Meal replacement shakes, yes or no???

2»

Replies

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    Nope nope nope. You shouldn't really be replacing food for any reason...

    Why?

    why would you even question eating real food????

    Define real food. I dare you.

    if you don't know what real food is, then this conversation is over. As you are now just trying to argue with me for the sake of arguing.

  • Wookinpanub
    Wookinpanub Posts: 635 Member
    I do a MRS (GNC Total Lean 25) about every morning for the last year and a half right after I work out. I add some fruit to it. Good source of protein and other good stuff. Sure is a lot better than my former breakfast of sugar cereals and or high carb pancakes, bacon/sausage
  • Wookinpanub
    Wookinpanub Posts: 635 Member
    I used the protein world meal replacement shakes on my cutting days. I'm doing a form of Intermittent fasting and they're useful for getting all my daily nutrient needs in on the two days a week I eat less than 600 cals. The rest of the time I eat to maintenance.
    So I'm cutting while learning how to eat. I like this method. It doesn't feel like I'm constantly on a diet.

    Similar approach worked for me. MRS were a good way to manage calories for me and I enjoyed them.

  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
    derri78 wrote: »
    Hi all
    Have any of you tried the meal replacement , weight loss, fad diets, vi shakes, JP ect... Do they work ??...

    Ask yourself this: Do you enjoy these shakes as much as, say, pizza? Or cheese? Or chicken, beef, pork, candy, fruits, vegetables, or whatever licorice is made of? If the answer is "no" to any of these, I'd say put the shake down and chew something. That's just my weird logic though.

    Also, if you'd call it a "fad diet" I'd hope you'd realize that those do come and go (mostly because they don't work).
  • Wookinpanub
    Wookinpanub Posts: 635 Member
    Ask yourself this: Do you enjoy these shakes as much as, say, pizza? Or cheese? Or chicken, beef, pork, candy, fruits, vegetables, or whatever licorice is made of? If the answer is "no" to any of these, I'd say put the shake down and chew something. That's just my weird logic though.

    Also, if you'd call it a "fad diet" I'd hope you'd realize that those do come and go (mostly because they don't work).

    I actually enjoy the shakes in the morning with some fruit added. That was key to sticking to using them and helping me lose weight.



  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    edited July 2015
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    Nope nope nope. You shouldn't really be replacing food for any reason...

    Why?

    why would you even question eating real food????

    Define real food. I dare you.

    if you don't know what real food is, then this conversation is over. As you are now just trying to argue with me for the sake of arguing.

    All food is real. Even my meal replacement protien shakes are real food. I just wanted to know what your definition was.
  • derri78
    derri78 Posts: 18 Member
    I've just started having the shakes in the morning, I like the fact of having fruit with them.. For some reason it makes me feel healthier and refreshed..
    I have for meals chicken, salads , steak, pork. I snack on veg, fruits ...
    The thing I know that it's a life style change. Xx
  • MrsAllyn
    MrsAllyn Posts: 63 Member
    edited July 2015
    Derri78 ...If u do not feel full...add flaxseed and chia seeds
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
    MrsAllyn wrote: »
    Derri78 ...If u do not fee full...add flaxseed ice cream and chia seeds peanut butter

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Do they work?

    Yes if your definition is lost some weight

    No if your definition is lost some weight AND kept it off.

    Meal replacements teach you nothing about your current eating habits. The vast majority of people who are overweight have bad eating habits.

    Slim Fast is sugary crap. It's not even filling. Measuring portions of regular food takes an effort....but you learn a lot along the way.
  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    Nope nope nope. You shouldn't really be replacing food for any reason...

    Why?

    Why? Why would you? That's the real question.

    A 200 calorie shake will not fill you up anywhere near as much as 200 calories coming from something like beef.

    As stated above:

    yes with slimfast. I was generally hungry and my pee smelled like slimfast. Take that for what it is worth.

    Not to even mention the price of some of these things. There is no reason to spend lots of money on products to lose weight. A calorie deficit is all that's needed. Weight loss isn't actually a complicated process. People funding companies like this is why it has become a complicated process for many people.

    Why would you?
    Well for me it fits in with my life and my method of weightloss. It also give you a more rounded source of nutrition than making a meal of the same calories.

    You're right, you don't have to but that doesn't mean the tools that cost money are automatically invalid. They're tools to lose weight.

    Believe it or not weight loss is complicated. You have to understand potion size, what's in the food you're eating, how that effects your hunger, how much to exercise and what that burns. Yes it's a matter if cutting calories but how it's done is really important.

