Do meal replacement shakes work and should you take them?

What are weight loss shakes?

Weight loss diet shakes are becoming a well regarded way of losing weight very easily in popular media today. Also sometimes known as meal replacement smoothies these types of shakes are generally seen as an easy way to lose a few extra pounds whilst trying to curb your appetite and harness the amount of calories that you are generally in taking. But they are not all are straitlaced as they should be and what they sound like a great idea this does not mean that weight loss shakes are really a healthy way of losing weight sustainably.

Meal replacement shakes have become extremely popular in recent times and it is clear why this has happened. Weight loss shakes can easily replace a meal and are an easy way of quickly putting together a meal that is completely calorie controlled and where you know and control every single piece of nutrition within. So they can be an easy way swapping out an unhealthy meal with one that fits your weight loss program.

Should you be taking them?

While they are not perfect they are extremely easy-to-use and very very simple to implement. Weight loss shakes generally have a small amount of calories per shake and because it is clear exactly what nutrients are inside each shake you can easily fit them into your macronutrient needs for the day. Essentially using a weight loss meal replacement shake simplifies your need to create a meal that perhaps would not be as healthy for you of the in line with your diet program. Meal replacement shakes simplify your diet, because they are extremely easy to make them and you will always have them to hand they become an easy way of filling up quickly.

How they work

How weight loss shakes work is actually very simple, they allow you to easily calorie restrict what you are eating.it’s as simple as that. Meal replacement shakes have fewer calories in them than you would normally consume in a meal but they still allow you to feel full. So it all comes down to just making a simple calorie deficit which ultimately is the only way to properly sustainably lose weight. Be that as it may this is obviously much easier said then done and most will find extremely hard to be in a calorie deficit all the time. This can generally just be because choosing the right kind of foods and the time it takes to prepare them is actually really hard time consuming process they can always be fitted into everyday modern life.

So this is where weight loss shakes generally make life a lot easier to take the decision-making process right out of your hands allowing you to reduce calories in your diet very easily whilst making you feel fuller with no need to snack or eat in between meals. In general is often found that people taking weight loss shakes generally find it very easy to stick to their weight loss program because weight loss shakes are very easy to make very quick and in general quite cheap compared to expensive food types associated with weight loss.

Calorie Control

Weight loss shakes whilst extremely low in calories can also make you feel fuller for longer reducing the need to snack or eat more food then perhaps you actually need thus allowing you to reach your calorie deficit for the day and in turn ultimately lose weight. A lot of people find this a very easy way of losing weight just because of how easy it is and how little you need to think about your diet to be able to reduce your calories and reduce the food cravings that you have. Ultimately it is just breaking the mental cycle that happens to control weight gain in the Western society.

However weight loss shakes are not always seen as a sustainable way of losing weight themselves. Whilst you can lose weight extremely quickly using them, it’s is generally seen as a short-term way of helping you break a cycle will help you lose a little weight quickly. They are not seen as a way of replacing food completely for the long-term. So it’s definitely not recommended that you use meal replacement shakes are much more than 2 to 3 weeks at a time. People often see a rebound in the weight loss that they have managed to attain taking meal replacement shakes as soon as they stop and go back to real food. This is ultimately why they are not recommended as a sustainable way of actually losing weight.

Whilst some people argue that you could live on meal replacement shakes forever, in reality it’s just not likely that you’ll be able to do this. It’s not an easy way of living and it certainly is not sustainable way of keeping the weight off. It just doesn’t fit in with our way of living. People need to eat and is actually a fun pleasurable thing to do so if you believe that you can live on meal replacement shakes forever you need to come to the realisation that realistically is just not going to happen you won’t survive. Whilst weight loss shakes can taste nice in the beginning ultimately they are still no substitute for food at all. So it’s generally a bit of a warning sign if the diet program that you are trying to undertake recommends that you start using weight loss shakes as a way of losing weight. It will work but it won’t last forever.

In conclusion

There’s a lot to consider as potential downsides of using weight loss meal replacement shakes as well. They are a short-term fix and realistically they are gonna be extremely difficult to maintain if you want to lose weight for more than just a short couple of week period of time. You need to actually learn why you put weight on in the first place and how to overcome that in the future and waits loss shakes don’t teach you anything about nutrients food intake or being able to lose weight sustainably over the long term.

Because they are essentially just liquid you are removing a lot of other potentially useful nutrients and other things from your diet which are essentially needed. Liquid foods don’t contain fibre for the most part so this can cause much more issues than perhaps you consider such as bad gut health. However if you are only substituting one meal with a weight shake then their likeliness of this happening is actually probably pretty low.

Weight loss shakes cannot be used as a long-term plan to lose weight. However they can be a great way of losing a bit of wake extremely quickly, if you are looking for just that little boost to get you started on your weight loss journey then perhaps they might be the right thing for you. How all good diets work I just essentially calorie deficit that’s all weight loss shake is helping you to achieve. All you need to do is work out what calorie consumption you need to hit per day and then make sure you hit that deficit.