Shakes or other food "suppliments" - Yay or Nay?

I don't think processed foods are the way to go. They are usually full of sugar and sodium, making it harder to lose weight and often making you gain weight (in water retention). With that being said, I have Ensure or Adkins shakes in my refrigerator for emergencies. If I'm going to run out the door with no time to eat, I know I can grab a shake to tide me over.
It's not something that I do on a regular basis.

I don't agree with this at all...No matter what kind of food you eat, processed or not, as long as you are in a calorie deficit you'll lose weight whether you're taking in a bunch of sugar or salt a day. Eating less than your body burns a day = weight loss. According to NASM, calories are calories. There is no need to place foods in to these bad vs good categories.

So what you're saying is that 100 calories from baby carrots is the same as 100 calories from a soda? That the calories from each don't matter, you'll get the same results, involving overall health?

I'm sorry, but I'm calling BS.

overall health, no...but in terms of weight loss, a carb is a carb, a protein is a protein and a fat is a fat. I didn't say it was "healthier" but if you get 80gs of carbs from lets say whole wheat bread, it will yield the same results for WEIGHT LOSS as getting 80gs of carbs from straight sugar.

She said, and I quote, "I don't think processed foods are the way to go. They are usually full of sugar and sodium, making it harder to lose weight and often making you gain weight (in water retention)." The statement of just eating processed foods making it harder to lose weight or make you gain weight is what I am disputing. She didn't state anything about overall health, she was just discussing weight loss.

You can call BS all you want but I'm pretty sure NASM knows what it is talking about.

Personally I'm not a fan of any of them. For a few reasons:

1. I already spend so much on groceries, I don't want to add to it
2. I don't believe in "quick fixes" (I'm too cynical)
3. *My most important reason* I'm in this for the lifestyle change. I want to learn how to eat right for the rest of my life. I have slip ups because hey...I'm human! But I don't want to learn how to lose weight on supplements and then try to RELEARN how to eat in order to maintain. I have the same feelings about programs like Jenny Craig. What do you when you start eating real food again??

This exactly. That being said, I have a protein powder shake for breakfast that I make myself. I don't know if that falls into the shakes and processed foods category to others, but for me it does not. I brought my protein powder with me to my doctor's appointment, and she said it was fine. Even though we get scared that we don't know what it is on the label, she said is a good protein powder. I use Designer Chocolate. Take a peak at my diary if you would like. I see having a protein shake in the morning that I make as a something I can do for my life. However, I also know what I can and can't eat for breakfast if my shake isn't available to me. All checks and balances.

Going to go ahead and agree with most of the posters on this thread that, no, don't spend your money on something like that. Not to say that Body by Vi or other products aren't effective, but in reality, they are completely unnecessary. If meeting nutritional goals like getting all your protein/carbs/fat in daily is a challenge, then taking a supplement to add to it can help, such as a whey protein isolate. I train and want to train to compete in figure, so I supplement protein as well as other products to improve performance and recovery (glutamine, BCAA's, pre-workout stimulant). Just to lose weight, if you plan your day ahead of time, you can greatly minimize the need to incorporate nutritional supplements. Welcome to the site! Feel free to add me.

Only if you cannot get your required nutrition (macro and micro nutrients) from "real" food.

Which, if you plan ahead, shouldn't be an issue at all. Check out my diary.

Maybe that works for you but personally i need 1/3 less your calories and a lot more protein ... your "model" diary is not everybody's and your goals are definately not my goals. ::shrug::

I like using protein shakes to supplement if that day's protein is under 100gs, otherwise i don't bother. Go with a high quality protein powder, mine has 1 carb and 0 sugars for 30g protein which works well in my macros (Insulin Resistnat so need to limit sugars and carbs)

The only suppliment I use are protein whey smoothies twice a day. Protein is essential to developing muscle mass. It by itself will not make you loose weight but with exercise will help develop muscle mass faster.

I'm also big on the idea of making a lifestyle change that involves real food for meals. Like some others mentioned, I will occasional make my own smoothies with whey protein powder, but those include fresh and frozen fruit. I don't like the idea of diet shakes to replace meals and have tried them in the past. They made me feel like I was on a diet (miserable) and I was hungry an hour or two later. With (mostly) clean eating, I have so much food to eat while consuming fewer calories than I burn, so it's easy to maintain a deficit without feeling deprived or hungry all the time. I would never try doing this with some diet shake, no matter how good someone promises me it is.

I don't think processed foods are the way to go. They are usually full of sugar and sodium, making it harder to lose weight and often making you gain weight (in water retention). With that being said, I have Ensure or Adkins shakes in my refrigerator for emergencies. If I'm going to run out the door with no time to eat, I know I can grab a shake to tide me over.
It's not something that I do on a regular basis.

I don't agree with this at all...No matter what kind of food you eat, processed or not, as long as you are in a calorie deficit you'll lose weight whether you're taking in a bunch of sugar or salt a day. Eating less than your body burns a day = weight loss. According to NASM, calories are calories. There is no need to place foods in to these bad vs good categories.

So what you're saying is that 100 calories from baby carrots is the same as 100 calories from a soda? That the calories from each don't matter, you'll get the same results, involving overall health?

I'm sorry, but I'm calling BS.

overall health, no...but in terms of weight loss, a carb is a carb, a protein is a protein and a fat is a fat. I didn't say it was "healthier" but if you get 80gs of carbs from lets say whole wheat bread, it will yield the same results for WEIGHT LOSS as getting 80gs of carbs from straight sugar.