    You've just made it complicated. Eating less than you burn will result in weight loss. That is not complicated what so ever. All the factors you involved are to help with health while cutting. I was specifically referring to weight loss in which none of that is relevant if you know your TDEE.

    And people who don't understand that a packet of pop tarts is not a portion will log it as a portion and then wonder why they're not losing weight. But hey who cares about accurate logging? That's got nothing to do with weight loss. Oh wait...

    If you are accurately logging you should really be using scales and measuring in grams. Your packet of pop tart analogy makes no sense. I'm sure anyone with basic mathematics skills would know to get the calories of one pop tart would be the total packet calories divided by the amount of pop tarts. Plus as shown below myfitnesspal usually doesn't have that problem...

    Capture.png

    Wait did you just complicate it with food scales? So it's not 'just' eat less then is it.

    Edit: I'm sorry op I've hijacked your thread. I'll be quiet now.

    So you are saying putting some food on a food scale is too difficult for the average person so you may as well buy a meal replacement shake? That logic!

    Nope. Reading comprehension FAIL.

    "Wait did you just complicate it with food scales? So it's not 'just' eat less then is it."

    You have said using food scales and measuring food is complicated to the average person.

    It is a matter of eating less calories than you burn. That is not a complicated concept or process. There is no reason to have meal replacement shakes (unless for motivation I guess)

    Also thank you for capitalising the word fail. It really did put emphasis on it. in fact I may have found it too complicated to read that word had you not used upper case for each letter. I'm off to try and work out how food scales work now...and get my head around this complicated thing called portion size. I mean pop tarts are telling me one portion is two pop tarts, they could really have made it easier for me and just told me the calories for each pop tart.
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    Nope nope nope. You shouldn't really be replacing food for any reason...

    Why?

    Why? Why would you? That's the real question.

    A 200 calorie shake will not fill you up anywhere near as much as 200 calories coming from something like beef.

    As stated above:

    yes with slimfast. I was generally hungry and my pee smelled like slimfast. Take that for what it is worth.

    Not to even mention the price of some of these things. There is no reason to spend lots of money on products to lose weight. A calorie deficit is all that's needed. Weight loss isn't actually a complicated process. People funding companies like this is why it has become a complicated process for many people.

    Why would you?
    Well for me it fits in with my life and my method of weightloss. It also give you a more rounded source of nutrition than making a meal of the same calories.

    You're right, you don't have to but that doesn't mean the tools that cost money are automatically invalid. They're tools to lose weight.

    Believe it or not weight loss is complicated. You have to understand potion size, what's in the food you're eating, how that effects your hunger, how much to exercise and what that burns. Yes it's a matter if cutting calories but how it's done is really important.

    You've just made it complicated. Eating less than you burn will result in weight loss. That is not complicated what so ever. All the factors you involved are to help with health while cutting. I was specifically referring to weight loss in which none of that is relevant if you know your TDEE.

    And people who don't understand that a packet of pop tarts is not a portion will log it as a portion and then wonder why they're not losing weight. But hey who cares about accurate logging? That's got nothing to do with weight loss. Oh wait...

    If you are accurately logging you should really be using scales and measuring in grams. Your packet of pop tart analogy makes no sense. I'm sure anyone with basic mathematics skills would know to get the calories of one pop tart would be the total packet calories divided by the amount of pop tarts. Plus as shown below myfitnesspal usually doesn't have that problem...

    Capture.png

    Wait did you just complicate it with food scales? So it's not 'just' eat less then is it.

    Edit: I'm sorry op I've hijacked your thread. I'll be quiet now.

    So you are saying putting some food on a food scale is too difficult for the average person so you may as well buy a meal replacement shake? That logic!

    Nope. Reading comprehension FAIL.

    "Wait did you just complicate it with food scales? So it's not 'just' eat less then is it."

    You have said using food scales and measuring food is complicated to the average person.

    It is a matter of eating less calories than you burn. That is not a complicated concept or process. There is no reason to have meal replacement shakes (unless for motivation I guess)

    Also thank you for capitalising the word fail. It really did put emphasis on it. in fact I may have found it too complicated to read that word had you not used upper case for each letter. I'm off to try and work out how food scales work now...and get my head around this complicated thing called portion size. I mean pop tarts are telling me one portion is two pop tarts, they could really have made it easier for me and just told me the calories for each pop tart.

    I'm on your side for the most part. Pop-Tarts are per pastry though. Unless you were being sarcastic?

