|  | Diet Nutrition | Weight Loss

Meal Replacement Diet Drinks

Meal replacement drinks may help you lose weight because they replace your normal, high-calorie fare with lower calories and fat. Typically, these drinks replace one or two meals per day; your third meal should be a healthy and portion-controlled. Dozens of manufacturers make drinks that come in shelf stable, ready-to-drink cans or bottles, refrigerated bottles or powders to be mixed with water or skim milk.

  1. Medically Prescribed

    • Doctors sometimes prescribe meal replacement drinks for extremely obese people to induce rapid weight loss. These usually result in a very low calorie intake of between 500 and 800 calories per day. Optifast and HMR are examples of these types of meal replacement products. A patient will be gradually transitioned to whole foods after the prescribed period of liquid-only meals. Because very low calorie diets pose significant risks such as the development of gallstones or kidney stones, liver inflammation, nausea, diminished immune responses, loss of lean body mass, constipation and headaches, they must only be followed with the guidance of a physician.

    Over-the-Counter

    • Numerous over-the-counter meal replacement drinks are available. Slimfast, Atkins and even cereal companies like Kelloggs offer these drinks, which contain about 200 calories each and are enhanced with extra vitamins and minerals. A plan that requires you to take between two and five meal replacement drinks a day and augment them with just one healthy, low-calorie meal is easy to follow. However, it does nothing to teach you about the proper way to eat and you will probably experience a regain of weight when you return to your normal eating habits.

    Protein Shakes

    • In addition to standard over-the-counter meal replacement drinks, there are also pre-packaged protein shakes and powders widely available. You might find these in the gym or at a supplement store. These offer between 15 and 42 g of protein per drink and claim that they can help you dissolve fat and build lean muscle. Be careful when using these as not all are designed as "diet" drinks and may contain significant calories. While choosing a protein shake in lieu of a full meal may help you take in fewer calories overall, it prevents you from obtaining all the macro and micro nutrients present in whole foods. To burn fat and gain muscle, you must also be taking in fewer calories than you burn in a day and work out with resistance. The shakes cannot do this work for you.

Weight Loss - Related Articles