The Venus Factor 12-Week Fat Loss System is a diet and exercise plan marketed to women.
The program includes a combination of diet plans and workouts and is touted to work by controlling leptin levels.
The Venus Factor website contains limited information on the diet, and much of the available information online appears to be promotional material for the diet versus honest reviews.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the Venus Factor 12-Week Fat Loss System and review the claims made in the promotional material for the diet.
Diet review scorecard
- Overall score: 2.1
- Weight loss: 2
- Adherence: 2
- Whole body health: 1.5
- Nutrition quality: 4
- Health promotion: 1
BOTTOM LINE: The Venus Factor uses misleading marketing techniques and unsupported claims to make its program appealing to women. There’s currently no research to support its safety or effectiveness. The diet encourages eating mostly whole foods, does not eliminate entire food groups, and emphasizes regular exercise. While it may help you lose weight by creating a calorie deficit, there are more reputable and less expensive alternatives for weight loss.
The Venus Factor 12-Week Fat Loss System has been around since at least the early 2010s and aims to support weight loss by regulating levels of specific hormones, such as leptin.
Once you buy the program, you’ll have access to the 12-week diet and nutrition program, which is available as an e-book.
There’s very little information about the program’s content available directly from their website unless you buy the program, but the plan is marketed as a “female fat loss loophole.”
The diet advice in the program can be summarized as follows:
- Eat fewer calories than you’re burning.
- There are no good foods or bad foods.
- Exercise regularly.
- Minimize your intake of soy, sugar, sugar-sweetened beverages, and artificial sweeteners.
- For 6 weeks of the program, you’ll eat fewer calories than you burn 6 days per week and eat the same number of calories as you burn 1 day per week.
- For the remaining 6 weeks, you’ll put an emphasis on eating carbohydrates, protein, or fat.
More than half of the nearly 200-page e-book is made up of sample dietary plans. The majority of the rest of the e-book is made up of generic dietary advice.
Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of this program.
Pros
- relatively inexpensive compared to other programs
- can be used no matter your fitness level
- doesn’t involve fasting
Cons
- claims to only be for women
- uses deceitful marketing tactics
- provides limited information about the program before purchase
- shows no evidence that the diet plan is more effective than other programs
- sells information that’s already available from free sources
The Venus Factor program is currently available online for $37.
This price includes:
- the 12-week diet and nutrition program
- the 12-week workout program
- access to a Venus Factor virtual nutritionist
According to their website, they also offer a 60-day money-back guarantee and provide immediate access to the program once payment is approved.
Multiple weight loss programs emphasize diet and exercise. However, the Venus Factor claims to take it a step further with its focus on leptin.
“[The diet] claims to help you lose weight by decreasing an appetite hormone called leptin,” says registered dietitian-nutritionist Melissa Mitri of Melissa Mitri Nutrition. “The creators claim this program can reverse leptin resistance, thereby controlling your appetite.”
However, research on leptin resistance and weight loss is not conclusive (
Additionally, there’s no scientific research available on the diet itself. It’s also difficult to accurately judge the effectiveness of the Venus Factor 12-Week Fat Loss System due to a large number of fraudulent reviews online.
Other than the claims about leptin resistance, the diet consists of basic principles related to maintaining a calorie deficit and following an exercise program.
“The program’s tenets are very simple and recommend burning more calories than you take in to lose weight, which is not a very unique concept,” says Mitri.
Eating fewer calories than you’re burning and exercising regularly can help you lose weight. However, these concepts are fundamental to any effective diet and not unique to Venus Factor’s program (
Although the actual content in the Venus Factor Diet reiterates many basic nutrition concepts that may help with weight loss, the main problem with the program is its deceitful marketing.
Leptin and weight loss
Leptin is a hormone produced by your fat cells. Normally, when your leptin levels rise, your appetite decreases. As leptin decreases, your appetite increases.