    81HSGPOZ69L._SL1500_.jpg
  • paris458
    paris458 Posts: 229 Member
    I like the vi-shakes, I will have one for breakfast or before and after the gym. I am drinking one now as a snack. just work it into your calories. They are great for on the go when you dont have time.
  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    Nope nope nope. You shouldn't really be replacing food for any reason...

    Why?

    Why? Why would you? That's the real question.

    A 200 calorie shake will not fill you up anywhere near as much as 200 calories coming from something like beef.

    As stated above:

    yes with slimfast. I was generally hungry and my pee smelled like slimfast. Take that for what it is worth.

    Not to even mention the price of some of these things. There is no reason to spend lots of money on products to lose weight. A calorie deficit is all that's needed. Weight loss isn't actually a complicated process. People funding companies like this is why it has become a complicated process for many people.

    Why would you?
    Well for me it fits in with my life and my method of weightloss. It also give you a more rounded source of nutrition than making a meal of the same calories.

    You're right, you don't have to but that doesn't mean the tools that cost money are automatically invalid. They're tools to lose weight.

    Believe it or not weight loss is complicated. You have to understand potion size, what's in the food you're eating, how that effects your hunger, how much to exercise and what that burns. Yes it's a matter if cutting calories but how it's done is really important.

    You've just made it complicated. Eating less than you burn will result in weight loss. That is not complicated what so ever. All the factors you involved are to help with health while cutting. I was specifically referring to weight loss in which none of that is relevant if you know your TDEE.

    And people who don't understand that a packet of pop tarts is not a portion will log it as a portion and then wonder why they're not losing weight. But hey who cares about accurate logging? That's got nothing to do with weight loss. Oh wait...

    If you are accurately logging you should really be using scales and measuring in grams. Your packet of pop tart analogy makes no sense. I'm sure anyone with basic mathematics skills would know to get the calories of one pop tart would be the total packet calories divided by the amount of pop tarts. Plus as shown below myfitnesspal usually doesn't have that problem...

    Capture.png

    Wait did you just complicate it with food scales? So it's not 'just' eat less then is it.

    Edit: I'm sorry op I've hijacked your thread. I'll be quiet now.

    So you are saying putting some food on a food scale is too difficult for the average person so you may as well buy a meal replacement shake? That logic!

    Nope. Reading comprehension FAIL.

    "Wait did you just complicate it with food scales? So it's not 'just' eat less then is it."

    You have said using food scales and measuring food is complicated to the average person.

    It is a matter of eating less calories than you burn. That is not a complicated concept or process. There is no reason to have meal replacement shakes (unless for motivation I guess)

    Also thank you for capitalising the word fail. It really did put emphasis on it. in fact I may have found it too complicated to read that word had you not used upper case for each letter. I'm off to try and work out how food scales work now...and get my head around this complicated thing called portion size. I mean pop tarts are telling me one portion is two pop tarts, they could really have made it easier for me and just told me the calories for each pop tart.

    I'm on your side for the most part. Pop-Tarts are per pastry though. Unless you were being sarcastic?

    81HSGPOZ69L._SL1500_.jpg

    Being 100% sarcastic. She stated earlier:

    "And people who don't understand that a packet of pop tarts is not a portion will log it as a portion and then wonder why they're not losing weight. But hey who cares about accurate logging? That's got nothing to do with weight loss. Oh wait..."

    I still do not understand that example as 99.99% of foods are easily converted into grams with basic mathematics. So I don't understand why someone would need to learn "portions" or what that even really means...
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    Nope nope nope. You shouldn't really be replacing food for any reason...

    Why?

    Why? Why would you? That's the real question.

    A 200 calorie shake will not fill you up anywhere near as much as 200 calories coming from something like beef.

    As stated above:

    yes with slimfast. I was generally hungry and my pee smelled like slimfast. Take that for what it is worth.

    Not to even mention the price of some of these things. There is no reason to spend lots of money on products to lose weight. A calorie deficit is all that's needed. Weight loss isn't actually a complicated process. People funding companies like this is why it has become a complicated process for many people.

    Why would you?
    Well for me it fits in with my life and my method of weightloss. It also give you a more rounded source of nutrition than making a meal of the same calories.

    You're right, you don't have to but that doesn't mean the tools that cost money are automatically invalid. They're tools to lose weight.

    Believe it or not weight loss is complicated. You have to understand potion size, what's in the food you're eating, how that effects your hunger, how much to exercise and what that burns. Yes it's a matter if cutting calories but how it's done is really important.

