How-To Meal Replacement Shakes For Weight Loss

While there are different types of shakes, in this article we’ll focus on shakes to replace your meal and help you lose weight. These are called meal replacement shakes. These shakes have to include protein, vitamins and minerals and must be low-calorie and low-carb to reduce your calorie intake. They contain fewer calories than a full meal but still provide all the nutrients your body needs to keep it healthy. If you’ve been looking at this type of shake, you’ve probably noticed that there are a lot of options available.

Understanding the way the ingredients effect our bodies will help us determine guidelines so we know which shakes are best for the purpose of weight loss and how to make our daily meals and snacks healthier. In “How to lose weight with Meal replacement Shakes“, I’ve shared my meal replacement shakes diet plan. I replaced my breakfast with a shake.

Besides breakfast, in our day, we have 2 more main meals (lunch and dinner) and 2 or 3 snacks. If we’re committed to losing weight we need to make all our meals and snacks healthier by reducing sugar, avoiding processed food and avoiding overeating. Sticking to healthy diet habits will get you the results you want much faster. The key to a healthy weight loss journey is making healthy habits part of your lifestyle - healthy habits will deliver the results you are looking for.

That’s why, for each feature, I’ll mention what your meal replacement shake should have and how can we add that feature to our daily diet plan. That way, not only will your shakes be healthier but your diet will be too! So, the question is, what must your meal replacement shake contain if you want to lose weight?

Here are the 10 most important features that your meal replacement shake should have. The how and why are all explained below in simple and easy terms. Your liver processes sugar (fructose or glucose) and when levels are high this forces the liver to convert sugar to fat in your body. We should always avoid added sugars and sugar-rich foods, especially if we want to lose weight.

As you may already realise I do believe sugar is the number 1 cause of weight and health problems on our society and I’ve written several articles about it. Pick one and a quick read will change your mind and hopefully motivate you to change your sugar habits. “My 20 Days No Sugar Story” my personal story of getting rid of sugar on my diet. “How Sugar Makes You Fat” my friend Emilio explains how scientifically sugar makes you fat.

“Welcome to 20 No-Sugar Days Diet” Free Challenge, 20 days with no added sugar, can you do it ? The best shakes for losing weight are low in sugar, less than 3 grams, or even less than 1 gram. Note: Fruit contains fructose but it’s almost impossible to have high levels of fructose in our body even if you eat a lot of fruit.

Anything that contains energy has calories, so anything we eat or drink contains calories which provides energy for our body. If we consume more energy than our body needs, we’ll gain weight as excess energy is converted to fat. Lowering our calorie intake will force our body to use stored energy (fat) for fuel.

Fat is the food component containing most energy which means it contains more calories - over twice as many as protein or carbohydrate. Eggs, meat, fish even some fruit contains fat ( avocado for example). Our body needs that fat and also the vitamins and fiber that exist on those foods.

Learn what foods contain Empty Calories and why we should avoid them or find substitutes. Carbohydrate (Carbs) are mainly found in milk, grains, plants and fruit. After being ingested, they are transformed in sugar (fructose, glucose and galactose). If our body doesn’t need glucose for energy, it’ll be stored as fat in our body.

We need Carbohydrate for energy and there are two types: simple and complex. Simple Carbohydrate are easily processed in our body, rapidly producing energy but which lasts only for a short period of time. These can be found in Milk (lactose), Sodas and juices (fructose). Complex Carbohydrate takes longer to process and be absorbed. Energy is produced more slowly and it lasts for longer, fuelling the body for longer periods of time. We feel fuller for a longer after eating complex carbs - especially when compared to simple carbohydrates.

Eating more complex carbs helps to reduce the feeling of hunger and cravings. Complex carbs can be found in whole grains, bread, vegetables and pasta. More about simple and complex carbs at “Simple Vs. Our main source of Carbs should be complex carbohydrate, and simple carbohydrate should only be eaten occasionally.

Note: Processed food usually contains high levels of simple carbs. Remember our previous hot dog example? It contained 10% of the recommended daily value. Simple carbs are almost everywhere. Take a moment to think about it and you’ll probably quickly realize that you consume way more simple carbs than you should. Switching to complex carbs is a good way to control your blood glucose, keep yourself feeling fuller for longer and lose weight more quickly. The good and bad carbs for weight loss explained here.

If you would like to know more about carbs, I’ve published a guide called What Are Carbs ? A Beginner’s Carbs Guide . To reduce blood sugar and lose weight, meal replacement shakes must be low in carbohydrate but, if the shake is low-carb, how I get energy? These shakes replace the carbs with protein and include foods low in carbohydrates but high in dietary fibers. By reducing carbs we reduce sugar and calorie levels but by providing protein and healthy fats, your body still has food for energy.