Meal Replacement Diets May Not Give You What You Are Looking For
Meal replacement diets are getting more and more popular as people try to lose fat while still satisfying their cravings
. By "meal replacement diets" we are talking about products like Slim Fast, Special K, and protein bars and shakes, etc.. You know, the meal in a can or bar type.While they are without a doubt popular, are the effective in a sound weight loss program?
Let's start with Slim Fast as an example. It is by far the most popular meal replacement diet. Their displays are hard to avoid when you walk through a grocery store. There are slim fast shakes, slim fast bars, and even snack bars. You're snacking on a diet?
Even the large established companies such as Kellogg are getting into the market to take advantage of our obsession of trying to lose wait without any sacrifice. Kellogg's Special K and their Special K 2 Week Challenge is their bid for the meal replacement market.
To be effective a diet has to be easy to follow and Slim Fast plan certainly is. It is easy. You just have to consume one of their products for breakfast and another one for lunch together with whatever other food you would like as long as it is 200 calories or less. You can eat 500 calories of your favorite food for dinner. For snacks, you can eat 3 of their 120 calorie snack bars plus fruits and veggies of your choice.
There is not too much difference in the Special K challenge. Your breakfast is a bowl of Special K with skim milk and fruit. One of your other meals, the choice is up to you, is replace with either another bowl of cereal or a Special K protein bar. Your third meal can be your normal meal, within reason. If your third meal is usually a 1500 calorie shot at McDonald's, you need to cut down. You are allowed two snacks during the day of water, cereal bars, Special K protein snack bars,or snack bites. Like Slim Fast, they recommend additional snacks be limited to fruits and veggies.
Simple? Yes. Easy to follow? Yes.
Do they work? Any diet of this type will work - at first.
Over the short haul, if you eat fewer calories than you are used to, you will lose weight.
Are they diets that you should be use over the long term? Absolutely not. You might probably will not be getting all of the calories and nutrients that your body requires. And while you lose weight this way, a good portion of the weight loss is in lean muscle tissue - not the fat you want to lose.
The commercial make the ingredients in the slim fast shakes sound wholesome and nutritious. But they really are not as good as they sound. As far Special K goes, we know cereal is good for us, but the meal replacement bars are not in the same category. There are empty calories there that you just don;t need.
The Special K challenge is a diet that you are supposed to try for two weeks. Then what? You go back to your regular diet and all the fat comes beck on. How are you supposed to stay on a Slim Fast type diet for the rest of your life? I couldn't. So what happens when you fall off from boredom?
All the weight you lost, will be found again. You simply cannot get lasting results with meal replacement diets so you cannot count on them to help lose significant weight. If you have only a few pounds to lose and admit that it is only a temporary fix, meal replacement diets may be okay. But for serious weight loss you need a serious diet with a lifestyle change.
by: Gerry Marshall