A healthy weight is the goal of most people and usually, they attempt to maintain it by consuming only natural nutrition and diet for weight loss when needed.
However, when healthy foods and diets don’t provide the expected results, many people start using shakes hoping that eliminating at least one meal a day will stop the process of becoming overweight.
This article discusses the difference between meal replacement and weight loss shakes, and the role and use of protein in the latter.
Meal replacements
When overweight people start to look for ways to lose fat, they often discover that a well-designed diet and weight loss go hand in hand and may be the solution. They then make an effort to consume only what is prescribed in the diet they follow.
Unfortunately, many don’t stick to their diets and start taking food replacement drinks. It is done in the belief that they will lose fat by replacing, for instance, lunch with a shake.
However, they have not been developed as weight loss drinks, but as food replacements. They are meant for people who sometimes just don’t have time to eat at least three nutritionally balanced meals a day.
In principle, they have nutritional ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, carbs, and antioxidants similar to what are in “normal” food. But they also have about the same number of calories, or even more, than a real meal. Most dieticians agree that replacements don’t necessarily cause a reduction in body mass.
Shakes developed to be used for reducing body fat
Shakes specifically developed to reduce fat are available and should be used.
They provide fewer calories than what a person will normally consume when eating normal meals or taking replacements.
Protein
It plays an important role in supplements meant and developed for losing weight. These roles include the following:
It prevents the loss of muscle mass
If someone is losing fat as a result of consuming mainly food with very few calories, there is the risk of too much muscle reduction because of insufficient protein. This can be prevented by taking weight loss shakes daily. They are designed to add enough of it to the body.
It stops the craving for in-between snacks
After consuming protein, people normally feel fully satiated – normally for longer than what they feel after eating a meal. By taking protein-filled drinks as a supplement to meals the craving for snacks is reduced. Thus, the drinks assist people’s efforts to reach their desired weight.
It causes the burning of more calories
The body burns calories to digest and metabolise macronutrients. The burning of calories is essential for the loss or maintenance of body mass. Because protein needs more calories than other macronutrients to be metabolised a high percentage of it in the body quickly decreases the number of calories. This is the reason why it is recommended to drink shakes that are protein-rich as supplements.
How to safely maximise protein’s influence on weight loss
To maximise its influence, the following aspects have to be kept in mind:
- A person’s daily intake of protein should be about 1.6 grams per kilogram of body mass. It is regarded as safe for the body if the daily intake does not exceed 2.2 grams per kilogram.
- The number of daily shakes a person has to drink, depends on the protein the person already consumes a day by eating well-balanced meals. People eating protein-rich meals don’t have to choose drinks with a very high percentage of it.
- When to take the drink, depends on the individual’s unhealthy snacking routine that he or she is trying to change. If the snack craving is, for instance, usually between breakfast and lunch, drink it with breakfast. The protein in it helps bridge the “hunger gap” between, for instance, breakfast and lunch.
Where to buy these shakes
The powder necessary to prepare the drinks is available over the counter at outlets such as the pharmacy in Sydney Kennedy’s. Most Australian sports nutrition outlets also stock the products and online warehouses are available for home deliveries.