She said, and I quote, "I don't think processed foods are the way to go. They are usually full of sugar and sodium, making it harder to lose weight and often making you gain weight (in water retention)." The statement of just eating processed foods making it harder to lose weight or make you gain weight is what I am disputing. She didn't state anything about overall health, she was just discussing weight loss.

You can call BS all you want but I'm pretty sure NASM knows what it is talking about.

Actually, studies are finding that a calorie is NOT a calorie. And if a carb is a carb and etc...then who cares if you eat all processed foods or all clean? Oh, that's right YOUR BODY. So - they must NOT be the same b/c your body does NOT handle them the same way...

Actually, studies are finding that a calorie is NOT a calorie. And if a carb is a carb and etc...then who cares if you eat all processed foods or all clean? Oh, that's right YOUR BODY. So - they must NOT be the same b/c your body does NOT handle them the same way...

For weight loss, it is the same. Show me proof that you can't lose weight while eating nothing but junk food? As I stated above, it might not be healthy for your body, but you can still lose weight doing it. Not once did I say it was good for you...all I did was state that you can eating processed food over so called healthy food and it won't stop weight loss.

I have done the beachbody shake almost every day for the last 5ish months, but mostly because I'm lazy. I think it's probably helpful for the nutrition aspect, as well as keeping me headed in the right direction mentally. I could definitely see doing a shake of some sort for one meal a day the rest of my life - unless I get a personal chef or something.

It certainly hasn't had a negative impact - I've lost ~50 lbs over the same time period.

I AM a fan of them. There are lots of good ones out there. I use the Shaklee Cinch. And its very healthy, and does keep me full. I would not recommend Slim Fast, but go with one of the more reputable companies that do research and make their products out of natural things, and not processed.

Shaklee, Body by VI or Beachbody. Really if you are using a meal shake, and replacing a meal then you are also not buying as much other food, so I think the cost evens out. I love it as a shake, or sometimes I mix 1/2 serving Cinch with 1cup yogurt and fruit if I feel like eating rather than drinking.

Also a quality mulitvitamin is good too, by the same reputable companies mentioned above. Because unless you are eating 8-10 servings of vegetables and fruits, you are probably not getting recommended daily value of nutrition simply because the nutrition value in our food has decreased a lot in the last 50 years.

I don't know the facts on all those companies, but Shaklee only uses natural sources, so even if a multivitamin looks like a pill, it IS food and nutrition that you are putting into your body.

Feel free to message me with any questions.

I started off just like you did about 14 months ago. I had lots of questions and no real plan but I wanted to make a change. I stopped drinking soft drinks and started exercising. I mostly ran on an elliptical machine because it didn't hurt my feet and knees like running on a treadmill did. I think the first time I felt like I was going to die at 20 minutes but over time it slowly started to increase. I stopped eating fast food and trying to make better food choices. I started losing weight and inches. I think I lost 20 pounds in the first two months and then it seemed to slow down a bit. I started to increase the frequency and duration of my workouts and I'd get it going again. After 7.5 months I'd lost 50 pounds and was feeling good but nowhere near where I wanted to be. I then discovered MFP and started paying a lot more attention to what I ate and following the net calorie principles this program allows you to do. I bought a heart rate monitor with chest strap so I could more accurately track calories burned during exercise. I found that my weight loss increased and became much more consistent week to week. I have lost another 60 pounds since Jan 1. If I have any advice to give it's just follow the program and pay attention to what you eat in terms of calories and get on an exercise program and stick to it relentlessly. See a doctor and if you need some vitamin supplements or such then these are fine but personally I think what worked for me wasn't a pill but eating better and working out. Spend your money on a gym membership, a personal trainer or an elliptical machine for home. These are much better investments in my experience. I tried various things over the last 15 months but the only thing that really works is eating right and exercising regularly. For me that means working out and getting my heart rate up and sweating profusely, it's not pretty but I know I've had a good workout when my shirt is soaked with sweat. Anyway I hope this helps and good luck to you. Stay focused and be patient and just remember there is no substitute for hard work. I say all this to say that for me it's not about starving yourself or trying to eat very few calories, it's about eating good food in the right quantities and exercising to burn off the calories to meet your goal. If my MFP goal for calories is 1,290 to lose 2 pounds a week then I might eat 1,790 calories and burn off 500 in exercise, I hit my goal, it's entirely sustainable from a diet perspective and I'm not hungry. This is what worked for me.

I drink Shakeology by Beachbody and I really like it. I don't only do it to lose weight, but it helps me have energy throughout the day and I'm not totally dragging during the day like I used to be. For my breakfast I usually drink my tea with honey and lemon and then have my shake. I don't normally get hungry again until 11, so it satisfies me for about 3 hours.

If you really look into the "miracle" diets all of them only work in conjunction with a sensible diet and exercise.

This totally! Like everybody has said, you have to eat healthy otherwise too!

Good luck!

When I started last month (I'm a newbie here but began this journey alone) I was using the slimfast shakes. I suppose they tasted good and filled me up for a while, but I always got so bloated from them and felt sick to my stomach. When I found MFP and started keeping track of my calories religiously is when I gave up trying to do the shakes everyday. I now use them if I have to go somewhere so I won't be missing a meal instead of making them main staples of my diet.