Smoothies for weight loss

As long as you don't eat more calories than you burn, you will lose weight.

Smoothies personally don't fill me up for long, though sometimes I do have a protein shake with a banana for breakfast. I also don't feel like replacing meals with smoothies teaches portion control. Learning how much to eat is just as important for long-term success as sticking to your calorie goals. Replacing meals with shakes/smoothies doesn't do much to teach you how much you should be eating to lose or maintain your weight.

If you do decide to go that route, make sure you are still weighing all of your ingredients with a food scale and calculating the calories in your smoothies as accurately as possible.

Wouldn't you prefer to eat a huge pile of fruit or veg and have the fibre too? More filling for the same calories :-)

There isn't anything particularly special about smoothies. For example, just look at some of the smoothies you can get at Jamba Juice, Dairy King and Smoothie King--you can make a smoothie that has 1000 calories and little nutritional benefit! It's really all about the calories. If you drink a high cal smoothie twice a day, you won't see any positive results!

However, I love smoothies, and have one for breakfast every day. Making them at home is ideal, as you can control everything you put in there. I use a NutriBullet I got for Christmas last year. Here's what I do with mine:

Start with a few ice cubes, because I like them cold, and a little water helps make it easier to drink.
Add 85 grams of kale. You could use spinach, but I eat salads with spinach later in the day, so I use kale for breakfast. You can try other greens, but avoid mustard greens! I bought those by mistake once and it did not taste good.
Add 50 grams of frozen fruit. I use a variety of fruit--mixed berries, pineapple, mango, cherries, peaches, whatever. Pineapple is my favorite. I use frozen because it's cheaper and already chopped up, so it's easier to assemble in the morning.
Add a scoop of protein powder. I use Designer Protein LITE, vanilla flavored, which is 60 calories a scoop with 10 grams of protein.
Add Greek yogurt. I use Dannon Lite and Fit, which is 80 calories a scoop. You don't have to use this, you could use milk--almond, soy, regular, whatever--but I like having the Greek for creaminess. Definitely go for low-sugar Greek yogurt, though; yogurts can seem deceptively healthy while actually being very high in calories and sugar.
Add half a banana.

I used to add a scoop of nuts, usually almonds or walnuts, as well, and used a whole banana. I cut those out to reduce calories. If you find you need more protein for satiety, I definitely suggest the nuts, which also add vitamin E. (This will probably add 100 to 150 calories to the smoothie, but you may find you need the protein to keep you full or give you energy.)

These smoothies usually run about 250 to 280 calories for me, depending on the type of fruit I've used that morning. Today I had my mango smoothie--255 calories, .6 grams of fat, 8 grams of fiber, 25 grams of protein, and more than enough vitamins A and C. Because of the fruit it is high in sugar--23 grams--so if you are diabetic or need to watch sugar for health reasons, I'd advise leaving out the banana and reducing the amount of frozen fruit. I eat this around 6:30 am and don't feel hungry until about 11:30. I only have one a day, though, as I prefer a big salad and fresh fruit for lunch, and usually have a hot and filling bean/pasta/veg dish for dinner.

That's just what I do. There are tons of variations of smoothies. I think the recipes I do are pretty healthy, but you have to determine what your individual needs are. I personally couldn't have smoothies for breakfast and lunch, but for me they make a great breakfast. I feel like I start my day with a big serving of fruit and veg, with plenty of protein that helps keep me full, and I've already gotten plenty of vitamins. They're easy to make and taste delicious, so it feels like having dessert for breakfast every day.

I have a smoothie nearly every morning. I blend the juice of half a lemon with several kale leaves (spine removed) with some almond milk and and frozen fruit. I also add bee pollen and tumeric stevia to sweeten and I often add pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon to flavour. I don't think I would enjoy having a smoothie more than twice a day because it would get old and there are so many healthy delicious and healthy foods out there . I used to have a high protein breakfast but it make me feel sluggish and having fruits and vegetables in an easily digestible format has really energized me and helped cure my acid reflux. So although some folks are saying that smoothies are not great, I've had good results and experience with it personally.

I would say yes to smoothie for breakfast if you're in a hurry but no to smoothie for lunch, unless you can make it at the spot.
For breakfast I sometimes drink smoothie as well, add some fruits, yogurt, oats inside and basically just blend what I would eat for breakfast usually. I don't do this everyday tho, simply because I like eating for breakfast things that I can't smoothie like eggs for example.
As far as brining a smoothie to your work...if you make smoothie in the morning, by lunch time you will already lose a big amount of nutrients in it. It would be healthier to just make a salad out of those veggies or fruits.

I would advise you to try and see if it works for you. As long as you're eating less calories than what you burn, you will lose weight. And as long as you enter all nutrients, you will be eating a balanced diet.

