Meal Replacement Shakes

raccdt468 · February 16

Tomorrow I start my journey with meal replacement shakes. Is there anyone on this path to weight loss? And how's it going? I'm shooting for 6 months to a year.

tulips_and_tea · February 16

Is this doctor suggested / monitored? Or is this by choice? A little bit more info would help. The only time I've ever used protein shakes as meal replacements were during and after a couple serious illnesses, so I'm curious as to your intention.

raccdt468 · February 16

These meal replacements shakes are by choice and for weight loss. I'm trying to cut back on calories and at the same time receive all the nutrients from the meal replacement that regular protein shakes do not have.

mtaratoot · February 17

Why not just eat food and be mindful of how much? Food is better than imitation food.

What are your goals?

What will you do the day after you stop using this method to lose weight? Are you planning to use meal replacements for the rest of your life? Sounds kind of awful to me, but I like food.

Why not take the long view? Why not start by just logging what you currently eat then slowly eating less towards a calorie goal but by actually eating food?

Are you able to eat food? Some people are not. I think that's who meal replacements are formulated for.

ridiculous59 · February 17

Many years ago I used Slimfast shakes. They were disgusting so I would put them in a blender and add some berries. I lost 60 pounds but guess what ......I never actually learned anything about food or my relationship with food. So of course I gained it all back. Not a healthy outcome, but that was my experience.

Also, as I've matured in this weight-loss journey, I've realized that I would much rather put real food in my body than a bunch of chemicals. If a person enjoys drinking their calories, then it takes all of five minutes to make a shake with Greek yoghurt or tofu, frozen berries, a handful of greens, etc. So much of weight-loss success happens because of pre-planning and time management, i.e. making sure you have the necessary groceries in the house, giving yourself a few extra minutes to prep your food before heading out the door, or food prepping at the start of the week. Shakes are easy, but for me, they didn't teach me the skills that I needed to manage food for the rest of my life.

Weight-loss isn't complicated. We consume less calories than we expend and the weight comes off. But because we are human, our behaviours and emotions all come into play and muddy the waters. Sometimes we have to work through that stuff to see success. Shakes weren't the answer for me, but as they say, YMMV, so I'm wishing you success.

raccdt468 · February 17

Thank you so much. I love food and I would not tell anyone to steer off from that. I want to try something different and see if it works for me. With food it was very difficult for me to lose the weight. And this is true, when your emotions come in to play; you get all anxious and all other kinds of emotions. I tried a lot of diets with food and all failed. But just maybe combining both might just do the trick.

springlering62 · February 17

When I first started I wasn’t sure if anything I as doing was “right”. I was a whirling mass of confusion and information over-saturation.

I actually did start with a smoothie per day, for breakfast, with regular food for other meals, and did it for a year or two. Don’t remember the ingredients, but I came up with one that tasted just like a Wendy’s frosty. It ran all my sweet, chocolate and (faux) ice cream bells, as well as being surprisingly nutritious and filling, and I believe that was one of the things that kickstarted me, since it made me feel like I was still having a “treat” for breakfast (versus my usual favored breakfast: a whole box of entemanns chocolate covered donuts and a family bag of salt and vinegar chips).

It was, btw, HUGE, used a quart sized blender cup, full of ice, and took a long time to eat. I got my morning hydration and felt like I had a giant mess of food to enjoy.

If you go the shake route, consider creating your own tailored one that’s nutritious, and rings all your own bells for tastiness, thickness, whatever.

But don’t go all shakes. There’s so many easy nutritious and delicious meals you can make in less than ten minutes.

Weight loss didn’t start off as punishment for me, at no point has it been punishment or deprivation, and that’s made it way easier to create those habits

And btw, I moved past the faux-Frosties and for the last three years have been eating chocolate or red velvet pancakes, brushed with homemade cream cheese or lately homemade low cal Reese’s spread. Laugh all you want, but I roll these babies up and pretend the are Litttle Debbie Swiss Rolls. It’s asinine and mental, but it works for me!!!!! I’ve been in maintenance 3+ years with my food/mind games.

raccdt468 · February 17

Thank you springlering... big help.

