People are willing to buy anything to lose weight, statistics show that one third of American population is overweight which makes weight loss supplements a huge marketing target group. Companies are spending millions in promoting weight loss products, one of the most common are low calorie meal replacement shakes and fat burners. Today I’ve decided to share my view on the effectiveness of meal replacement shakes as I have a lot of clients who are just eager to spend money on this stuff I feel that it’s necessary to debunk some of the myth surrounding these products.
My clients somehow got the idea how meal replacement shakes serve as some kind of miracle shortcut to weight loss. As the old saying from Beverly Sills says “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going” expecting some kind of magic pill won’t get you any closer to your goals. Generally I’m personally very skeptic when it comes to weight loss supplements as with any product that sounds too good to be true. However I’m not going to be all negative about meal replacement shakes as they do have some practical applications and in the end can help you achieve your goals faster and I’ll tell you how.
Problem is that people expect how drinking a couple of tiny shakes will burn tons of fat by default while staying with the same diet like having 3-4 fast food meals, snacks and drinking Harmful sugar sodas all day instead of Water for weight loss.
How do weight loss shakes fit in your diet plan?
Biggest breakthrough in designing meals in form of shakes was in the 1950s due to space travel. Originally designed for astronauts to ensure survival in situations where it’s not possible to digest and eat solid food shakes today serve mostly as a weight loss or muscle building supplement. They are designed to be practical and fast which for me is the only reason why I use them.
Imagine a scenario where you’re on a big important meeting, stomach is calling out for food and the meeting won’t be over for at least a couple more hours. In situations like this when I’m hungry I can’t think of anything but food :), my productivity and focus is zero on and my mind is occupied by the thought of having some food. Luckily by anticipating such situations I have my meal replacement shake ready in the bag, I’ll just excuse myself for a couple of minutes, go out, have my shake and I’m good to go.
I can’t stress enough how many times a shake “saved me” especially During cutting diet phases where it’s absolutely crucial to keep a steady flow of protein in the blood stream to Prevent muscle loss. Here are some of the ways how meal replacement shakes work to help you lose weight.
5 ways meal replacement shakes help you lose weight
- No calorie counting
- Shakes are low in calories which make them ideal for someone who hates calorie counting. Replacing 1-2 solid meals with a low calorie shake will definitely decrease daily calorie intake which will help with weight loss because it’s more likely that you’ll expand more calories than you ingest that day. (I don’t advise you replace more than 2 meals with a shake.)
- Amazing time saver
- Sticking to a strict meal plan, cooking your own food and doing all that while having a job, family, college or other obligations can be very hard. Most people quit diets just because they don’t have time to prepare and eat solid meals every 3h. Providing an easy solution such as Instant Whey Protein shakes definitely saves a lot of time for someone with a very busy schedule.
- Cheap protein source
- Losing weight on a tight budget is in most cases mission impossible. Protein rich foods are usually very expensive and most diets evolve around a high daily protein intake. Meal replacement shakes usually have 50% of their calories from Complete protein sources.
- Spare muscle while dieting
- Increased protein intake can prevent muscle loss and that’s crucial for maintaining a high metabolism. Biggest problem of all diets is to keep the lost weight off, long term decreased daily calorie intake can cause slow metabolism which is a huge enemy of permanent fat loss.
- Reduce hunger
- Dieting brings another big problem into our lives and that’s the feeling of hunger, if you are anything like me can’t focus on anything if you’re hungry. Having a Protein shake will eliminate hunger and at the same time it won’t increase your calorie intake by much. You just have to be careful with this and count how many calories you had as even meal replacement shakes have some calories and if you over-do you can easily get to a number where you stop losing weight.