A condition called leptin resistance can result when there are high levels of leptin circulating in the body, but a decreased response by the brain. People who are leptin resistant still feel hungry despite an increase in leptin levels (
Despite what the Venus Factor’s marketing suggests, there’s no conclusive evidence indicating the most effective diet for managing leptin resistance (
In general, the Venus Factor Diet has similar principles to other calorie-restricted diets. However, this diet requires payment to access and doesn’t have the scientific research that many other diets have to support their effectiveness.
The Venus Factor Diet has limited information available online, and it’s difficult to find sample meal plans or recipes unless you own the book.
The information that’s available about the diet indicates that it focuses on high protein, high fiber foods while also encouraging limited carbohydrate intake.
The program also recommends limiting soy products, artificial sweeteners, and foods high in added sugar.
The majority of the program’s e-book also includes sample meal plans and recipes that you can use while following the diet.
The Venus Factor program incorporates several healthy habits that may support weight loss, including:
- getting adequate sleep
- eating adequate protein
- exercising regularly
- eating soluble fiber
- minimizing processed food intake
However, keep in mind that none of these habits are unique to the Venus Factor system, and most are also included in a variety of other diet plans.
Other claims — such as limiting carbohydrate intake — are not necessary for weight loss, as some research shows that low fat diets and low carbohydrate diets are equally effective for weight loss (
Despite the misleading information, the Venus Factor program offers a few potential benefits.
Focus on adequate protein and fiber
The Venus Factor encourages a diet that contains adequate protein and fiber. However, it’s unclear whether the diet provides scientifically sound resources for determining total intake specific to your individual needs.
Eating enough protein can play increase feelings of satiety which may help with reducing total calorie intake if that’s your goal (
Additionally, eating enough fiber is associated with health benefits, including weight management (
Encourages exercise
Another benefit to the Venus Factor Diet is that it encourages being physically active and includes an exercise program with the purchase of the system.
Physical activity is essential for health and finding ways to be physically active that fit your lifestyle is beneficial for sticking to a program long-term (
However, purchasing a program isn’t a requirement to start an exercise routine. There are many free resources readily available online that can help you start an exercise program at home if desired.
Venus Factor has multiple downsides that make it less than ideal for those looking to lose weight.
Deceitful marketing
Venus Factor uses deceitful marketing techniques and makes assertions that aren’t backed by research.
The following are just a few of these false promises:
- It’s able to turn women of all ages into “women who can eat whatever they want without gaining weight.”
- It’s the “future of female weight loss.”
- Every 10 pounds you lose will look like 20 pounds.
- The diet will teach you which foods make losing “even a single pound” impossible.
- The creators have discovered a “female fat loss loophole.”
- The diet leads to weight loss no matter how much bread, pizza, or pasta you eat each week.
- You’ll learn seemingly supernatural secrets that celebrities you know by name are using.
The sales video on their website also makes countless scientifically inaccurate statements. For example, it claims the latest medical research proves that the hormone leptin is in complete control of everything to do with female fat loss.
While this hormone does play an important role in controlling your body weight, it’s only one part of a complex weight loss puzzle (
Additionally, in the company’s legal disclaimer, they claim that the average woman who follows the program loses an average of 1–1.5 pounds (lb), or 0.5–0.7 kilograms (kg), per week.
The company doesn’t provide any information about how they came up with these numbers. But assuming they’re accurate, that’s about the same amount you’d lose on any diet that’s based on eating fewer calories than you’re burning.
However, much of the marketing and promotional material leads viewers to believe they will experience weight loss in excess of 1–1.5 lbs. (0.5–0.7 kg) per week.
This combined with other misleading claims is a significant drawback to the program.
Misleading references
The company provides a scientific reference page on its website with no context of how the studies were used in their program. Also, many of their sources are old, the oldest being from 1975 and the most recent from 2012.
The date studies are published is important because nutrition science is ever-evolving with updated findings that may influence recommendations published frequently.
Additionally, the sources are organized seemingly randomly and use a mix of different formatting styles. Many of the studies don’t have any obvious relevance to the fat loss program the company is selling.