AnnPT77 · February 17

raccdt468 wrote: »

Thank you so much. I love food and I would not tell anyone to steer off from that. I want to try something different and see if it works for me. With food it was very difficult for me to lose the weight. And this is true, when your emotions come in to play; you get all anxious and all other kinds of emotions. I tried a lot of diets with food and all failed. But just maybe combining both might just do the trick.

If you'd been considering only eating meal replacement shakes for months, I'd encourage you to consider eating nutrient-dense regular foods for at least one meal daily, on theoretical grounds.

The theoretical grounds: Nutrition is still a very active area for scientific research, with important new discoveries still happening. I'm old, 68. Over the course of my life, many "new" essential and beneficial nutrients have been "discovered" scientifically. Once those discoveries are confirmed, the nutrients may be included in good-brand meal replacement shakes. But they were in real foods all along, even before "discovery". I'm pretty sure science isn't through discovering good stuff.

I think eating real, nutrient-dense food is a bet hedge for getting closer to optimal nutrition. You may not agree, and that's your call, of course.

As an aside, I don't know what type/brand of meal replacements you're considering. I feel especially skeptical of those that claim they have 17 (or 33, or 45 or whatever) different herbs, veggies, fruits, adaptogens, supplements, etc., in a small scoop or two of green powder. There isn't much of any one useful thing in those, often not the quantities that may've been tested and found beneficial in relevant research on the individual components. It's gee-whiz marketing in those cases, more than a "complete nutrition" solution in reality. I'm not saying all brands do that, but it's not a super unusual strategy, either.

Wishing you success, whatever route you choose! The results are for sure worth the effort.

P.S. As context: Everyone who's commented on this thread has been successful here at weight loss, and most of the bunch successful at maintenance, too. You're hearing voice of experience with weight management, even where there may not be - as in my case - a track record of long-term meal replacement use.

raccdt468 · February 18

Thank you for your advice. Yes, this is my first try at meal replacement shakes. I'm just trying out of curiosity and because I've the weight loss results in a friend's personal life. If it doesn't work out, then back to two full or three full whole meals a day and figure that out.

pony4us · February 18

I do use shakes for most lunches...have for years and am in maintenance for about a year. Yes I do plan on using them for the rest of my life. Otherwise I find I either skip lunch and overeat for dinner, don't get my protein in or go to sandwiches instead. It is just a choice that works for me.
I am in my 70s, a very very good cheffy cook so dinners are all fresh and home prepared, live in the boonies so don't eat out (I'm not driving 45 min to go to McDonalds). Also I like the taste.
My bloodwork is perfect and I'm not on any meds. Works for me. Everyone's journey is different.

Corina1143 · February 18

raccdt468 wrote: »

Thank you for your advice. Yes, this is my first try at meal replacement shakes. I'm just trying out of curiosity and because I've the weight loss results in a friend's personal life. If it doesn't work out, then back to two full or three full whole meals a day and figure that out.

I think it's great to be curious and open to new possibilities. If you do go back to regular meals, I would bet there will still be times those shakes will come in handy, if you stay open.

My personal experience--great for supper with lots of crushed ice on hot summer nights of mowing and yard work--just too hot and tired to cook or eat.

ridiculous59 · February 18

Corina1143 wrote: »

raccdt468 wrote: »

Thank you for your advice. Yes, this is my first try at meal replacement shakes. I'm just trying out of curiosity and because I've the weight loss results in a friend's personal life. If it doesn't work out, then back to two full or three full whole meals a day and figure that out.

I think it's great to be curious and open to new possibilities. If you do go back to regular meals, I would bet there will still be times those shakes will come in handy, if you stay open.

My personal experience--great for supper with lots of crushed ice on hot summer nights of mowing and yard work--just too hot and tired to cook or eat.

