Protein shakes vs meal replacement

jesska4174
jesska4174 Posts: 1
in Food and Nutrition
I am wanting to try supplementing 2 meals per day with either protein shakes or meal replacement shakes. Ive done some research on this but can anyone who has or is using them help me out? Which is more effective for weight loss? Is there a "program" that works great? Any good recommendations on recipes, what things to add or avoid to shakes? In the past Ive only done the atkins meal replacement shake in the morning and evening but never fully committed to it and it got expensive $6 for 4 drinks added up quick.

Replies

  • Sunitagt
    Sunitagt Posts: 486 Member
    Could you give a little more information on why you think you want to do this? Maybe you could start by just logging your food and exercise here on MFP and try to stick to your calories, and if you're not getting enough protein, then adding a protein shake a day might be helpful. All the shakes and supplements do is suck your money for something you're not going to want to do for the rest of your life, so it's really a lot better idea to just start by changing your habits and learning to eat smaller portions of real food, which is something you can do for the rest of your life, and won't cost you a lot extra.
  • Meushichan
    Meushichan Posts: 82 Member
    A protein shake is going to have a lot of protein, and moderate to high amount of cals, depening on brand. A meal replacement will have about the right amount of cals and other macros for the day, divided by 4 (sometimes 5) that you would need to lose or maintenance, again depending on which one. So nutritionally the meal replacement is going to be much better for you. Replacing 2 a day seems a bit much to me personally, but if you are still eating 2-3 other meals throughout the day and are getting your macros and have everything else right (and you aren't starving/ binging later because of it), then I'd go with that. As for which one, I suggest reading labels, but in general, the ones for people just after bariatric surgery have a ton of cals, because they can only have like 5 oz of anything at a time.

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