Shred: The Revolutionary Diet: 6 Weeks 4 Inches 2 Sizes

by Ian K. Smith

Dr. Ian K. Smith's Shred is the answer to every dieter's biggest dilemmas: how to lose that last twenty pounds? How to push through that frustrating plateau? What to do when nothing else is working? Here, Smith has created a program that uses all he knows about strategic dieting in one plan--like putting all the best players on the field at once to create a can't lose combination. Shred combines a low GI diet, meal spacing, and meal replacements. Those who follow Shred will constantly be eating (every three and a half hours!), four meals or meal replacements (soups, smoothies, shakes) and 3 snacks a day, over a six week program. Shred also introduces Dr. Ian's concept of "Diet Confusion". Diet Confusion, like muscle confusion, tricks the body and revs up its performance. In the same way you need to vary your workout to see results, switch up your food intake to boost your metabolism.  No matter how often or how unsuccessfully you've dieted before, Shred: The Revolutionary Diet will change your life. Shred has taken the internet by storm, and thousands have already joined Dr. Ian's Shredder Nation, losing an average of four inches, two sizes or twenty pounds in six weeks. Utilizing the detox from Fat Smash Diet, the intense cleanse of Extreme Fat Smash, and varying food of The 4 Day Diet, Shred is a six week plan to a new way of life!

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Diets, Cooking, Food, Self Help, Reference

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 24, 2012

About the author

Ian K. Smith, M.D.,Ian K. Smith, M.D. is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of SUPER SHRED, SHRED, THE 4 DAY DIET, THE FAT SMASH DIET and EXTREME FAT SMASH DIET among 7 other books including, SHRED Diet Cookbook , EAT, Happy , and The Blackbird Papers. His newest book, THE SHRED POWER CLEANSE, is available 12/29/15.

He is a former co-host of Emmy-winning “The Doctors” TV show, and a medical contributor to “The Rachael Ray Show."

He is the former medical correspondent for NBC News network and for NewsChannel 4 where he filed reports for NBC’s “Nightly News” and the “Today” show as well as WNBC’s various news broadcasts. He has appeared extensively on various broadcasts including “The Oprah Show,” “Good Morning America” “CBS This Morning” “The View,” “The Talk,” “Dr. Oz,” ‘Dr. Phil,” “Anderson Cooper 360″ and “Showbiz Tonight.”

He has written for various publications including Time, Newsweek, Men’s Health, and the New York Daily News, and has been featured in several other publications including, Publisher’s Weekly, Red Book, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, People, Essence, Ebony, University of Chicago Medicine on the Midway, Cosmopolitan, Women’s World, and Black Enterprise.

Dr. Smith is the founder of two major national health initiatives—the 50 Million Pound Challenge and the Makeover Mile—that have helped millions of people lose weight and improve their health.

A graduate of Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Dr. Smith was appointed to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition in 2010 and is serving a second term.

http://shredlife.com/about-shred/abou...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/ianksmith

Reviews

[Michele Defilippo · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good, if obvious, diet, in that you'll cut calories and lose weight if you consume mostly soup and smoothies. The structure of the book was annoying, and perhaps an attempt by the publisher to inflate the page count. The diet is described in six one-week segments with each segment containing a seven-day meal plan. Instead of beginning each week with four or five introductory paragraphs, the opening text was repeated FORTY-TWO times, once for each day. The meal plans were mostly identical as well and the diet in its entirety could have been described in a booklet, but booklets can't be sold for $24.99. Either sales price was the motivation, or the author and publisher think readers are too stupid to understand the concept without excessive repetition. Either choice is an insult.

[Leah Darrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic diet. I lost 10 lbs in 6 weeks, and my husband lost 15 (good numbers for us, since we were very close to our goal weights.) Unlike most diets, this one doesn't require you to cut out entire food groups so you don't get insane cravings or headaches or weird side effects. It's something you can do for much more than 6 weeks, and you don't feel too hungry while you're on it. It includes a full list of healthy meal plans, and some good recipes. The only alteration we made is to skip some of the snacks, mostly sticking to the meals, particularly in the first week when the allowed calories were a little higher than what we really needed.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

It really works!! Yes, it changed my lifestyle, i now exercise regularly, but how else wears I going to drop 10 pounds? I was never hungry and I feel fantastic. I've downloaded the short-form ebook to my phone and am eating healthy forever.