Generic advice
If you purchase a weight loss program, then it’s likely you’re looking for a unique offering to help you meet your goals.
The Venus Factor seems to offer generic advice that is readily available for free online.
This is another major drawback of the program, as you’d expect to find quality information in a program you’ve paid to access.
Venus Factor has an affiliated marketing program where they offer a 75% commission to websites that generate sales for them.
If you search terms such as “Venus Factor reviews,” “Venus Factor pros and cons,” or “Is Venus Factor a scam?,” the top search results are primarily blogs that pretend to give honest reviews of Venus Factor’s system but are actually designed to create sales.
In addition, some of the reviews on various websites that sell the Venus Factor paperback appear to be direct copies of reviews from other websites, making it difficult to know which reviews are real and which are fake.
Social media is also an unreliable place to find reviews of the diet, as many of the Venus Factor social media websites are inactive or have scam comments on posts.
The combination of inactive websites, scam comments, and bogus reviews makes it difficult to decipher which information is real and which is fake.
Unfortunately, the reputation of the Venus Factor program and the company that sells it is not clear from the information available online.
There are no secret foods when it comes to weight loss. Diets that promise rapid weight loss usually rely on a large calorie restriction and aren’t sustainable long-term.
Instead of trying to lose weight fast, a more effective strategy is to focus on sustainable dietary changes and exercise habits that you’ll be able to stick to over a long period of time.
Here are a few alternative diets to consider and how they compare to the Venus Factor Diet:
| Foods to eat | Foods to limit/avoid | Cost | Research-based | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venus Factor Diet | • foods high in protein, such as meat, fish, and poultry • foods rich in fiber, including fruits and vegetables | • foods high in carbohydrates, such as refined grains • foods high in sugar • sugar-sweetened beverages • soy products, including tofu, soy milk, or edamame • artificial sweeteners • highly processed foods | $37 | no |
| Mediterranean Diet | • minimally processed foods • foods rich in unsaturated fats, such as nuts, seeds, olive oil, and fish • fruits • vegetables • whole grains • legumes | • added sugar • highly processed foods • refined carbohydrates • foods high in saturated fat, such as red meat or full fat dairy | free | yes |
| DASH Diet | • whole grains • fruits • vegetables • legumes • low fat and fat-free dairy • nuts and seeds • heart-healthy fats | • high fat meats (limit total amount of lean meat daily) • added sugar • high sodium foods • full-fat dairy | free | yes |
| MIND Diet | • whole grains • fruits • vegetables (emphasis on leafy greens) • fish • poultry • healthy fat sources like nuts, seeds, and olive oil | • foods high in saturated fat, such as full-fat dairy and high fat meats • highly processed foods | free | yes |
What is the female fat-burning hormone?
There is no single female hormone for burning fat. Many hormones play a role in fat distribution and storage in the body. These hormones include leptin, insulin, estrogen, thyroid hormones such as T3 and TSH, and many more. (
What is the Venus program?
The Venus program, also known as the Venus Factor Diet, is a 12-week diet and exercise program targeting women who are looking to lose weight. The program is sold for $37 and includes access to meal plans and at-home exercises. Limited information about the program is available via the website or elsewhere online.
How does HCG help you lose weight?
Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is a hormone produced during pregnancy. HCG diets have been promoted as weight loss diets, but there’s no research to support these claims.
“Proponents claim HCG can help you lose weight by burning fat, speeding metabolism, and decreasing appetite. However there is no proof this is true, and any weight loss seen with HCG injections is likely due to the severe calorie restriction of the HCG diet that coincides with it,” says Mitri (
Additionally, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended that consumers not take products that contain HCG (
The Venus Factor Diet uses questionable marketing techniques and misleading claims to sell its program to women.
Even though they claim to have found a “female fat loss loophole,” the diet is unremarkable and contains much of the same information you can find for free online.
If want to lose weight but don’t know where to start, the USDA’s website has a large database of free resources you can use to learn about the core principles of nutrition.
