Only meal replacement shakes. Is it possible?

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Replies

  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
    but-why.gif

    But seriously, I can't imagine a worse way to lose weight. It would get so boring, so fast that you would just burn out and break your diet.

    Why not work at your portion control so that what ever weight loss you do achieve may actually keep off, instead of losing weight, burning out and gaining it all back again because you havent learned to eat proper food.
  • FatPorkyChop
    FatPorkyChop Posts: 83 Member
    size102b wrote: »
    DONT you'll yoyo I've done them so often then last year I lost 63lbs 33 of them
    We're on mrp I got really sick it wrecked my immune system gained back 38 over 12 weeks Weeks 1-2 is 90%! Water
    1. You'll get used to fast weight loss
    2. It comes back in faster
    3. You messes your body up
    4. No periods
    5. Hair loss
    6. Memory loss
    7. Exhaustion .... Ketosis in vlcd isn't good
    8. Moody
    9. Deprived
    10. Poorer

    Then you'll end up fatter than you ever were

    Don't do it I wish I never heard of these diets

    This is exactly what happenned to my boss, two weeks of shakes : he lost a lot but looked sick and very pale and the next month + 10 kilos... he kept doing that and ended up obese .... when he wasn't as bad in the first place, this diet destroyed him but he was too stubborn to admit it.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I was thinking about trying out doing 3 meal shakes daily and that's it.

    Thoughts? Pros? Cons?

    If it were me I would not do shakes at all much less every meal.
    Pros- no cooking, quick, easy to log
    Cons- boring, unsatisfying, unsustainable, not flexible, expensive, won't help you learn portion control or calories, other people are eating real tempting food around you

    I would say if you want to use shakes do not use them for every meal of the day. Have at least 1 meal a day where you have real food.

    Plan meals.
    Buy less food. Cook less food. You can't overeat if there is only enough for 1serving.
    Prelog and weigh/measure. Make sure you are getting enough protein, fats and fiber in your day to feel more satisfied.
    Fill your plate with low calorie vegetables. Large volume, low calories, more fiber.
    Use a smaller plate. Eat slower. Drink a glass of water with your meals. Wait 20 minutes after eating before getting more food.
    Pop a piece of gum in your mouth or brush your teeth after eating. Leave the table or kitchen and get busy with other things.

  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
    edited February 2017
    If a person was going in for a gastric by-pass or a gastric sleeve, many docs tell you to only have shakes the week or two before surgery. With that said though, think maybe you might get low-blood sugar from such low calories.
    OP didn't say how many calories the three meal replacement shakes were going to provide? Unless specifically stated otherwise, I assume it will at least be 1200 calories/day - 400 calories/shake.

    Theo166 wrote: »
    I was part of a specialized weight loss program maybe 15 yrs ago, it was DR supervised and included weekly meetings with a dietitian to review all your food intake, plus a trainer. Everyone there started out completely on shakes and then started introducing more regular food as the program progressed.

    Shakes are a good way to gain some initial control and sorta shock your system or mind.
    But your system and mind don't need a shock. You need proper nutrition and self-care.

    The shakes were powder blended with fruit etc so they were better than canned ones.
    I guess I'm saying it won't hurt you to do only shakes for a short period, if you have an objective. But you soon need to start including other healthy foods that you will adopt for your normal diet.
    Yes, it will hurt to take away food even for a short while. It's good to eat. People don't need punishment for getting overweight (being overweight would be punishment enough), and someone overweight is most likely already fearing and possibly demonizing food. Food is not the enemy. Making food the enemy just perpetuates a bad relationship with food. Some kind of structure and a set of boundaries are necessary, and doing very hard and unnecessary things when you already need to do hard and necessary things, it just sounds wrong.

    Sometimes change does require a shock or stark alteration to your routine to change ingrained habits. It's why people breaking addictions will often sequester themselves.

    I'll assume she's tracking her calories and drinking enough shakes to meet her goals. No she is not harming her body to shift to a liquid based diet, if it is fairly complete and short term. Though it may be satisfying, there is no inherent requirement to chew x% of your daily calories.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Theo166 wrote: »
    If a person was going in for a gastric by-pass or a gastric sleeve, many docs tell you to only have shakes the week or two before surgery. With that said though, think maybe you might get low-blood sugar from such low calories.
    OP didn't say how many calories the three meal replacement shakes were going to provide? Unless specifically stated otherwise, I assume it will at least be 1200 calories/day - 400 calories/shake.