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not just a diet. It's a complete change in the way you should think about food and diet! It seems like so often, when i'm on a diet, I feel stressed. There are so many rules and guidelines to follow that I end up cracking and just don't want to do it anymore. This book gave me the guidelines to be successful and it's easy to follow. My husband and I did this plan together and we both saw great results! Overall I believe I lost close to 15 lbs in the 3 week period. But more important than that, I went down a size in jeans and I just feel good! I have higher energy levels that last all day long, My sleep schedule became regulated and I feel all around lighter!

I deviated from time to time over the 6 week period. A cookie here, a dinner out there. But I am more aware of portion size now, and I didn't feel guilty for "cheating". I just knew that it was a one time thing, and with my next meal/snack I was back in routine. We just ended the 6th week today, and are starting back at week 2 (week 1 is more prep than anything) tomorrow! We may not follow it meal for meal, but I like the guidelines to determine what types of foods and combinations we should eat each day. I think by this summer I will finally feel comfortable in a swimsuit again. In fact, i'm actually looking forward to it!

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book provided a lot of good advice and some good suggestions for different ways to eat, I wouldn't be able to follow it. I work full time and the things that he suggests to eat and how often he suggests to eat would not fit into my schedule. I would have to bring 5 meals to work, including 3 main ones. I am going to take what I've learned though and modify it along with the weight watchers program I belong to and see if I can get off these final 10 pounds.

There really isn't any secret to weight loss... watching what you eat (low cabs, low fat, lots of fruits and veggies) and exercise (at least 30+ min a day) will give you results, but I like to read books such as this to give me ideas that I can use to shake things up a bit.

I know it might not be fair to rate this book since I am not actually going to follow his diet, but I did read it all before making that decision. This review is based only on the information I read and not whether the diet actually works or not. I just know I can't follow it based on my work schedule without quite a bit of modification.

[Shelby W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may fall off the wagon and go back to my bad eating habits, but this is the one book, I will always go back to, to get back on track. Shred has everything inside, needed to help live a better you.

[Caro Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an advanced diet. As the intro mentions, it was designed for someone who has done all the right things with their diet and exercise, but still has 20 pounds (or so) to go. As a result, the 45 minutes of exercise most days shouldn't be a problem for someone doing this -- they're probably already doing about that.

The restrictions are pretty severe both mentally, physically, and socially. The book hints that the drop out rate is pretty high. There are very few of the prescribed meals that would allow the dieter to eat at someone else's home, much less a restaurant. Unfortunately, the book provides no explanation for its dictates. The author is an M.D., so I guess one is expected to accept that there's some science to support the diet. Somewhere.

- The diet requires eating about every 2.5 hours. That's not even possible for someone in a retail or service job, unless they want to sneak a smoothie in the bathroom (eww). The frequent eating also means not eating many meals at standard hours, which causes social issues for typical desk workers and lots of issues for full-time parents.

- The diet requires 4 mini meals and 3-4 micro meals. The meals are so small that most Americans would call them a snack; the snacks are just a forkful of food. Most advanced dieters have figured out their eating style and, for some, the micro/mini-meal causes emotional havoc.

- The diet is very clear about what you can eat every micro and mini-meal. Some people need that, um, attention to detail. It definitely makes sure that the calorie count stays pretty low. As other reviewers have mentioned, it's likely that the publisher needed that level of detail to increase the number of pages in the book. The book is hugely repetitive, because of that detail. Every 10 pages could have easily turned into a 2 page chart.

