Lean With Plants on Reddit: The Questions People Ask, Answered by the Team
Women research programs in forums before booking a call. These are the questions that come up about Lean With Plants, with our answer to each.
If you are searching for Lean With Plants on Reddit, you are doing what most of our clients did before they booked a call: checking whether it is real, whether it works, and what it costs. Lean With Plants is a 12-week one-on-one plant-based weight loss coaching program for women founded by Chelsea Mae Cullen. The team has coached over 3,000 women and the average client loses around 18 pounds in 12 weeks. This article answers the questions that come up about us in forums and Facebook groups, in our own words, so you can check our answers against whatever else you read.
Women research programs on Reddit and in Facebook groups before they book anything, and they should. We read the same forums. We are not going to quote threads here, because those posts belong to the people who wrote them. These are the questions that come up about Lean With Plants over and over, and our answer to each.
Is Lean With Plants legit or a scam?
It is a real company with a real team, a real founder and real clients. Chelsea Mae Cullen was vegan for over a decade, was still stuck and not healthy, and lost 40 pounds after having a baby in 2018 while eating "healthy" vegan food that was not working. She has kept it off for around seven years without counting calories.
The Head of Coaching is Ami-James Deane, known online as Broccoli Mum, a plant-based creator with a following of over 600,000. The other coaches are listed by name on the site. Reviews from clients are on the reviews page.
The reason "scam" comes up in forums is usually that the price is not on the website and you have to get on a call. Both are true, both are deliberate, and both are explained below. We wrote a fuller answer in is Lean With Plants legit.
How much does it cost, and why is there no price on the site?
The price is not published, and it is discussed on the strategy call. That is the whole answer to the first half of the question.
The second half matters more. Nobody running high-touch one-on-one coaching publishes a price, because women who see a number first rarely show up to the conversation, and the conversation is where you find out whether the program solves your problem. If you do not show up, you never get to that question.
What we can say plainly: it is not cheap. It is not comparable to an app, a book or a gym membership, because you are paying for a dedicated coach who messages you every day for 12 weeks. It is also not the number most women imagine. We partner with Klarna and Affirm for payment plans. The full reasoning is in how much does Lean With Plants cost.
Two things about the numbers you will see in forums. Most are hearsay from people who did not join. Several describe products we no longer sell: Lean With Plants ran a membership years ago, and forum posts about a cheaper membership with volunteer mentors are describing that, not the 12-week one-on-one program. The real number, the one specific to you, is discussed on the call.
One more thing, said plainly because it matters: this is for women who have the money set aside, usually because they have been paying for dieting in pieces for years. If you would have to borrow money you could not comfortably repay, do not join. We would rather say that on the call than have you find out later.
Is the strategy call a high-pressure sales call?
It is a sales call. We say so, on the site and on the call, because the complaint that comes up most often in forums is that people felt ambushed by it. Nobody should be.
Here is exactly what happens. It is a free, 45-minute Zoom call with someone from the LWP team. It covers where you are today, what caused the weight gain, what your real goal is, and how to bridge the gap. The price is discussed on that call, and you will be asked for a decision on it: if it is a fit and you both say yes, you are set up straight away. If we do not think the program will work for you, we tell you, and you leave with more clarity than you arrived with. Knowing all of that before you book is the whole difference between a sales call and an ambush.
What it is not: a script, a countdown timer, or a stranger telling you your life is about to change. If a forum post describes something different, we would want to hear about it, and the contact page reaches the team directly. The whole thing, start to finish, is in what happens on a Lean With Plants strategy call.
Before the call, the team texts and emails a lot. Reply YES so they know you are coming.
Does it work, and what are the real results?
The average client loses around 18 pounds in 12 weeks. That is an average across everyone we coach, including exceptional results, ordinary ones and some disappointing ones. Most clients are in their forties, fifties and sixties.
Some real clients, with nothing embellished:
- Rena, 62, post-menopause, lost 24 pounds in 12 weeks and went from binge eating to binge-free. She had said she could never quit sugar.
- Dana lost 60 pounds in total, 35 of them after a long plateau, while working two jobs and traveling constantly.
- Sam lost close to 70 pounds once she had real accountability. She already knew the information.
