This review contains my professional opinion about Reverse Health

A lot of you asked me to do a reverse health review, so I finally did it.

At first glance, Reverse Health seems very similar to other programs I’ve reviewed, namely Clinio and Beyond Body. I was surprised that this program was not from the same company, Kilo Health.

Reverse Health is for menopausal women, the new target for the forever predatory wellness and weight-loss industries. I would be immediately suspicious of any weight loss program that is specifically for menopausal women. Most of them are unhealthy calorie restrictions, ridiculous ‘rules’, and generally unsustainable.

Reverse Health makes the following general claims:

sounds good? we will see.

How does Reverse Health work?

I actually signed up and paid for Reverse Health just to see what it was all about. It kills me to pay these people money, but here we are.

The program starts with a 20-question quiz that’s the same standard nutrition app quiz I’ve seen so many times. It asks clear questions like height, weight and target weight, whether you have any food allergies, and your level of physical activity.

It also asks if you have any current health issues, but I noticed it doesn’t include ‘eating disorder’ as an option. And of course, I always look for that.

Two of the questions weren’t really questions at all – they were slides promoting reverse health, lest you take the quiz and decide not to sign up for the program.

One featured before-and-after photos of a woman in a red bikini, with the caption “The typical body transformation our active members experience: On average our members have an extra 9kg to lose”. It is approximately 20 lbs.

The second slide states that “The program author is a certified dietician, health coach, physiotherapist with extensive experience in weight loss”.

The co-founders of Reverse Health are Matt Jones and Monica (whose last name I don’t know).

Matt calls himself a ‘Sports and Exercise Nutritionist’. The term nutritionist is not protected by law; Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist.

Monica’s credential is ‘Mindset & Lifestyle Coach,’ and on a blog post she describes herself as a “Holistic Women’s Health Coach with health and life coaching certification, an MBA, as well as yoga instructor and mindfulness training and many years of experience working under me.” Describes in. Belt”.

I actually found zero evidence of any registered dietitians attending this event.

I asked the ‘chat bot’, Jaime, if there were any dietitians on staff, and she told me “Professional dietitians Monica and Matt can give you professional advice to guide you with the meal plan that will best suit you! “

I looked up Monica’s and Matt’s credentials, and as we know, neither of them are dietitians.

what a shock!

After taking the quiz, I was shown these infuriating slides:

Why, if I enter my height as 5’4” and weight as 138 pounds, will the program say that my health may be ‘at risk’? With these parameters my BMI is 23.7, which is normal. Based on BMI alone (which is out of date), I’m far from at risk.

It also does not specify who is at risk? We know that being overweight has links with many health conditions (diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease), but even being short on the weight scale can put you at risk for a few things.

I’ve written before about the challenges of these online surveys and apps not understanding you as a person well enough to make health recommendations tailored to you. Worse, using partial and incomplete health data to sell weight loss products and advice is, in my opinion, unethical.

In a separate quiz attempt, I said I had cancer and wanted to lose weight, and this was not shown as a risk. This with the lack of inquiry about disordered eating is unacceptable. It seems pretty hard to trust an app that doesn’t include these major red flags in its schedule.

Next up, a slide tells me that my metabolic age is 55 (I’m 50).

Really a matter of fear and shame. How can they even know what my metabolic age is from the information I gave them?

Hint: They don’t! This is another tactic of selling programs.

Finally, a slide with another graph tells me that Reverse Health estimates I can reach my 90.7 lb goal in 12 weeks (and stay away!!).

First of all, I never said I wanted to reach 90.7lbs (I said my goal weight was 95lbs, still too low for me).

That’s a ridiculous, dangerous amount of weight to lose in a week. If it is medically necessary, rapid weight loss should be supervised by a licensed professional. Worse, his proposed 90.7 lbs. My BMI would be kept at 15.6, which is not only underweight, it is the BMI seen with severe anorexia nervosa.

Here we are: I am a normal weight woman, and Reverse Health has told me that if I stay at my current weight, my health is at risk and that I should try to lose weight so that I Become seriously ill. Underweight.

Finally, I’m asked to enter my e-mail to see how far I can get to 90.7 pounds. With heart emoji.

WARNING: Once you enter your e-mail address at the end of the quiz, you’ll find yourself being reminded again and again that your ‘special offer’ is waiting. Like, at least once a day.

What infuriates me the most is the unhealthy obsession and emphasis on NUMBERS. weight. target weight. BMI. and their association of these numbers with health. How much we weigh tells us very little about our health. Those claims I posted at the top of this review? How are they factors? Are they the result of weight loss?

We don’t know.

In the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Reverse Health site, “Is the Reverse Health program safe?” The question is Response, verbatim: “Exactly, our program authors are certified dietitians, health coaches, physiotherapists with extensive experience in weight loss.”