- There's a big focus on calories and fat elimination, which ramps up the crazy quotient. Snacks are allowed up to x calories and smoothies are allowed up to y calories. Sure, that provides some flexibility. For someone who's already eliminated pre-processed crap from their diet (ahem, advanced dieters, remember?), it also means you've got to measure how all the ingredients that go into each snack, smoothie, etc, before you pack your extensive collection of micro and mini-meals for work each day. In addition, foods can't be fried, salad dressings must be fat free, and egg yolks are tossed out. That means that snacks need to contain fat to avoid psychological break downs.

On a positive, the diet allows booze and diet drinks. The diet also relies a lot on smoothies, soups, and water, which could fool a body into feeling full longer. The book also says repeatedly that people should alter the diet to their personal needs.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks, goodreads for awarding me this book through the first reads program!

I have finished reading this diet book, and started the "Shred" plan today. We will see how well it works. I will update my review after finishing my initial 6 weeks on it.

I am one of those women who have tried just about every diet. I have had success with several at different times of my life. Initially I thought this to be a bit like the Michael Thurmond 6 week body makeover (which is a really good plan too), but it is much less restrictive and utilizes more convenience foods, which as a busy mom of 4 I found alluring. The main drawbacks I found is that some things just aren't specific enough. I'm hoping that means that it doesn't really matter. But, for example, for one of my meals today it said to eat "3 servings of veggies." Nowhere in the book could I find the numeric amount they want for 1 serving, and no list of what veggies are acceptable. Hopefully I'm worrying about the details too much. The book does have lots of good references on 100 & 150 calorie snacks as well as smoothie, soup, and protein shake recipes. I also wondered if height should play any part in the serving sizes of meals. I am extremely petite so this is something I have to think about. Overall, it sounds good! I like that everyday of program has its meals laid out for you. Makes planning lots easier.

I am very excited to have won this book and have the opportunity to try out the diet! Here's to success...

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not actually go through the Shred program, but I can tell from reading through it that it should work. Shred guides you through a six-week program of eating healthy foods in a way to boost your metabolism in order to burn more calories. There are no tricks, and the diet is completely healthy. This is the first program I've read that has you vary your caloric intake to keep your body from becoming complacent. I have seen this technique used for aerobic exercising and strength training. This program has you vary your aerobic exercise as well. The diets contain a lot of liquids like protein shakes, smoothies, and soups, and it would be difficult to maintain it for longer than six weeks in my opinion. The author tells you what to expect during a certain a week as well as how difficult each week is. He could, however, have condensed the book to about 50 pages or so. Once going through this program, the user should have a better idea of how to eat well and maintain a good exercise program.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will let you know how I feel about this book, but Come ON!!! aren't all diet books the same at this poing and time. You ahve to eat small meals through out the day and engage in more cardiovascualar activity than the calories you consume. This is the books primary focus. Small meals are regular intervals and cardio for at least 30-45 minutes per day, prefereable on different machines, or different kinds of cardio so you are not bored. Does this sound like every other diet book you have read. Now, I am not unlike you, I figure if I"m going to pick up a diet book it should have some revolutionary way for me to loose weight such as eating only squid ink for three days and then lemon water after that, or some other kind of crazy diet. But I'm going to try the small meals throuighout the day because I am already activley engaged in the cardio thing and i am not seeing results so what can I lose????

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this book on Dr. Oz last night and I have already finished reading it, it has good explanation, the diet doesn't have wacky foods. The diet takes a lot of planning but would be workable even if the dieter works long hours. If the weight loss goal is not met you just keep working it. It could also be easily incorporated into other diet plans. It was designed for those people that have already lost weight but are trying to pass a plateau that is very stubborn. Very impressive.

[Shana's Reading Shelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book it is easy to follow and the food is simple food anyone can find and eat. I lost 10 lbs so yay! I will say it is hard to stick to at times, gets repetitive, and I was starving at times lol. Be prepared to be tough!

[FunkMaster General · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jumping in early, but after 3 & 1/2 weeks, the results are there. & trust me, I have cheated.

More than once.