    You've just made it complicated. Eating less than you burn will result in weight loss. That is not complicated what so ever. All the factors you involved are to help with health while cutting. I was specifically referring to weight loss in which none of that is relevant if you know your TDEE.

    And people who don't understand that a packet of pop tarts is not a portion will log it as a portion and then wonder why they're not losing weight. But hey who cares about accurate logging? That's got nothing to do with weight loss. Oh wait...

    If you are accurately logging you should really be using scales and measuring in grams. Your packet of pop tart analogy makes no sense. I'm sure anyone with basic mathematics skills would know to get the calories of one pop tart would be the total packet calories divided by the amount of pop tarts. Plus as shown below myfitnesspal usually doesn't have that problem...

    Capture.png

    Wait did you just complicate it with food scales? So it's not 'just' eat less then is it.

    Edit: I'm sorry op I've hijacked your thread. I'll be quiet now.

    So you are saying putting some food on a food scale is too difficult for the average person so you may as well buy a meal replacement shake? That logic!

    Nope. Reading comprehension FAIL.

    "Wait did you just complicate it with food scales? So it's not 'just' eat less then is it."

    You have said using food scales and measuring food is complicated to the average person.

    It is a matter of eating less calories than you burn. That is not a complicated concept or process. There is no reason to have meal replacement shakes (unless for motivation I guess)

    Also thank you for capitalising the word fail. It really did put emphasis on it. in fact I may have found it too complicated to read that word had you not used upper case for each letter. I'm off to try and work out how food scales work now...and get my head around this complicated thing called portion size. I mean pop tarts are telling me one portion is two pop tarts, they could really have made it easier for me and just told me the calories for each pop tart.

    I'm on your side for the most part. Pop-Tarts are per pastry though. Unless you were being sarcastic?

    81HSGPOZ69L._SL1500_.jpg

    Being 100% sarcastic. She stated earlier:

    "And people who don't understand that a packet of pop tarts is not a portion will log it as a portion and then wonder why they're not losing weight. But hey who cares about accurate logging? That's got nothing to do with weight loss. Oh wait..."

    I still do not understand that example as 99.99% of foods are easily converted into grams with basic mathematics. So I don't understand why someone would need to learn "portions" or what that even really means...

    My bad.
  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    Nope nope nope. You shouldn't really be replacing food for any reason...

    Why?

    Why? Why would you? That's the real question.

    A 200 calorie shake will not fill you up anywhere near as much as 200 calories coming from something like beef.

    As stated above:

    yes with slimfast. I was generally hungry and my pee smelled like slimfast. Take that for what it is worth.

    Not to even mention the price of some of these things. There is no reason to spend lots of money on products to lose weight. A calorie deficit is all that's needed. Weight loss isn't actually a complicated process. People funding companies like this is why it has become a complicated process for many people.

    Why would you?
    Well for me it fits in with my life and my method of weightloss. It also give you a more rounded source of nutrition than making a meal of the same calories.

    You're right, you don't have to but that doesn't mean the tools that cost money are automatically invalid. They're tools to lose weight.

    Believe it or not weight loss is complicated. You have to understand potion size, what's in the food you're eating, how that effects your hunger, how much to exercise and what that burns. Yes it's a matter if cutting calories but how it's done is really important.

    You've just made it complicated. Eating less than you burn will result in weight loss. That is not complicated what so ever. All the factors you involved are to help with health while cutting. I was specifically referring to weight loss in which none of that is relevant if you know your TDEE.

    And people who don't understand that a packet of pop tarts is not a portion will log it as a portion and then wonder why they're not losing weight. But hey who cares about accurate logging? That's got nothing to do with weight loss. Oh wait...

    If you are accurately logging you should really be using scales and measuring in grams. Your packet of pop tart analogy makes no sense. I'm sure anyone with basic mathematics skills would know to get the calories of one pop tart would be the total packet calories divided by the amount of pop tarts. Plus as shown below myfitnesspal usually doesn't have that problem...

    Capture.png

    Wait did you just complicate it with food scales? So it's not 'just' eat less then is it.

    Edit: I'm sorry op I've hijacked your thread. I'll be quiet now.

    So you are saying putting some food on a food scale is too difficult for the average person so you may as well buy a meal replacement shake? That logic!

    Nope. Reading comprehension FAIL.

    "Wait did you just complicate it with food scales? So it's not 'just' eat less then is it."

    You have said using food scales and measuring food is complicated to the average person.