    Theo166 wrote: »
    I was part of a specialized weight loss program maybe 15 yrs ago, it was DR supervised and included weekly meetings with a dietitian to review all your food intake, plus a trainer. Everyone there started out completely on shakes and then started introducing more regular food as the program progressed.

    Shakes are a good way to gain some initial control and sorta shock your system or mind.
    But your system and mind don't need a shock. You need proper nutrition and self-care.

    The shakes were powder blended with fruit etc so they were better than canned ones.
    I guess I'm saying it won't hurt you to do only shakes for a short period, if you have an objective. But you soon need to start including other healthy foods that you will adopt for your normal diet.
    Yes, it will hurt to take away food even for a short while. It's good to eat. People don't need punishment for getting overweight (being overweight would be punishment enough), and someone overweight is most likely already fearing and possibly demonizing food. Food is not the enemy. Making food the enemy just perpetuates a bad relationship with food. Some kind of structure and a set of boundaries are necessary, and doing very hard and unnecessary things when you already need to do hard and necessary things, it just sounds wrong.

    Sometimes change does require a shock or stark alteration to your routine to change ingrained habits. It's why people breaking addictions will often sequester themselves.
    For most people who have an extreme lifestyle, even starting a more ordinary lifestyle will be a shock. There is no need to go from one extreme to another extreme.

    I'll assume she's tracking her calories and drinking enough shakes to meet her goals. No she is not harming her body to shift to a liquid based diet, if it is fairly complete and short term. Though it may be satisfying, there is no inherent requirement to chew x% of your daily calories.
    Provided she gets sufficient nutrition, her body will not suffer. But her mind will. She's already struggling to stop eating. She will struggle a lot more after a period of not eating at all.
  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
    I find shakes (meal replacement versions) to generally be more expensive than real food, I find them to be unsustainable - I like to chew food and have textures (I've been on soft food diets, boring after day 3), and as mentioned before they don't address the actual issue which will still be there once you may 'feel' like you have a handle on things.
    The things to figure out is not if shakes are a good idea (here and there sure), but why you're having issues with food control.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    cityruss wrote: »
    Unfortunately we don't come equipped with a reset switch.

    No, not a physical switch. But we can sometimes reset our thinking through action. I've done 'diet resets' all my life. I never had a weight problem until I stopped doing it, in fact. I plan to do them periodically for the rest of my life.
  • I do meal replacement meals for breakfast and lunch. I eat a low cal snack between breakfast-lunch and again between lunch-dinner. I do not like them all that much. There is no way I could give up my dinner for another shake. I enjoy a real dinner of meat. I am watching my portion sizes and trying to stay away from most pasta and breads, but I do indulge myself from time to time. I have only been on this app for a week or so, but on my diet for a month now and I have lost a total of 7ibs. It is not going as quickly as I had wanted, but it didn't come on over night either. I would say don't do it. It will cause you to go off your diet and splurge too much. That is just my option though. Goodluck with whatever you decide
  • P.S. I do 2 different kinds of shakes one is 150 cal and the other is 200 cal. If I where to do 3 a day istead of 2 a day I would not get enough calories in.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    To prepare for Bariatric surgery I was put on a protein shake diet for ten days. After two days I was no longer miserable; I was just weak. That diet did its job of shrinking the liver of all its glycogen reserves so the surgery was safer. Then followed a few weeks of liquid diet as my stomach healed.

    I was very weak throughout and had to give up exercise. My job after surgery was to learn to eat enough.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited February 2017
    If you feel you need enforced portion sizes, maybe something like NutriSystem could help to mentally get used to smaller portions. Also, get smaller dishes and don't cook enough for you to easily go back for seconds.

    Along these lines........even 21 Day Fix would be better than meal replacement shakes. Look this up on Pinterest. There's no need to buy expensive containers, you can make your own using dollar store containers.

    Anyway - another idea is pre-made frozen food (Weight Watchers, Healthy Choice, etc)......these can help you get started. Plan for snacks.....fruit is a good option.

    Learning portion control is going to be key for keeping your weight in check. You will need to develop these skills eventually.
  • elopez1998
    elopez1998 Posts: 40 Member
    High protein and fiber foods. Eating every 2-3 hours but staying within your calorie count.

