Weight loss shakes

I tried it several times and was never able to stick to it or have any success. The vanilla shakes were gross, the strawberry tasted like chalk and chocolate was the only one that was remotely passable, but it got boring. It also taught me nothing about portion control or nutrition.

shakes are just another way to reduce the amount of calories you eat by offering a pre-packaged meal. you could do the same with weight watchers or lean cuisine meals, or you could simply pre-measure your own food to lower calorie portions. some people here premake several meals in advance so they can grab and go.

btw, if a slimfast shake has 180 calories, for the same calories you could have

two eggbeaters (50 calories) with reduced fat cheese (60 calories) and a half a piece of toast (depending on the size of your bread) with 10 grams light butter
-OR-
a dannon light & fit cherry greek yogurt (yummy!), 20 grams of oats cooked in 2 oz non-fat milk sweetened with stevia or another non-nutritive sweetener.
-OR-
170 gram baked potato with 30 grams light sour cream and 15 grams light butter

i could keep going all day. there's lots of foods with around 180 calories. if you were going low carb, you could grab a quest bar. but if you want a liquid that's easy to grab, a meal replacement shake could work, but at 180 calories unless you eat many smaller meals, you'll probably run out of energy long before lunch - and either feel bad or eat something early, which will pretty much ruin the point of the shake.

me, i'd suggest having around 300 calories for breakfast to give you energy.

Sure I like a nice shake every now and then. But I would never replace a meal with them on a regular basis. You want the weight to stay off so you should really try to begin as you mean to continue. Unless you plan on living the rest of your life replacing meals with shakes, I wouldn't do it.
And meal replacement shakes aren't great nutrition. I typically make my own for a snack (frozen bananas, pb and cocoa powder and milk) or after a workout (protein shake).

I did that for a couple months a couple years ago and I did lose quite a bit of weight, but since I wasn't learning about eating properly and portion sizes etc I gained it all back in months with interest:/ I don't recommend it to anyone.

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lindarpolk wrote: »

I used to for a while, but they gave me the runs. I finally figured out that's why I had to keep running to the restroom at work. With only 180 calories they never filled me up, so I ate enough food to keep from getting hungry. I can't say I lost anything, except the runs when I quit.

At 180 calories a pop, I'd be so famished by dinner that my "healthy dinner" would likely be a blowout that put me over my calories for the day.

Tried multiple times and failed multiple times. Not worth the money when I can be eating real food. That's just my opinion though.

A further note. I have some Isowhey (Madagascan Chocolate & Tropical Banana flavours) in the cupboard. I bought them last May, a couple of months before my S-I-L's surgery.

They taste fine but I only use one occasionally (maybe three or four times per month) not like the sixty serves per month my daughter's husband lived on for almost 7 months before surgery.

As shake formulas go, I can see why Isowhey is successful. It tastes good compared to others I've tried.

Personally though, I prefer fresh flavoursome food and the new lifestyle I've chosen over 25-26 months.

You have to do it for you. You can't diet for your friends or family. It has to be a 'for you' thing. So, if your friends are not eating healthy, then that should be ok. You have to have the will power to push through that. I gave up alcohol. My wife and friends didn't. I still went to the bar. I did just fine. I still have friends that smoke. I quit. It doesn't bother me. You have to remember who and why you have decided to make this decision.

osufootballgrl wrote: »

I started doing a weight loss shake diet last Wednesday, you know one for breakfast, one for lunch then a healthy dinner. Just wondering if anyone has tried this kind of diet and what kind of success you've had.

Just wondering how your diet is going? I started mine 4/9/16, similar to what you're doing, feel like I've lost only a few lbs, it's going slow though. Just started walking for my exercise. Also have added to Walkmeter app to my iPhone. Love it. It syncs progress to MFP!! I think the exercise will indeed start to help drop pounds. Also, recently bought the WeightGurus digital app sync scale. Love it. Syncs with MFP, too. I did Slimfast 13 years ago, few months before my wedding, but also rode bikes around neighborhood, too. This prob burned so many more calories, than walking, but I was 13 years younger, too. OK, so catch me up on how your weightloss shake is working for you! Wanna hear all about it!

PattyBanzhof1 wrote: »

osufootballgrl wrote: »

I started doing a weight loss shake diet last Wednesday, you know one for breakfast, one for lunch then a healthy dinner. Just wondering if anyone has tried this kind of diet and what kind of success you've had.

Sorry there weren't more people on here that had better experiences with Weightloss shakes. To alot of people that are trying to lose weight, it sounds like a food =mouth connection. They're just not into the shake/drink thing. Which is perfectly fine!!!! My obstacle is if my diet shake isn't a huge one, like 12 or more ounces, forget it!! Slimfast only calls for 8 oz milk, but once you blend it up, esp with banana and pb powder,ice cubes, it will make more than necessary, but that's OK! Then just seeing how much it makes seems to be very satisfying, when I only start out with 8 oz milk.
Good luck, hope these shakes are working for you!!!

I had luck losing weight with shakes BUT (and here's the hard part).....I was not able to keep the weight off. Shakes do absolutely nothing to teach portion control or to let us know where our problems are.

If someone has 5 or 10 pounds to lose. They have a good concept of maintenance. Those people may very well keep the weight off after a "temporary" dietary change (like meal replacements). But for those of us who haven't been at maintenance for years, going off shakes make us figure all of this out almost instantly.

I will need to moderate my calories FOREVER, not just while I am losing weight. Because once I get to a smaller weight I will require fewer calories forever.

There won't be "more" people here with good things to say, because this is a website designed for users to measure & log food......the very 2 things that meal replacements help users avoid.

booksandchocolate12 wrote: »

lindarpolk wrote: »

I used to for a while, but they gave me the runs. I finally figured out that's why I had to keep running to the restroom at work. With only 180 calories they never filled me up, so I ate enough food to keep from getting hungry. I can't say I lost anything, except the runs when I quit.

At 180 calories a pop, I'd be so famished by dinner that my "healthy dinner" would likely be a blowout that put me over my calories for the day.

I wouldn't make it until lunch.

I use them as snacks, they're just not even close to enough for a meal for anyone. Not just size and satiety but nutrition and calories too.

I have one slim fast 20g shake for a snack several days per week. I don't think it's sustainable to replace meals entirely. But you try it and see how it fits your life.