Unfortunately my go-to meal in that situation would probably be a couple of cold ciders 🙄

Songbird_30 · February 18

In my experience, I used 4 total meal replacement shakes daily for 3 months and no exercise, under a doctors monitoring, looking at losing between 5-15% of my body weight (I lost 8%).
I then introduced healthy low fat balanced meals one a fortnight swapping out the shakes while walking 5-10,000 steps a day.

raccdt468 · February 18

Interesting sonbird. You actually went to the doctor and they gave you that prescription. I just started and am having a mild laxative effect, but will continue to see what happens.

pony4us · February 18

If you are having a mild laxative effect try different brands. I know that several do not agree with me so it was a learning curve. There are so many choices now.

raccdt468 · February 18

Thnx pony 4us

springlering62 · February 19

It could be the artificial sweetener. I discovered I reacted really bad to the sweetener used in One bars. I was upset for a couple of days. Heated a few and tried again to be sure, same reaction.

I took all that were left and left them on the counter at the gym with “free” stuck to the boxes. You can bet they disappeared.

Try a different one and see if you have the same reaction.

I only eat Nugo bars now. Delicious, not artificial sweeteners. I just got some of their new protein powders in but haven’t tried them yet. They aren’t crazy high protein like some, but still useful for the few times I use powders.

Also if you’re drinking them for protein purposes, check out corelife. I make a smoothie with a bottle of core life, a serving of cottage cheese, a few grams cocoa powder and a lot of ice. About 270 calories, tasty, and about 40gr protein. Thats my go-to when I’m unusually low.

A couple drops of peppermint or coconut extract makes them….magical.

raccdt468 · February 19

Good advice sprinlering.. thank you

ninerbuff · February 19

raccdt468 wrote: »

These meal replacements shakes are by choice and for weight loss. I'm trying to cut back on calories and at the same time receive all the nutrients from the meal replacement that regular protein shakes do not have.

The issue is that liquid diets are one of the highest weight regain diets after they are stopped. They don't teach you HOW TO EAT, just how to mix a drink and drink it.
It's a MUCH BETTER approach to learn the HABIT of how to control how much you eat with food. Because unless you're willing to stay on a meal replacement shake the rest of your life, you'll regain once you go back to actual eating.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

SafariGalNYC · February 20

I like doing shakes for breakfast or lunch. I get all my daily greens in with omega 3 mix ins and at least 20-25 grams of protein.

Good luck! 🍀

raccdt468 · February 20

Thanks for your advice ninerbuff

raccdt468 · February 20

Thanks safari

b465sk9cqs · February 20

For me the attraction of the ready made shakes would be not having to make potentially bad choices about what to eat, no cooking and no measuring. These things can be especially hard first thing in the morning which is why I have the same thing every day for breakfast except for 2 days a month when we go out for brunch. Knowing I’ve started the day off great with my goals in mind makes the rest of the day go better. The app actually encourages this by having a “swipe right” to add yesterday’s breakfast feature. I get enough variety at lunch and dinner so I don’t get bored. Whatever you choose I think establishing some kind of routine that works for you will help you succeed. Consistency is key.

ccalles39 · February 28

I’m trying the same tomorrow, wishing you the best of luck!!

raccdt468 · February 28

Thank u ccalles

springlering62 · February 29

Two weeks in, right? How’s it going?

Kotkoda005 · March 2

Good luck! Just be mindful of learning healthy habits too - a shake isn't the ultimate solution to weight loss. Most find themselves gaining weight (sometimes even worse than before) because they didn't develop healthy eating habits or learn about nutrition.

Damian45 · March 7

I've tried doing shakes and healthy smoothies. They just don't fill me up enough. They're delcious, but I still end up eating after drinking one.

Corina1143 · March 16

@raccdt468 & ccalles39
time for an update?

neanderthin · March 17

Yeah, it's mostly a mental thing why people can't maintain weight loss and it's generally associated with the type of food people eat, and we know what the vast majority eat and have a hard time controlling. By going meal replacement for a year your still going to have to battle the same situation you have now while not learning a thing about what foods facilitate better satiety, kind of a waste of time imo. Good luck, I have a feeling your going to need it.

Meal Replacement Shakes

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