4 stars (not 5) only because much is repetitive: it really could have been a large pamphlet.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

The jury is still out on this one. The plan sounds good, but there's lots of planning and prep work. Week three looks tortuous. Still, we're going to give it a try. I'll keep you posted.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Down 10 pounds and going for another 6 week cycle. This book has helped me and my husband get back on track. The plan is something everyone can follow. Thank you for writing this book!

[Jewel · Rating 2 out of 5]

They say that the best diet is the one you stick to. Well, I'm not going to be able to stick to this. A couple of weeks in and it's becoming increasingly clear that this is sort of like a liquid diet. Solid meals are becoming quite infrequent. Soups, fruit smoothies and protein shakes are the main choices for meals. I want to chew! No more drinking my food!

Ok, so I'm not sticking to this diet. However, I need to complain about this as a book, not as a diet. This is goodreads, right? It's about BOOKS. Well, Dr. Smith puts the same information over and over and over and over... Cut and paste fills up so many pages in this thing. It would be sooo short if he didn't keep repeating the same info at the beginning of each chapter.

Also, he mentions that this is not a diet, but a way of life. Ok, so then if you're teaching me something about how to live, please explain to me the WHYS. I feel like I'm a reasonably intelligent person, so when I'm learning tips on nutrition I'd love to UNDERSTAND them, not just be told them. It seems so random without an explanation! Examples:

He says only one small cup of coffee a day. It's stressed at the beginning of each chapter. I drink my coffee black and get zero calories from it, so explain to me why cutting my coffee back so severely will help me get in shape. I'm sure there's a reason (Dr. Smith's not just a mean jerk, right?) so just tell me why I need to limit my coffee.

In week 3, we're suddenly told to squeeze half a lemon into our water each morning. Why? We were drinking plain water before, so is there some nutritional reason we need to do this now? If so, what is it? It seems so random, so just let me know why I need to do this.

We're told to have a piece of fruit with breakfast almost every day, but some days Dr. Smith specifies what it should be. Like, he sometimes says it has to be a pear or a grapefruit. Why? Why not an apple? Is it fiber? Is it some kind of vitamin? Just tell me WHY and I will understand. Otherwise, it just seems random.

There are lots of other examples like this in the book. Just random stuff he tells you to do without any explanation as to how that's helping you get in shape. Explain. Teach me stuff.

Anyway, if you stick to this diet you will definitely lose weight, but it's a mighty hard one to stick to and be prepared to be told to do all kinds of little odd things that don't seem to really matter one way or the other.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very effective diet. I lost 11 pounds in 6 weeks when nothing else was working. It was hard to follow the rigorous eating schedule and is not sustainable to do long-term, but it was doable for 6 weeks. My only real complaint is that some of the particulars are not clearly explained. I read every word in the book, yet still was unsure about when exactly the bonus fourth snacks should be eaten, or why the order of snacks and meals gets switched around in different chapters. It gets confusing and opens up room for debate. I think the book could have used either more editing or more beta testers to work out some of the kinks. Overall though I really enjoyed doing this diet and plan to start another round soon with my husband to work off the next 10 pounds!

[Rebecca Werket · Rating 4 out of 5]

I followed this diet all the way through and have mixed feelings. I lost about 7 lbs and would have liked to lose more. I did feel it got me into better eating habits and working out on a regular basis but it is a very extreme diet and hard to maintain after the 6 weeks. I also feel like there is a lot of fruits and juices that you eat and drink. A lot of sugars even though they are natural sugars.

[Leonore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick Diet Plan

This is a summary of the SHRED program. Just the facts, ma'am. Gives the menus, food and beverage choices, times to eat, a long list of acceptable snacks, and cardio exercises. Explains why a wide variety of foods, beverages and snacks works when the same amount of calories in a repetitive meal plan might not.

[Raine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I kind of felt like this book, while scientifically accurate, was... not revolutionary. There was no new information to be given - so I suppose it could work for absolute beginners looking to start a healthy lifestyle! It definitely wasn't for me, but I'm sure many out there will have found it very useful.