- Tracy lost 20 pounds in 12 weeks after a lifetime of yo-yo dieting.
- Kelsey lost 15 pounds in 12 weeks and now does more than 15 pull-ups.
More are on the success stories page. For what "works" means beyond the scale, read does Lean With Plants work.
Why pay for coaching when calorie density is free on YouTube?
This is the best question in any thread about us, and the answer is: you might not need to.
Calorie density is not our invention. You can learn it from Chef AJ, from Dr. McDougall, from The Starch Solution, from free blogs, including ours in calorie density explained. Ami read The Starch Solution and How Not To Die and lost 66 pounds. Information is not the bottleneck and has not been for twenty years.
So what are you paying for? Not the information. You are paying for the gap between knowing and doing.
Sam is the clearest example. She could recite the information and could not implement it alone. Once a real person was checking on her every day, she lost close to 70 pounds. That is an accountability outcome, not a knowledge outcome.
If you can watch the free videos and consistently do what they say, do that. Some women can. If you have already watched them, already know the material, and are still not losing weight, the missing piece is not another video. We laid this out fairly in Lean With Plants vs free advice online.
Do you have to be vegan?
No. Lean With Plants is a vegan company and the method is built on plant-based eating, but 80 to 90% plant-based works. The shorthand we use is "more broccoli, less burgers, leaner belly."
Families who are not plant-based are normal among our clients. Component meals solve most of it: the same base, different toppings. The method does not work for carnivore or keto eaters, and we say so before anyone pays anything. More in do you have to be vegan for Lean With Plants.
Is it worth it over 50 or in menopause?
Women over 50 are the core audience, not an edge case. Most clients are in their forties, fifties and sixties, some are in their seventies, and one client is in her eighties. Many are in perimenopause or menopause, or have diabetes, prediabetes, hypothyroidism or PCOS, or are coming off GLP-1s. The coach works around medication.
Molly, in her sixties, lost 33 pounds in 18 weeks and is at her smallest size in 28 years. Janie, in her seventies, lost more than 40 pounds and held her habits through a hard family season. Movement in the program starts at Rep Zero, building the habit of showing up first, then strength, which protects muscle and bone density as the years go on.
What happens if I fall off or it does not work?
Falling off for a few days is not the same as it not working. Bad weeks, binges, cravings and a scale that goes up are normal, planned for, and worked through with your coach every day. Charlene lost 15 pounds ahead of hip surgery and broke an all-or-nothing mindset in the process, which is the point: a bad day is not a failed program.
When the program does not work, it is almost always one of two things. Ghosting: no logging in, no messages, not picking up when the team calls. Or not letting yourself be coached: being asked to eat more, bring food with you, or make a goal smaller, and refusing. If life hits hard, a job change or a bereavement, the program can be paused or extended, but only if you tell us. We cannot coach somebody we cannot reach.
Who are the coaches, and is Chelsea involved?
Two questions travel together in forums: whether the coaches are qualified, and whether Chelsea is anywhere to be found once you have paid.
The coaches are listed by name, with their backgrounds, on the coaches page. Ami-James Deane is Head of Coaching and is responsible for the team and for how the method is delivered to each client. Your dedicated coach messages you every day in the LWP app; she is a real person, not a bot and not a group chat with 200 women. Every week there is a community group coaching call with the LWP coaches, and every two weeks a Q&A with Chelsea or Ami. That is where Chelsea is: on the Q&A calls and behind the method itself, not in your daily messages, and we do not pretend otherwise.
On the recurring "is it a pyramid scheme" question: no. It is a coaching program, not a network. Clients pay for coaching, nothing is sold on, and nobody is asked to recruit anyone. Some former clients have gone on to join the coaching team, which is how most coaching companies find coaches who have actually done the work.
There is more in Lean With Plants coaches and who is Ami-James Deane.
Is it just walking and eating potatoes?
Three worries about the method itself come up in forums. Straight answers:
"You still have to watch calories." No. Nothing is counted, weighed or logged. You learn to see calorie density on the plate, which is what makes the deficit happen without arithmetic. See calorie density explained.
