Top 5 weight loss shakes

Diet shakes, the pros and cons

It is better if people lose weight with a balanced diet with little processed food that is full of trans fats and artificial sugars and contains a lot of vegetables and fruit. But it is true that this approach may not work best for everyone, so sometimes liquid meal replacements are recommended as part of a healthy diet plan.

Not all nutrition experts agree with this. Natural food has a much better balance of nutrients than meal replacements. In addition, the use of natural nutrition ensures that you have to make choices that help you maintain weight loss in the long term.

A positive experience

Australian researchers who write in the Journal of Nutrition have found that diet shakes, also known as meal replacements, were equally effective at achieving weight loss as conventional, structured diets. But subjects were more positive about diets in general, and judged their eating plan more favorable for convenience than people on a normal diet.

That can be just the motivation people need to go on a diet.

Diet shakes are particularly useful for starting weight loss immediately (health experts generally recommend not losing more than 1 kilogram per week). As with meal replacements or low-energy appetizers, diet shakes help you tightly control caloric intake.

They are especially useful for women who have very little space in their caloric intake and can not lose weight if they get a little more calories than their limit.

Of course, not every type of diet shake will work to lose weight, unless you eat fewer calories than you burn one day. To use diet shakes and meal replacement drinks most effectively, you need to determine an allowable amount of calories for weight loss.

You may be tempted to immediately limit the daily intake of calories to 1,200 for a quick result, but 1500 calories can help you maintain the new diet for longer. Includes movement, which helps with weight control and promotes good health.

Of course, it must be said here that calories are only part of the whole picture. The quality of the energy also matters. For example, a calorie from carbohydrates will not directly contribute to your weight loss. Proteins, on the other hand, have a fat burning effect and also increase your metabolism, so you lose weight faster and burn more fat with the same amount of calories.

Diet shakes: The easiest way to line

Diet shakes and other meal replacements are a blessing when you do not have the time or motivation to buy and prepare balanced meals. They also help if you just do not want to think too hard about what to eat to lose weight. If you consistently skip a certain meal, such as breakfast, then a meal shake is better than nothing.

That's because studies show that eating breakfast in the long term helps control weight.

The makers of a number of drinkable meals recommend one for breakfast and one for lunch, and the eating of a sensible or healthy low-fat dinner, which minimizes the preparation of food. You can get through the day on autopilot by relying on diet shakes, but you can not completely escape thinking of calories or other nutrients.

Even if diet shakes replace two of the three meals, you still have to interpret what is "sensible" and "healthy" when determining dinner.

Dinner is where people who use meal replacement shakes can get into trouble. This is because many people eat at night to relieve the stress of the day. Going too far during dinner (and afterwards) can completely eliminate the caloric deficits that contribute to weight loss.

Limiting dinner to 115-140 grams of cooked poultry, fish or lean meat; a medium-baked or sweet potato or a 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta; and boiled broccoli or other vegetables seems a sensible way to get nutrients without excess calories.

You can just be too hungry to control yourself at dinner. If two diet shakes, which together are about 450 calories or even less, is all you've had until dinner time, you only have a third of your daily energy needs, so it's no wonder you're starving.

Two snacks between meals with a total of 400 calories help to limit hunger to the evening. Another option for curbing the calorie intake in the evening: eat more breakfast and lunch and opt for a diet shake and a salad for dinner instead of a complete meal, while keeping the energy intake within bounds .

How long can you last for diet shakes?

Let's assume that you lose a good amount of weight with two diet shakes, two snacks, and a modest dinner every day. How long can you stay on this diet plan? Many people use the drinks for most of their meals for about three months, and can then preserve the weight loss for years by replacing a meal with a meal replacement shake on working days, for example, while they can enjoy the weekend.

Research underlines this. A study by the American Dietetic Association magazine published in 2001 states that women who lost weight on a low-calorie plan including meal replacement drinks retained their weight loss after one year by drinking at least one diet shake instead of one ordinary meal. Their counterparts in the study, who lost weight by a conventional low fat diet that did not use meal replacement drinks, recovered most of their original lost weight.

Diet shakes are not a panacea. Used wisely, they can help you to start losing weight or help you maintain a healthier weight.

To lose weight or even eat healthy while you are on weight, you must be vigilant and defend yourself against the many temptations that exist. Meal replacement shakes are easy, but they are also a lot healthier than most other choices you could make.

Let's take a look at the benefits of meal replacements ...
• Meal replacement shakes are useful for taking to work or drinking on the go.
• They are easy to use and do not require much time to make.
• It is not necessary to think long about what you are going to eat, a diet shake replaces an entire meal. This also reduces the risk that you take hold of unhealthy things.
• Keeping an eye on your energy intake has already been done for you.

A magical recipe?

Diet shakes may be useful, but they are not miracle remedies. They have no properties that magically melt the pounds. It is simply an alternative that consists of powder, but of course can not completely replace a balanced diet.

In addition, it must be said that natural foods, including fruits and vegetables, can speed up your metabolism by burning more energy during digestion. This is not the case with powder. It is therefore advisable not to use more than one or two meal shakes as meal replacements.

Maximize weight loss with diet shakes

If you want to lose weight with meal shakes as effectively as possible, then I have listed a list of tips for you to lose weight faster and easier.

• Replace one or two meals or a snack with a diet shake. Eat a normal and natural healthy meal a day.
• Make sure that the shakes you choose contain at least 200 calories per drink and also less fats and carbohydrates and enough protein. The shakes also need to have a good balance of minerals and vitamins, so that you do not get shortages that lead to your metabolism decreasing.
• Use diet drinks only for meals that you have little time for. For example, if you never have time to have a breakfast because you are in too much of a hurry in the mornings, replace it with a shake. If you have more trouble with dinner, it is better to replace it. That way you make yourself easier and the chance of success increases.
• Meal replacements and diet shakes can be better limited to those times when you do not have a meal or an unhealthy meal. In this case, a shake is still better than these two alternatives. Eventually a shake has a supporting function, but no replacement.
• Test different shakes from different brands to see which suits you best. Taste is of course important, because the chances are small that you will maintain a diet if you do not like the taste.
• If you find yourself using replacement products too often, choose fruit instead of shakes. This ensures variety and more nutrients.
• You can lose more weight if you make sure that the meals you prepare yourself consist of as many nutrients and fat burners as possible. This includes vegetables, legumes, whole grain cereals and sweet potatoes.

How do you choose the best diet shake?

With so many different products on the market, the choice is sometimes difficult. To help you with this, I have some tips for you.

1. Make sure you buy a shake that you can also mix with water. Some products only recommend milk, which, however, contributes to more energy and, moreover, this is not useful for people with lactose intolerance (please note).
2. Make sure a minimum of 15 gr. protein per shake. 20 gr. is even better, especially if you do a lot of sports.
3. Choose shakes without trans fats, these are harmful to your health.
4. Ensure an adequate energy intake, ie at least 200 calories per meal. Again, if you have a lot of sport you need more, possibly you can also take two shakes.
5. The shakes preferably contain as little sugar as possible. Sugar and other carbohydrates that cause your blood sugar to rise quickly, do not contribute to weight loss.
6. Alternatively, you can take low-carbohydrate, or low carb, shakes.
7. Choose different flavors and switch to avoid boredom.