[Linda Belmont · Rating 3 out of 5]

This diet is impossible to follow if you have an active social life. You have to revolve every day around what you eat and when. I’m sure you would lose, as with any plan where you’re mindful of portions and only eat healthy food. Not for me.

[Jacia · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I can believe people lost weight learning to eat smaller portions and work out, I can’t condone advising eating snacks and loading up on meals. For most humans, this is not a good method of eating. Ah, well, I did find this in a bargain bin, I’m only down a dollar.

[Podcast bücherreich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Effektives Diät-Buch mit einigen Schwachstellen.

[Jenni Stein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book but short term fixes to a long term problem with very strict restrictions and ways to do things. It does work but is not sustainable

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes a diet book breaks through the clutter to become popular- think The Scarsdale Diet back in the 70s. One that has caught the zeitgeist recently is Dr. Ian Smith's Shred Revolutionary Diet- 6 Weeks, 4 Inches, 2 Sizes.

The book evolved from Smith's Twitter feed, where people who had hit a weight loss plateau had been asking him for help. After getting many requests and hearing back that many of them had lost up to 20 pounds, he created Shred.

Shred is a six-week program that must be followed exactly to obtain the maximum effect. Each week is designated- Prime, Challenge, Transformation, Ascend, Cleanse and Explode- with its own goal. Prime sets you up to begin the program, for example.

The book is well-laid out. Each chapter takes you through every day with specific instructions as to when to eat the four meals and three snacks, giving you the options for each meal and snack and choices for the exercise requirement for the day.

While Smith is very rigid in his instructions, there seems to be enough choices that make it doable for most people. He gives you the calorie counts for each meal and snack, and options to get to those calories. Fruits and vegetables are key, as is drinking a cup of water before each meal. I think it would easy to follow this book day by day.

I talked to two women who are in the fifth week of this program and they generally had good things to say. They both found the most challenging part was to eat at the specific times required- 8:30am, 10am, 11:30am, 1pm, 3:30pm, 7pm, 8:30pm. It requires a lot of planning, and you must stick to these times to be successful.

On the flip side, the schedule means you don't have to think about it; you know you will have to eat at these times. One woman believes this plan is best for someone who has "hit a plateau or just wants to reset the kind of food" one eats. It has helped her break her addiction to sugar, and she has cut way back on drinking diet soda. She has lost 9 1/2 pounds, and may do another six weeks to continue her progress.

Another woman I spoke with says she feels great. Her skin and hair look better and she has been "sleeping better than I have in a long time." She does wish that the portion sizes were more specific and the week where you have to drink the pure cranberry juice was very difficult (the Cleanse week). She has lost 7 pounds and believes that if " you are willing to put in the time, money and energy" you can be successful.

I think if you are the kind of person who follows instructions closely (say someone who attended Catholic elementary school), this diet will work for you. There are enough options for your meals and snacks, and Smith lists lots of 100, 150 and 200-calorie snacks in the back of the book that I found so helpful even if you are not on the diet.

He also has several Smoothie and Soup recipes (both are big options in the diet) that look wonderful too. You don't need to be on the diet to find these delicious and helpful.

[Erin Overstreet · Rating 4 out of 5]

UPDATE: Giving this a 4 b/c I read it in a day and it is written in an easy to follow manner. I am going to give it a try and see how it goes. As a book it is good, but I know the big question is "Does it works?". I will update agter each week if I manage to stick with it. This would be relatively easy if I were still single and only shopping/cooking for myself. Throw in a husband and 2 kids....a bit more challenging.

Week one, didn't follow to a tee b/c I wasn't fully prepared and I had three previously planned engagements that I would not have a lot of control about what I would eat. I lost 3 lbs the first week. Got me motivated to continue and follow more closely.

Week two, I followed more closely, only lost 1-2 lbs, however friends and family have noticed a difference in how I look.

