Advice and/or tips about meal replacements shakes

My advice is to use this app as it is intended - plug in your numbers, track your calories and lose weight sensibly. Using meal replacement shakes is not sustainable - are you going to drink 2 of your 3 meals for the rest of your life?

I will blend one up sometimes when I don't have time or feel like cooking. Usually it replaces my second meal, but that's just my personal preference/schedule. I like EAS and Quest powders. I blend them with Greek yogurt, goat milk, and avocado. It comes out thick and creamy, and I feel like I get to have a milkshake. It also keeps me super satisfied until dinner.

I am afraid your all or nothing approach is doomed. My experience with meal replacement shakes usually ended in illness when I was replacing 2 meals with shakes. My recommendation is to do no more than one meal. There are healthy things you can cook in a micro wave and many healthy foods you do not even need to cook. Try a more balanced approach.

Somebody gave me a recipe for a make it yourself version... I prefer it to any commercially available shake that I've tried (atkins, slimfast etc). Mostly because the others either contain too much sugar, or don't leave me full.

Recipe (please note that this is highly modifiable to taste.... and for the record I HATE veggies... so this is one of the only ways I can get them in-because you really don't taste it)

- 4 oz egg beaters (important if you want protein in it... but I'm not crazy about egg beaters- might be able to replace with a protein supplement)
- 1-3 cups of kale/spinach
- juice of I lime squeezed
- 1 serving fruit (I prefer 3/4 cup pineapple, or strawberries)
- 2 packages Splenda (or sweetener of choice to taste)
- vanilla or strawberry extract to taste- I use a dash
- 4 oz skim milk
- ice

I place milk first, then greens, then fruit, sweetener, extract, lime juice then ice on top. I blend until smooth. Insert straw and get to sucking.

Looks really green and gross. Tastes mostly limey/fruity. You know there are greens in it, but soooooo much better tasting than a salad. The best part is how energized and full I feel after finishing it. Aannnd I get in veggies that I loathe.

LeanButNotMean44 wrote: »

My advice is to use this app as it is intended - plug in your numbers, track your calories and lose weight sensibly. Using meal replacement shakes is not sustainable - are you going to drink 2 of your 3 meals for the rest of your life?

This. Why suffer an unpleasant shake, which for the record I have tried and never ever felt satisfied with hunger wise, when you can eat what you please in controlled amounts. I'm not advocating you eat tv dinners all the time, but would you rather have a meal replacement shake or a MEAL with similar or identical calories? Plus if you do shakes you're not going to do them forever, wouldn't you rather learn to cook delicious noms?

Kalikel wrote: »

Some people do really well with shakes, but most people end up stopping them and overeating...at least the people I know. Everyone I know who does this drinks the shakes and eats super-healthy food, but way under what they need to eat to lose. In less than a month, they're overeating.

It's just not something that works for most.

If you find out that it doesn't work for you, don't despair. Just learn to cook. Make healthy foods in yummy ways and keep an eye on your calories. That is the kind of thing you can do for life. It will make you healthier, keep you fuller and help you lose weight.

Good luck with your shake thing! But don't give up if it doesn't work out the way you hope it will.

Or don't learn to cook and use the handy dandy Barcode scanner in the MFP app! But for real learning to cook is way fun so do that too.

DeJonal wrote: »

I have been doing lots of research on meal replacement shakes and the one that keeps getting my attention is Naturade Total Soy. Lots of people on Youtube have given it great reviews and the results has left me impressed.

Like some of you have mentioned, I have no desire to learn how to cook, thing is I'm extremely impatient when it comes to food (hence why I eat lots of fast food and processed food). The only time I really get a decent home cooked meal is when I eat whatever my mom has made. The only thing for me to do is eat much healthier and finds way to exercise whenever I can. I don't mean for meal replacements shakes to be a permanent solution but just until I get to 185-195 lbs.

But, I mean, you understand when you do get down to that weight, no matter whether you do it by shakes or calorie counting or whatever, you're not just gonna magically stay at that weight because you exercise. You have to know how much input you're getting versus output: CICO. Not just so you can lose weight initially, but so you can keep it off, and even build muscle later if that's your goal. The reason you won't hear anyone here say "yeah shakes are the bomb you don't need to do anything else" is because it's massively untrue. You need a lifestyle change to lose weight, then you need another one to keep the weight off, then you need an entirely different one if you want to go lift weights and sculpt your body. I'm not saying don't use shakes to help you lose weight, just understand that it's a lot more complicated than that, and if you just use shakes to lose weight, then go back to your regular eating habits because you don't like the idea of knowing how to make a meal instead of just buy one, you're gonna end up right back on here having gained the weight back. Consider checking out some of the "must reads" in the general diet and weight loss help section, cause I think you really need to absorb more information about how this works. I'm not calling you dumb or anything, I just genuinely care that you get all the information you need to make this work for you so you don't end up failing and feeling crummy about it.

DeJonal wrote: »

For the past 5 years, I have been really putting on weight by eating nothing but microwavable processed foods (Hot Pockets, pizza rolls, TV dinners,) and eating at numerous fast food outlets (Micky D's, Popeyes, etc.) and I have became obese due to getting little to no exercise.

Right now as I type this I'm 6' 1" 275 lbs. I hope to chance my entire lifestyle starting with how and what I eat. I want to get down to the 185-195 lbs. range but I'm in no hurry to get there.

I was wondering do anyone here care to share their experiences with meal replacement shakes and what's the best brand to get, what to add in it, and what meal to replace.

I want to start replacing 2 or 3 meals beginning this November 1st.


Thanks for any advice and tips given.

A meal replacement shake ISN'T meal. You got overweight from over consumption. Reduce the consumption and your weight will go down.
If your intention is to change your EATING lifestyle, then that's what you do. A shake isn't a lifestyle change unless you're planning to drink them the rest of your life.

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