas, lentils or beans (1 cup)
• Extras: Similar to week 1
• Spices: Same as week 1

 

 

Week 3: Shape

• 2 meals and 4 snacks
• Drink 1 cup of water before each meal and every snack
• 8.30am- Meal 1: 1 hour after waking up, which means 8.30am if you wake up at 7.30am
• 10.30am- Snack 1: 2 hours after Meal 1
• 12.30pm- Snack 2: 2 hours after Snack 1
• 2.30pm- Snack 3: 2 hours after Snack 2
• 5.30pm- Meal 2: 3 hours after Snack 3
• 7.00pm- Snack 4: 1 ½ hours after Meal 2

 

Foods Included

• Fruits: Similar options to week 1: 6 servings minimum + optional 2 servings
• Breakfast Options: Same as week 1: only 5 breakfast meals for this week
• Beverages: Same as week 1, only 19 drink options for the week + water
• Salads: Similar to week 1: more flexibility in number of salads
• Vegetables: Similar to week 1: must have 10 servings + optional 2 further servings
• Meat and Fish: Similar to week 1: must have 6 servings + additional 4 optional servings
• Snacks: Double the amount allowed in week 1: 14 SHRED bars, 14 SHRED pop popcorn,
• Floating Bonus Snack: Tiny chocolate chip cookies, Ritz crackers, dried apricots, oysters, shrimp with cocktail sauce, smoked salmon, and low-fat salsa with tortilla chips
• Smoothies and Protein Shakes: Only 2 servings this week: same options as week 1
• Optional Meal Choices: Pasta (2 cups), cheese pizza (2 slices) lasagne (with or without meat), and veggie burger
• Extras: Similar to week 1
• Spices: Same as week 1

 

 

Week 4: Tenacious

• 4 meals and 1 snack
• Drink 1 cup of water before each meal
• 8.30am- Meal 1: 1 hour after waking up, which means 8.30am if you wake up at 7.30am
• 12.00pm- Meal 2: 3 ½ hours after Snack 1
• 1.30pm- Snack 1 – 1 ½ hours after Meal 2
• 4.00pm- Meal 3: 2 ½ hours after Snack 1
• 7.30pm- Meal 4: 3 ½ hours after Meal 2

 

Foods Included

• Fruits: Similar options to week 1: 7 servings minimum + optional 5 servings
• Breakfast Options: Same as week 1:  7 breakfast meals
• Beverages: Same as week 1: only 20 drink options + water
• Alcoholic Beverages: Same as week 1
• Salads: Similar to week 1: more flexibility in number of salads
• Vegetables: Similar to week 1: must have 13 servings + optional 4 further servings
• Meat and Fish: Similar to week 1: must have 3 servings + additional 2 optional servings
• Snacks: Similar to week 1 but fewer snacks: 2 SHRED Bars, quinoa, 5 SHRED POP popcorn, black bean salsa spread on eggplant, and red kidney beans
• Soups, Smoothies, Protein Shakes: Similar to week 1:  9 servings
• Optional Meal Choices: Cheese pizza (2 slices) lasagne (with or without meat), and 2 veggie burgers
• Extras: Similar to week 1
• Spices: Same as week 1

 

 

What’s off the Menu?

• Any food or beverage not listed above
• Foods in larger serving sizes or more calories than listed above
• Regular soda
• Salty foods
• No alcohol in week 3
• No soup in week 3

 

Advantages of the Super Shred Diet

• Healthy Diet: The Super Shred Diet recommends eating nutrient dense foods as part of the meal plan and can be considered as a good, healthy diet.

• Weight Loss: One of the best part is that the Super Shred Diet is designed for quick weight loss, and again, who doesn’t want good results in lesser time? You can expect to lose around 5 pounds per week.

• Exercise: The Super Shred Diet encourages you to exercise along with following the diet plan. The diet recommends that you follow a high-intensity exercise routine for at least 40 minutes daily.