GsKiki wrote: »

I would say yes to smoothie for breakfast if you're in a hurry but no to smoothie for lunch, unless you can make it at the spot.
For breakfast I sometimes drink smoothie as well, add some fruits, yogurt, oats inside and basically just blend what I would eat for breakfast usually. I don't do this everyday tho, simply because I like eating for breakfast things that I can't smoothie like eggs for example.
As far as brining a smoothie to your work...if you make smoothie in the morning, by lunch time you will already lose a big amount of nutrients in it. It would be healthier to just make a salad out of those veggies or fruits.

I would advise you to try and see if it works for you. As long as you're eating less calories than what you burn, you will lose weight. And as long as you enter all nutrients, you will be eating a balanced diet.

What is your source for the claim that most of the nutrients in a smoothie will vanish after a few hours? If this was the case, wouldn't they be lost anyway? Human digestion takes more than a few hours.

kshama2001 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

GsKiki wrote: »

I would say yes to smoothie for breakfast if you're in a hurry but no to smoothie for lunch, unless you can make it at the spot.
For breakfast I sometimes drink smoothie as well, add some fruits, yogurt, oats inside and basically just blend what I would eat for breakfast usually. I don't do this everyday tho, simply because I like eating for breakfast things that I can't smoothie like eggs for example.
As far as brining a smoothie to your work...if you make smoothie in the morning, by lunch time you will already lose a big amount of nutrients in it. It would be healthier to just make a salad out of those veggies or fruits.

I would advise you to try and see if it works for you. As long as you're eating less calories than what you burn, you will lose weight. And as long as you enter all nutrients, you will be eating a balanced diet.

What is your source for the claim that most of the nutrients in a smoothie will vanish after a few hours? If this was the case, wouldn't they be lost anyway? Human digestion takes more than a few hours.

I can't find a truly authoritative source, but am seeing a lot of pages saying nutrients are lost over days, not hours, and for all foods after they are harvested, not specific to blended foods.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/548978-does-fruit-lose-its-nutritional-value-when-its-blended/

...According to Fruit and Veggies More Matters, blending fruits primarily changes their texture and appearance, making them spoonable or drinkable, and does not cause them to lose any nutrients. However, limiting the storage time of your blended fruits will help preserve their nutrients, as longer storage times leads to nutrient degradation. A 2006 issue of the “Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry” found that between 5 to 25 percent of vitamin C content was lost in cut pieces of kiwi, pineapple, mango, strawberry, watermelon and cantaloupe over a period of six days when the fruits were stored at 41 degrees Fahrenheit. There was also a significant loss of carotenoids.

Yes, I have seen sources suggesting that pre-making smoothies for *days* in advance can lead to losing nutrients. But I have never seen anything to suggest that doing it a few hours ahead of time will make a difference.

Thanks for looking it up.

So Stacy, now that you've heard some positive and some negative, I'll tell you how I both failed and succeeded at smoothies.

I started with just fruits & veg, blending with sometimes a little milk or ice (I refuse to spend $5/gal on nut juice, it's ridiculous, and full of sugar, and ALWAYS flavored like vanilla or some other bull-*kitten*, blech). They tasted great, and only made me hungrier.
I then started adding protein, at one point even putting in breakfast sausage and egg (seriously, not bad at all, but still weird) to my mostly green smoothies to add a little fat and a lot of protein to my nutrition. I hate buying protein replacements, and avoid them at all costs.

I finally ended up doing this: alternating a fruity green smoothie with Savory oatmeal smoothies!

I can blend up milk, a bit of peanut butter (not always), a huge scoop of quick oats, some feta cheese, lots of green leafy stuff, sometimes a splash of broth, and blend it until it's just smooth enough to pull through a straw (it'll thicken up as the liquid absorbs into the oatmeal). Then I throw on a little finely diced ham or sausage and some fine diced tomatoes and use a spoon.

It's less smoothie and more porridge, but at only 280 cal, chock full of protein, and a refreshing salty change to the fruits I normally blended, I began to want them more often. The fiber from the oatmeal and the protein and cheese really made it feel like a much more substantial "meal".

Now, I'm too lazy for all that. I make up little bundles of ham or sausage with a bit of feta and some mozzarella (2oz ham/sausage, 0.5 oz feta, 0.25 oz mozz) and freeze them. Then I just grab one on my way out the door, and when I find 3 minutes in my morning schedule, I put a 1/2 cup of quick-oats in a bowl, hit the hot water dispenser, microwave for 30 sec, then toss in my now thawed meat/cheese bundle. I grow lots of green onions and always have some ready to chop up for these mornings (scissors make it a job of 2 seconds). This is what my smoothie endeavor turned into, savory oatmeal. My coworkers now do it too, some of them overdoing it on the cheese and meat, but hey, a little hot sauce and a ton of feeling sated until I pull out an orange or an apple half-way to lunch make a huge difference.

That's my 2 cents, hope it doesn't hinder.