In June, I reviewed and blacklisted Lean Belly Breakthrough, a weight loss program by fitness trainer Bruce Krahn. I also blacklisted Bruce’s other weight loss product Trouble Spot Nutrition because it shares the same testimonial photos with Lean Belly Breakthrough. But on Sunday, Bruce reached out to Contra Health Scam to defend his products and offer explanations to the questions raised by the scam review.
Initially, Bruce started off by accusing me of judging his product ‘by the cover’, that is, I did not bother to review the contents of his program before calling it a scam. But after I apparently made him to realize that it was his own fault that his product was judged by the cover (his scammy advertising, lies about testimonials, his use of ‘irritation’ instead of ‘chronic inflammation’ etc), he humbled himself and started explaining why he did what he did.
Below I’m going to share excerpts from the email conversation.
Bruce Krahn’s Lean Belly Breakthrough Defense
1. About the Backstory
Bruce: First off, the backstory of what happened to my father in law is 100 percent true:
He did have a heart attack while in an airplane (I can send you a video testimonial of him verifying the story).
He was given a program from a doctor [‘Dr. Heinrick’] that helped him quickly lose his belly fat and restore his health.
This program also helped his wife lose a substantial amount of weight in a short period of time.
Many others have since benefited from this same information.
2. About ‘Dr. Heinrick’
Bruce: The doctor exists however his name is not Dr Heinrick. That is a pseudonym. I have provided the name of the doctor to the compliance department at Clickbank and they have it on record.
I understand that some people hide behind pseudonyms for dubious reasons but this is not the case here. The story is very simple – he was told to clean up his diet, lose weight and reduce his inflammation. He was given some instructions on how to do it. The program isn’t proprietary. In North America doctors don’t talk about lowering inflammation with diet – they usually prescribe something. This isn’t something that a doctor in Germany would consider “revolutionary” but in North America (and some other less progressive countries) it is different. However, to my in-laws the concepts were new and the doc told them to share the concepts with others. Nobody is hiding- it is exactly as I said.
3. On Why He Used ‘Irritation’ instead of ‘Chronic Inflammation’
Bruce: I did not use the term “Inflammation” simply because people have heard that a million times before. When this happens people become “blind” to the term and don’t take action. The program cant help anybody if they don’t use it. The use of a different term is so that people pay attention.
4. Did His Father-in-law Receive the Program From Dr Heinrick For Free?
Bruce: My father-in-law did not receive his program or medical attention for free. He did not even have insurance. I don’t know the exact cost but I do know it was substantial.
5. About Suneil Kumar and ‘Doctor Certified’ Badge
Bruce: The “Dr Approved” badge was removed by us the moment Clickbank informed us that this service was not legitimate.
6. About the Untrustworthy Testimonials
Bruce: Regarding the testimonials – yes, some are shared with Trouble Spot Nutrition (TSN) but not the ones of my in laws and here is why. This event happened prior to the release of TSN. My in laws did not want their story told and it took me a very long time to convince them it was a good thing. The few pics that are shared between the sites are because some of the methods described in the TSN program are shared with the Lean Belly program. However, TSN goes into way more depth about individual hormone imbalance issues while Lean Belly is focused on inflammation. I think you would agree that good nutrition programs tend to have more commonalities than differences.
The most important fact is that these people and pictures are real and not stolen like so many others on the net. Our programs help people. We answer questions personally and we don’t screw people over if they want a refund. These are very important factors that make us more reputable than some of the sites you have reviewed.
Fate of Lean Belly Breakthrough
Bruce swears that he is not a scammer, and I have cause to believe that he is not. The fact that he reached out to me to explain himself testifies to this.
I also agree that the testimonials are not stolen photos and are from real people. I only called them untrustworthy and fake because of the way they were used on different products with different names attached to them.
Because of Bruce’s explanations, the fact that he reached out to answer my questions (which no scammer will have the balls to do) and the fact that everyone makes mistakes, I believe that his product deserves a second chance. So Lean Belly Breakthrough and Trouble Spot Nutrition are officially off Contra Health Scam’s Blacklist.
However, Bruce’s product still has a long way to go before it enters my Whitelist:
- First, Lean Belly Breakthrough’s presentation video and pitch page must be purged of all scammy advertising. All the mistakes/scam evidence pointed out by the first review must be corrected. If Lean Belly Breakthrough is as good as he says it is, then there is no point talking about ‘Big Pharma,’ telling long stories and using pop-ups to prevent people from leaving. Go straight to the point and for God’s sake, be brief!
The way you present your product goes a long way in telling prospective buyers how trustworthy you are. If you keep on lying to them and using the tactics found on Bruce’s product, then there is no way I will ever recommend that product to anyone. For instance, if you discover that a pharmacy is lying to you about a drug, will you ever buy that drug or recommend that pharmacy to others?
- I need to receive feedback from those who have used Lean Belly Breakthrough. If the positive feedback I receive about the product significantly exceeds the negative feedback, then it will be in contention for a spot in the Whitelist.
Conclusion
Lean Belly Breakthrough is a scam no longer (for now), but is NOT out of the woods yet. Your feedback on the product will determine its fate. So if you have used Lean Belly Breakthrough, please let me know whether it worked for you. Thank you!
Websites Under Probation: LeanBellyBreakthrough.com, TroubleSpotNutrition.com (NOT affiliate links)