How is telling someone — even one without a possible eating disorder or cancer — that they can go from 138 pounds to 90.8 pounds safe?

This apparent lack of credibility and misinformation is shocking.

reverse health app

The Reverse Health app itself is fairly easy to navigate. It has a ‘tracker’ section to track food intake, water intake, exercise, weight and daily steps. It sounds tiresome. I never recommend daily weighing.

There are meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists. Under the ‘Supplements’ tab, you can buy the company’s branded supplements such as Reverse Health ‘Women’s Collagen’ ($54.95), ‘Women’s Vitamin K2+D3’ (24.95), and ‘Women’s Whey Protein’ ($54.95).

I’m not sure what the difference is between these ‘women’s’ supplements and their unisex counterparts.

In the site’s FAQ section, we’re told that Reverse Health offers “a holistic health program where supplements are one of the most important parts of success.”

interesting. As a dietician, I would say that supplements should be least important Part of weight loss and health success.

The app also includes Matt and Monica’s videos, exercise materials, and a place to connect with the Reverse Health Facebook group and a ‘coach’ aka my bot named Jaime.

Nothing about this app is new to menopause management – mindfulness, exercise and dieting are very common. Many apps have superficial ‘skins’ that help them feel personalized for a certain demographic: in this case menopause.

Reverse Health sounds like a generic platform as a customized solution.

reverse health eating plan

The Reverse Health Meal Plan shows how little food the followers get, and how poorly the recipes are planned. To clarify, who in the world develops a recipe that calls for a quarter of a pomegranate? 1 cup carrot juice? Or a snack that’s a pre-packaged bar with 12 grams of almonds and an apple? Strange.

There also doesn’t seem to be an opportunity to batch cook, which is usually helpful for people who work long hours.

Day 1 example:

Breakfast – Egg Muffin – 127 calories/serving

Lunch – Turkey Chili with Rice – 289 calories/serving

Dinner – (dinner seems to be very salad heavy) – Cucumber, Avocado and Chicken Salad – 304cal/serving

Snack – Raspberry and Flaxseed Smoothie Bowl – 240 kcal/serving

Total Calories = 960

I am feeling weak just seeing that clan.

Maybe if we try a different day.

Day 2 Example:

Breakfast – Avocado, Feta and Pomegranate Toast – 322 calories/serving

Lunch – Quick and Cheap Tuna Lettuce Wraps – 316 calories/serving

Dinner – Instant Chicken, Wholemeal Rice and Spinach – 460 calories/serving

Snack – Apple, Almond & Fiber One Chocolate Brownie Bar – 200 calories/serving

Total Calories = 1292

A little high, but not that high… For a kid, never mind an adult.

How can this diet be sustainable when the daily calories are not enough even for a child?

In the thousands of e-mails I’ve received from Reverse Health, it seems, they emphasize that the meal plans are for guidance only.

If the meal plan is guidance only, then effectively the program is providing targeted calorie restriction per day. Keep your calories ridiculously low every day for 12 weeks, and you’ll lose weight too. This is not something you need to pay Monica and Matt to teach you – I’ll tell you this for free…and then I’ll tell you not to do it.

You know how I feel about restricted diets – not a fan! The physical fatigue and emotional pain that comes with intense calorie restriction, rapid changes in eating habits, and the guilt of being unable to follow and maintain these crazy diets is real! This can worsen someone’s problematic relationship with food.

And for menopausal women, it’s a cruel and unusual punishment often inflicted on us in an attempt to prevent or remedy middle-age weight gain. It’s really sickening.

Read my review of the Galveston Diet here.

What do you think happens when you give up on the reverse health diet plan? Yes. You’ll probably end up right back where you started, except poorer and more frustrated… well, unless you buy their upgraded 12-month plan, which they claim will help 92% of their ‘ Helps in maintaining ‘dream weight’.

Very good. Doesn’t get more spammy than this.

But wait! On the front page of the Reverse Health site, they say you can ‘delete the app after 12 weeks, as you have all the tools you need!’

Reverse Health Review: In a Nutshell

Reverse Health is a low-calorie diet that does not appear to be evidence-based. There is nothing new in this app for menopause management that I can determine. This will likely cause weight loss, but is likely to be unsustainable over the long term (or even for 12 weeks).

One of the most important things to me is that the company doesn’t check for eating disorders during the intake quiz, and it doesn’t flag extremely low target weights.

When the 12 weeks are up, what are you left with after all the tracking? It’s likely you’ll get lost, especially after relying on an app for ‘guidance’ and tracking.

Reverse Health doesn’t appear to be ‘personal’ at all. It sounds like a delusion concocted to sell programs. It also seems extremely unsolicited and focused on numbers.

Hard pass on reverse health.

Written by Lise Wolyniuk and edited/approved by Abby Langer RD