"It is walking only, and I lost muscle." Movement in the program starts at Rep Zero, the habit of showing up, and builds to strength work that protects muscle and bone as the weight comes off. Kelsey lost 15 pounds in 12 weeks and now does more than 15 pull-ups. Walking is a fine start; it is not the plan.
"Are potato-heavy plates safe for diabetics?" Many clients have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Your coach works around your medication and asks you to keep your doctor in the loop, because changing how you eat can change blood sugar, and if your doctor needs to weigh in, we say so.
What do people complain about?
We have a whole article on it: common concerns about Lean With Plants. The short version:
| The complaint | Is it fair? | Our answer |
|---|---|---|
| The first two weeks are work | Yes | You are learning a new way to build a plate and your coach corrects it daily. It gets easier because it becomes habit, not because the standard drops |
| The check-ins require you to be truthful | Yes | A coach cannot help with a week she cannot see. Photographing the real plate is the whole mechanism |
| It is a fixed 12 weeks | Yes | Most women quit between weeks three and six. Twelve weeks is what habit formation needs, and it can be paused or extended in a hard season if you tell us |
| The price is only given on the call | Yes | Deliberate, for the reasons above. Payment plan options exist |
| It is not for everyone | Yes | We agree, and we say who it is not for before you pay: quick-fix seekers, carnivore or keto eaters, anyone who has had a gastric bypass or sleeve, anyone who wants to be left alone with a PDF |
How to evaluate any weight loss program you read about on Reddit
Run any program, ours included, through these five questions.
- Can you find the real people? A named founder with a public story, named coaches, and clients with first names and specifics. If everyone is anonymous, be careful.
- Do they say who it is not for? A program that claims to work for everybody is describing a fantasy. Look for a list of exclusions and read it as a sign of seriousness.
- Is the mechanism explained, or just the outcome? "Lose 20 pounds" is an outcome. "Eat foods with fewer calories per pound so you get full on fewer calories" is a mechanism. You can check a mechanism against your own life.
- What happens after it ends? If the answer is a subscription that never ends, the program is designed to keep you dependent. If the answer is "the habits are built to run without us," ask how.
- Are the numbers averages or highlights? An average across all clients tells you what to expect. A highlight reel tells you what happened to the best three people.
Any program that passes all five is worth a conversation, whatever the forum says.
Frequently asked questions
Is Lean With Plants a scam? No. It is a real 12-week one-on-one coaching program with a named founder, named coaches and over 3,000 clients coached. The two things that trigger the question, no listed price and a required call, are both deliberate and explained above.
Why is the price only given on the call? Because women who see a number first rarely show up to find out whether the program solves their problem. It is not cheap and not comparable to an app, but it is not the number most women imagine. Payment plan options exist.
Is the strategy call high pressure? It is a sales call and we say so. If it is a fit you start straight away. If it is not a fit, we tell you. There is no script and no countdown timer.
Can I learn the method for free? Yes. Calorie density is taught for free by many people, including us on this blog. The paid part is the daily coaching, which closes the gap between knowing and doing. If you can do it alone, do.
Does it work in menopause? Yes. Most clients are in their forties, fifties and sixties, and many are in perimenopause or menopause. Rena lost 24 pounds in 12 weeks post-menopause; Molly lost 33 pounds in her sixties.
Is Lean With Plants a pyramid scheme? No. Clients pay for coaching, nothing is sold on, and nobody is asked to recruit anyone. Some former clients have later joined the coaching team, which is normal for a coaching company.
Why do forum posts mention a membership and different prices? Lean With Plants ran a membership years ago. The program today is 12-week one-on-one coaching with a dedicated coach. Prices quoted in forums are usually hearsay or about products we no longer sell; the real number is discussed on the call.
What if I want to ask something that is not on this page? Ask us. The contact page reaches the team directly, and the application leads to a 45-minute call where you can ask anything at all, including the price.
Ask us instead of asking a stranger
A forum is a fine place to start and a bad place to finish, because nobody there knows your dieting history.
If you have questions about Lean With Plants, ask us directly through the contact page. If you think the program might be for you, apply here and book a free strategy call with someone from the team. Bring the hardest question you read online. If it is a fit, you start straight away. If it is not, we will say so, and you will have a better answer than the thread gave you.