Week three, just got started and have been down half a lb or more each day so far! Looking forward to seeing how the rest of the wk continues. My husband is out of town so it is definitely easier to do when I am not worrying about a family meal. Worked out well, in terms of this being the hardest week. So for week three I lost 3.5 lbs. I am so excited to have more diverse meals in week 4.

Week four was rhe hardest for me for some reason. I lost just b/w 1 and 2 pounds. Getting kind of tired of following something so closely. Dreading the cleanse.

Week five, the cleanse was awesome. There is actually more food and calories than one would expect. I've been logging my food on my fitness pal and I was actually OVER my calorie goal a couple days. BUT I lost 4 lbs this week!!! Stay tuned for week 6. I will add how many inches I lost as well as lbs. I am also down more than 1 size in clothes.

Total after 6wks I am down 14 lbs and over 2 sizes. 2.25 inches at waist, 2.5 at hips 2 at thighs. I am going to repeat wks 3 and 5 since those were my best wks and see what happens.

[Felicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was straight to the point. I felt very encouraged reading it and going over the meal plan. I'm very excited to start the diet tomorrow. Wish me luck.
So, I did the 6 week plan and I am extremely disappointed with my results. Out of 6 weeks...I lost only 6 lbs and no inches or dress sizes at all. I was hungry all the time, and after week 2, I felt like I didn't have enough food to survive. I didn't cheat food-wise at all during the 6 weeks, but some days....I absolutely could not do the exercises. I was wayyyy too weak and would have fainted.

[Connieb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am super excited about this book. I saw it online a few weeks ago and thought 'oh ya, another diet book'. Today I spotted it on my way through WalMart to the juicer aisle and thought I'd take a peek at the book in person. It's exactly what I've been searching for, sometimes fate does have it's way!
~15 pgs of healthy (of course) soups/stew recipes
~35 smoothie recipes (does a person really need more than 35?)
~4 pgs of 100 calorie snacks
~3 pgs of 150 calorie snacks
~substitute items listed for each and every (I think) menu item!
The absolute best part... 6 weeks of menus and exercise already planned out. Oh ya baby! I'm so tired of menu planning, grocery lists, and trying to locate odd things at the store. The most important feature for me is that I need to eat several times each day and the menus accomodate that, all nutritionally (and mostly organically) based. Whoo hoo! No expensive items, just healthy foods, the reader decides how much they want to spend.
I've rated it 5 stars because it's jam-packed with put-to-use-immediately information, just a few introductory pages before jumping in to the 6-week program. Most excellent.

[Shauna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this! I started the plan the Monday following the day i received the book. It works! While reading through it, it made sense to me but at the same time I was thinking "I'll never be able to eat this food and lose weight" I was wrong, thankfully. There were days that I wasn't able to take in all the food listed but I did my best at it. It's very simple, very user friendly and demanding. Which for someone like myself, it works. Things were planned all out for me and no room for messing up. The reason I can't give it 5 stars is because, although it works and I'll do it again...I'm sooooo tired of soup! and there is not a lot of playroom for vegetarians or vegans. I myself am vegetarian, and although I love me some veggies, I can't live off salad all the time. I made some adjustments for myself, but that has the option for errors. It has made me look at the way i eat differently though and I like that. Thank you for this plan Dr. Ian:-) Also, thank you to those responsible for allowing me to have this book as I received it from GOODREADS.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The ideas seem sound and I liked the way all of the information was presented. Unfortunately, as a stay-at-home mom, I can't imagine following this plan. My house is small and most of the 'interval' workouts seem to require a gym.

I enjoyed reading about his diet plan and I think I would be able to successfully follow that since his meals and timing were clearly laid out. Again, the only problem with his plan is the number of times you have to eat in one day. With kids, I'm lucky to pick and snack when I can...I'm not sure the 'rigid' schedule would work for many people (including people who work in a strict office environment or have other jobs that don't allow them the correct number of snacks).

Overall, I think if you are a person who has a flexible job and you have the time and inclination, I think this plan would be successful. If not, I'm not sure how well it can be followed.

*I received this book free through Goodreads First Reads.