  • jelleigh
    jelleigh Posts: 743 Member
    This doesn't really answer the question, but is it really that bad to binge eat veggies? Like... I realize that doesn't solve the mental block that makes you feel like you need to keep eating, but you can really only eat so many veggies and the caloric impact on that must be small no? My hubby loves salad and would eat salad every day but it needs to be a serving size bowl large. Like what I would serve 4 people with leftovers. And he doesn't use dressing beyond balsamic vinegar so it's not adding too many calories but his take is "if he has to eat salad he wants a tonne of it!". I figure it can't hurt?
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    jelleigh wrote: »
    This doesn't really answer the question, but is it really that bad to binge eat veggies? Like... I realize that doesn't solve the mental block that makes you feel like you need to keep eating, but you can really only eat so many veggies and the caloric impact on that must be small no? My hubby loves salad and would eat salad every day but it needs to be a serving size bowl large. Like what I would serve 4 people with leftovers. And he doesn't use dressing beyond balsamic vinegar so it's not adding too many calories but his take is "if he has to eat salad he wants a tonne of it!". I figure it can't hurt?

    Nah, certainly not unhealthy. You could just look upon that as volumetric eating. Whether it harms his goals depends on the calories, same as any other food.

    To OP, if you really like the idea of liquid food but want it to be cheaper and better tasting and not so extreme, why not just eat more soup? Soup is a significant part of my diet, it's filling, low calorie, cheap as chips, easy to make and you can tweak the macros to suit any eating plan. I wouldn't be happy eating it more than once a day, though, unless I'm ill.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    edited February 2017
    I'm having a horrible time with portion control. Even with my veggies, fibers and proteins. I am constantly over eating. Which I know is all me.

    I know the food scald game and use it but always go back for more even though I shouldn't.

    I was hoping to use meal shakes as a reset for a week or two.

    What is the food scald game?

    Edited to add: I just realized you likely meant "food scale game." ;)

    Thought there was some new 'thing' where you deliberately overcook any leftovers so they taste nasty or something. :)

    I can also recommend simply eating more slowly. You eat because you're hungry. You need to give incoming food enough time for your brain to register that fact and turn off the holy-crap-I'm-starving signal. If you eat too quickly you can easily overeat before your brain gets a chance to recognize that you're eating at all. :)
  • maryjaquiss
    maryjaquiss Posts: 307 Member
    I think shakes can work for some people, but if you enjoy food (and if you're going back for seconds it sounds like you do), the likelihood is that you'll end up having shakes (which are quite calorific as they are) AND then a load of food. I think trying to slowly and kindly change your habits might work better - can you only prepare what fits into your calories so there's no going back for seconds? That works for me.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Absurd idea. I highly advise you to eat food and try to exercise self control.
  • My mom is doing a supervised medical weight loss program like this right now. It's extreme (only 800 cals/day despite her height of 5'10"), but she's managing. She needs to do it because she *desperately* needs knee replacement surgery and hasn't been able to lose weight any other way. I think she knows it's a short term fix, as it's an unsustainable crash diet. But it's working very well for her in the short term. In the last 12 weeks, she has lost 50 lbs. She still has 90 to go before she can get the surgery though, so I guess we'll see if she's able to make it on this diet for that long.

    *TL;DR*: you probably shouldn't do it unless you need to crash diet for some reason, but know that it's not sustainable and you may gain all the weight back
  • mrspett323
    mrspett323 Posts: 85 Member
    Why would you deprive yourself like that? Healthy weight loss takes time and has a greater chance of staying off when done the correct way by giving your body the nutrients it needs to survive. Everyone wants this magic remedy and are so impatient with the process and work you put in to get the pounds off. Suggestion....eat lean meats, fruit, veggies, whole grains, lots of water and exercise!!!! There you go, good luck! You have teeth for a reason, to chew!
  • 150poundsofme
    150poundsofme Posts: 523 Member
    ChipChocolate, What exactly is your Mom eating for 800 calories? I wish her the best in her upcoming knee surgery. Some docs say they can do knee surgery at any weight and do not advise their patients to lose weight beforehand. So her doc must be good.
  • Neanbean13
    Neanbean13 Posts: 211 Member
    No.no.no. you obviously have lessons to learn n retrain yourself with food which will atill be there after 2 weeks of drinking crap shakes, being moody and annoyed with the world.
    Lots of companies deliver healthy portion sized meals to you door. Try that for few weeks to get used to portion sizes. Bit expensive but least you can see taste and chew your meals! Some even come so u can make them which helps train you