    It is a matter of eating less calories than you burn. That is not a complicated concept or process. There is no reason to have meal replacement shakes (unless for motivation I guess)

    Also thank you for capitalising the word fail. It really did put emphasis on it. in fact I may have found it too complicated to read that word had you not used upper case for each letter. I'm off to try and work out how food scales work now...and get my head around this complicated thing called portion size. I mean pop tarts are telling me one portion is two pop tarts, they could really have made it easier for me and just told me the calories for each pop tart.

    I'm on your side for the most part. Pop-Tarts are per pastry though. Unless you were being sarcastic?

    81HSGPOZ69L._SL1500_.jpg

    Being 100% sarcastic. She stated earlier:

    "And people who don't understand that a packet of pop tarts is not a portion will log it as a portion and then wonder why they're not losing weight. But hey who cares about accurate logging? That's got nothing to do with weight loss. Oh wait..."

    I still do not understand that example as 99.99% of foods are easily converted into grams with basic mathematics. So I don't understand why someone would need to learn "portions" or what that even really means...

    My bad.

    No worries bro!

    To OP. Best bet for shakes and stuff is to make them yourself. You will save a tonne of money and you know EXACTLY what's going in them. Plus you can tweak them to your taste and macros!
  • jesikalovesyou
    jesikalovesyou Posts: 172 Member
    derri78 wrote: »
    Hi all
    Have any of you tried the meal replacement , weight loss, fad diets, vi shakes, JP ect... Do they work ??...

    Ask yourself this: Do you enjoy these shakes as much as, say, pizza? Or cheese? Or chicken, beef, pork, candy, fruits, vegetables, or whatever licorice is made of? If the answer is "no" to any of these, I'd say put the shake down and chew something. That's just my weird logic though.

    Also, if you'd call it a "fad diet" I'd hope you'd realize that those do come and go (mostly because they don't work).

    I 100000000% love shakes more than I love pizza. I will choose a smoothie/shake over pizza any day.


    I am against fad diets but drinking shakes =/= fad diets.
  • BexiM89
    BexiM89 Posts: 9 Member
    I started using Protein World Shakes end of June and Iove them. Go onto their website and they give you fantastic recipes to use the Protein mix with. You don't have to just have a shake. I do, both morning and lunch due to a busy work schedule. If you contact then and discuss your own needs they'll help figure what's best for you. I don't necessarily need to lose weight, just tone up etc and they gave me recommdations to my own needs and I feel it's benefited me. Just research and talk to the companies, most will be willing to help.
  • shor0814
    shor0814 Posts: 559 Member
    derri78 wrote: »
    Hi all
    Have any of you tried the meal replacement , weight loss, fad diets, vi shakes, JP ect... Do they work ??...

    Ask yourself this: Do you enjoy these shakes as much as, say, pizza? Or cheese? Or chicken, beef, pork, candy, fruits, vegetables, or whatever licorice is made of? If the answer is "no" to any of these, I'd say put the shake down and chew something. That's just my weird logic though.

    Also, if you'd call it a "fad diet" I'd hope you'd realize that those do come and go (mostly because they don't work).

    I 100000000% love shakes more than I love pizza. I will choose a smoothie/shake over pizza any day.


    I am against fad diets but drinking shakes =/= fad diets.

    Protein shakes that taste like cheating and pizza any day.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,970 Member
    ANY diet plan works if you follow it. Sustaining losses on it after getting off is the issue. Diet plans don't really teach you how to eat food you enjoy eating, they teach you to eat THEIR food/products.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png
  • kyrannosaurus
    kyrannosaurus Posts: 350 Member
    I tried some cheap, probably really unhealthy meal replacement shakes a couple of years ago.
    - first week I lost 2kg - "omg!" I thought "this program is magic"
    - second week after losing so much water weight the week before I lost half a kg.
    - third week I got bored/hungry and went off program.

    I was tracking the calories I was eating on the meal replacement diet and it only worked because it created a deficit eating 990ish calories a day. (2x shake = 440cals, 2 times program "snack" bar = 200cals, 1x main meal 350cals)

    It is not worth it.
    I'd rather eat food.
  • derri78
    derri78 Posts: 18 Member
    Thanks guys,xx
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    alyhuggan wrote: »
    Nope nope nope. You shouldn't really be replacing food for any reason...

    Why?

    why would you even question eating real food????

    Define real food. I dare you.

    if you don't know what real food is, then this conversation is over. As you are now just trying to argue with me for the sake of arguing.

    :|
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    I tried protein shakes in the past - found they weren't that filling for the calories, or not for long enough. Ham sandwiches did the job better.