The Venus Factor Review 1
Imagine being able to shape your body just the way you – as a woman – wanted to. Men have broad shoulders, thick cores, and heavy legs, but women prefer the curvy hips, and the sleek body. So what if there was a way to give your body that perfect hourglass figure that you – and probably every other woman in the world – want?
According to the Venus Factor, it’s not only possible, it’s something you can do in just 12 weeks!
What is the Venus Factor?
The Venus Factor is a total body program designed by John Barban, together with Brad Pilon. It is created with the woman’s body in mind, with the nutrition and workout programs included targeting the shaping of a woman’s specific physiology.
It’s not a weight loss program – it’s a program designed to help women achieve the best shape for their body.
The Mind Behind the Venus Factor: John Barban
According to John Barban’s official website:
“My formal education background is a Masters In Human Biology and Nutrition from U of Guelph, where I spent 3 years as a varsity strength and conditioning coach for the ice hockey team. I did further graduate research and taught exercise physiology at the University of Florida. I’ve taken a bunch of personal training certifications, all the usual ones such as the NSCA CSCS, ACE PT, CSEP, etc.”
John Barban, creator of the venus factor
He has worked with or taken part in the creation of brands such as:
- MuscleTech
- NxLabs
- Slimquick
- ADS
- BlueStar Nutraceuticals
- Empowered Nutrition Products
He is also the creator of the Adonis Golden Ratio workout program – the equivalent of the Venus Factor program for men.
The Venus Factor Package Review
The cost of the Venus Factor program is $47 – not too bad when compared with programs like the P90X.
Included in the Venus Factor package is:
- The Venus Factor Diet and Weight Loss Manual – a 180-page ebook
- The 12-Week Workout System – a library with instructional exercise videos
- The Venus Factor Virtual Nutritionist – an app that helps you to track calories and protein intake according to your body.
- The Venus Community – access to the exclusive Venus Factor community, including blogs, forums, etc.
- The Venus Index Podcasts – audio interviews by other Venus Factor members on their success stories
You’ll find most of these things included in any other complete fitness program.
A Look at The Venus Factor
Within the first few pages of the Venus Factor Diet and Weight Loss Manual, the purpose of the program is made clear:
“The Venus System is designed to be the simplest possible to achieving fat loss while also providing a workout program for developing and shaping muscle in a manner that is specific to a woman’s body.”
The manual breaks down the process of the Venus Factor diet into two parts:
Part 1: Weight Loss/Fat Removal
Before you can start shaping your body the way you want it, you need to get rid of all the excess fat and weight clinging to your frame. The Venus Factor promotes diet as the most important factor in your weight loss/fat burning, so a good part of the book is dedicated to helping readers plan their diet for weight loss.
Part 2: Muscle/Body Shaping/Toning
A person’s body structure and shape is defined by two factors:
- Location and quantity of body fat
- Muscle shape and size
The workout component of the book aims to shape the muscles and tone them in order to give you the body shape you want.
Understanding Metabolism and Hormones
The Venus Factor spends a few pages discussing the different factors that affect women’s metabolisms, specifically:
- Body Composition - the % of body fat
- Size – the different heights, widths, and lengths
The manual proceeds to discuss the importance of testosterone and estrogen in a woman’s weight loss – specifically that women burn less calories than men simply because they have less testosterone.
Leptin is another hormone specifically discussed in the book. This hormone is the one that controls your appetite, and the Venus Factor aims to increase your body’s natural sensitivity to leptin by:
- Sleeping properly
- Follow a proper exercise program
- Use supplements
- Fasting
The Venus Factor Diet Review
A very large chunk of the book is spent detailing a healthy diet for those who are trying to shape their bodies with the Venus Factor.
First, they look at foods that will make it difficult for you to lose weight, including:
- Soy
- Sugar
- Artificial sweeteners
- High-calorie beverages (juice, soda, alcohol, etc.)
- Low-fiber carbs
- Fats
The Venus Factor Manual examines the calories in fats, protein, and carbs, but doesn’t discuss in much detail what’s a healthy amount of each for a proper diet.
Hard, Cold Facts
Thankfully, the Venus Factor does get into some details and provide real, usable numbers on certain things, such as:
BMR – Understanding the metabolic rate enables Venus Factor users to determine how many calories they need to burn per day. This is the true key to success in any diet, and thankfully the manual provides charts that help women to figure out their BMR according to their height and weight.
Meal Planning – The manual examines not only how much to eat, but how often. This helps readers to determine the best meal plan according to the number of calories they can eat every day, making it easy to break down their meals.
Calories – The Venus Factor Manual actually tells readers roughly how many calories are burned by their body, such as:
- The heart burns 200 calories per day
- The kidney burns 200 calories per day
- The brain burns 110 calories per day
Now, whether or not this data is accurate is difficult to prove, as there are no links to follow from the manual to find out where they obtained the data from. Still, it breaks it down in a way that’s easy to understand.
The Reverse Taper Diet
The Reverse Taper Diet is a unique eating plan created by Brad Pilon – co-writer of the book. It is found only in the Venus Factor Manual and other books sold by Brad Pilon.
What is the Reverse Taper Diet?
To put it simply: you eat more as you lose weight.
Let’s say you weigh 180 pounds with a 30% body composition. That means that your lean body mass is just 127 pounds. If your goal is to work your way down to a low body composition, you want to eat fewer calories in order to lose weight.
However, as you shed the pounds of fat, your lean body mass stays the same. In fact, if you’re working out, it should actually increase as you build more muscle. According to the Reverse Taper Diet, as you lose weight, you should eat more.
The less you eat, the more calories your body needs to burn from fat. However, once you get rid of the fat in your body, there is less fat accessible. This means that your body will not be able to burn that fat, so it will burn muscle cells if you don’t consume enough food. For this reason, you eat more food as you lose more weight, providing the fuel your body needs to continue the fat burning.
While this is designed to make the weight loss diet easy, there is little scientific research to prove that it actually works. The theory sounds very plausible, but with no facts to back it up, there’s no way to say how it will affect the body.
Could it be too good to be true?
The 12-Week Undulating Metabolic Override Program
This is the 12-week diet plan included in the Venus Factor program is actually quite complicated. It took me a few minutes of reading and re-reading to understand exactly what needs to be done. It requires the Venus Factor app, which will direct you to eat a certain number of calories of fat per day/week.
Here’s a breakdown of the diet:
Week 1 – 2: 5 & 1 Protocol – For the first five days, eat a lower number of calories as directed by the app. On Day 6, eat a higher number of calories as directed by the app.
Week 3 – 4: High Fat 2 & 1 Protocol – For the first two days, eat a lower number of calories as directed by the app. On Day 3, eat a higher number of fat calories. Repeat this twice per week for two weeks.
Week 5 – 6: 5 & 1 Protocol – Back to the first diet plan.
Week 7 – 8: High Protein 2 & 1 Protocol – Similar to Weeks 3 and 4, simply replacing high protein intake for high fat intake.
Week 9 – 10: 5 & 1 Protocol – Back to the first diet plan.
Week 11- 12: High Carb 2 & 1 Protocol – Similar to Weeks 3 and 4, simply replacing high carb intake for high fat intake.
The purpose of this diet is to “confuse” your metabolism – forcing it to keep running at high speeds in order to keep up with your changing diet.
Does this metabolism-centric diet work? The lack of studies backing up the claims in the book leaves me skeptical, though the theory does have its merit. Without scientific proof that it actually works, I wouldn’t follow it blindly.