 

 

Disadvantages of the Super Shred Diet

• Time Consuming: For those of us who never bothered with timetables and rules while in school have got another thing coming with this diet! The Super Shred Diet involves quite a lot of planning and food preparation and the timing of meals is critical. This can become tedious and difficult if you have a very busy schedule. Or even if you don’t, because let’s face it, following rules and timetables even when we have the time for it can be pretty tiresome!

• Expensive: It may be expensive to follow the diet as some of the food items recommended by the diet plan may be pricey.

• Not Easy: This diet really is the Mt. Everest of all diets. With these many rules and timings, you need to ensure you follow them or you’re just going to come slipping back down the slopes. Hence, this diet may be quite difficult to follow and may be difficult to sustain in the long run.

• Temporary Weight Loss: You can lose weight rapidly by following the Super Shred Diet, but this may not be a suitable long-term solution for weight loss.

Side Effects

Some of the side effects you can face when on the Super Shred⁹ diet are:

• Cramps
• Fatigue
• Malnutrition
• Hunger pangs
• Brain fog
• Difficulty in concentrating

 

Phases of the Super Shred Diet

 

Phase 1: Foundation

The cornerstone is the most important part of any building. Therefore, the first phase of the Super Shred Diet lays the foundation for the next 4 weeks of the diet plan. In this phase, you must eat 4 meals and 3 snacks in a day. Make sure you follow the meal times specified by the diet plan as this is effective in keeping the blood sugar levels stable. If you eat a large meal, there will be a spike in the insulin levels which is not good for health.

 

Phase 2: Accelerate

By the time you reach the second week of the diet plan, your body will be used to the meal routine and the weight loss process speeds up. In this phase, you must replace one meal with a shake, smoothie or soup.

 

 

Phase 3: Shape

Like we said, week 3 is the toughest phase of the program and your weight loss will become noticeable. You’re halfway through the diet by now and more often than not, that’s the point where you may feel like giving up. This week will really test your mettle, so take a cue from Forrest Gump and don’t give up! 

 

Phase 4: Tenacious

You’ve made it! This is the last week of the Super Shred Diet and you need to be more dedicated and firm than before in this stage. This phase firms up your “healthy” eating habits and you shed the stubborn fat that is clinging on.

 

Who Is It For?

• If you want to lose some weight before your high school reunion or look sexy at your friend’s wedding, then this diet is suitable for you.
• If you are a diabetic, then the Super Shred Diet may help to keep your sugar levels in check. The diet is also suitable for people with high blood pressure, heart disease and high cholesterol, as mentioned earlier.
• The Super Shred Diet is suitable for vegetarians, vegans and for those on a gluten-free diet, earning full points for being as inclusive as the White Walkers! (Come on, the only criteria they require is that you’re dead and nothing else!) You can make the necessary substitutions to suit your individual needs.

 

 

Who Is It Not For?

The diet may not be suitable for growing children and teens and for patients with chronic ailments. Nevertheless, it is recommended that you check with your nutritionist or doctor before embarking on the Super Shred Diet.

 

Final Word

The Super Shred Diet is one more “star” on the dieting horizon that claims to deliver very quick and effective weight loss of a whopping 20 pounds in just 4 weeks. For this, it has aptly been named as a “destination diet” meant for a person who is goal-oriented and is looking for quick and dramatic weight loss results.

The diet has four phases to be followed over 4 weeks and the idea of the diet is to reduce calorie consumption, never to skip meals and eat natural and whole foods. The diet lays out step-by-step specifications of how to follow the diet, what to eat and how many calories must be consumed every day. The best part of the Super Shred is that you don’t starve and never go hungry, as the focus of the diet is on eating healthy and it does not omit any food groups. Most importantly, the diet strongly recommends exercise as part of the diet routine.

However, the diet is quite a strict and regimented one and is meant as a short-term solution with no solid long-term weight maintenance plan. The diet also requires quite a lot of preparation and planning which can make it a bit difficult to follow and sustain in the long run, but nothing a little willpower and organization can’t solve! 

In short, the Super Shred Diet can be defined as a “short-term crash diet” but is a flexible, healthy and effective one as it does not involve unhealthy eating practices that many other fad diets employ. So try the Super Shred Diet and get to super ripped, super fast!