How to Lose a Pound a Day With Shakes

Losing weight means that you take in less calories than you burn. A pound a day is a lofty goal. Whether it is attainable is dependent on a number of factors, including your current weight, your caloric intake and your level of activity. Meal replacement with shakes provides 100 percent of vitamins and minerals while keeping calories low. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic recommend losing one to two pounds per week, ensurin g that you are getting adequate nutrients. It also has been proven that weight loss at this rate is easier to keep off over the long-term.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator
• Meal replacement plan

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Instructions

• 1

  Find your resting metabolic rate. While this number varies by individual to a certain extent, the general rule is that you burn roughly 12 calories per pound of body weight if you do absolutely nothing. A 200-pound man would burn approximately 2,400 calories per day if he did nothing but sit in a chair.

• 2

  Estimate your activity level. This includes traditional exercise as well as mopping your floors or taking the stairs at work. This is your basal metabolic rate. Add this number to your resting metabolic rate to find your typical daily calorie expenditure. A moderately active, 200-pound person will burn an additional 730 calories with activity. You can use any number of online tools to calculate your resting metabolic rate and basal metabolic rate.

• 3

  Create a deficit. It takes a 3,500-calorie deficit to lose one pound. This deficit can be created through diet or activity or both. So, if that 200-pound man decided to work out for two to three hours each day he could possibly add 1,200 calories to his daily expenditure, bringing his daily total to 4,330. You can see where the math is going, he can't eat much to create a 3,500 calorie deficit.

• 4

  Choose a shake. There are many plans to choose from, although many offer a similar makeup of nutrients. Optifast for example is a full food replacement, meaning you only eat the shakes. Calorie intake on Optifast is 800 calories per day.

• 5

  Watch your waistline melt away. By burning an additional 1,200 calories per day and only taking in 800 calories of shakes, the math makes it possible to lose a pound per day.