Do Meal Replacements Really Work For Weight Loss Success?
Chemists have shelves dedicated to them, dieticians recommend you use some, and chances are your work mate will have one at lunch today. Meal replacements are becoming as common as a sniffily nose in the colder months, but the question remains as to what are they, and do they really work for weight loss success?
Meal replacements are commercially available, over-the-counter, low-energy products used for weight loss. They are generally in the form of liquids, powders or bars that are fortified with vitamins, minerals and some nutrients.
For a number of years now they been on the market and touted as the ultimate weight loss tool. Historically they have been spurned by the experts as fads or gimmicks that are more focused on money making than weight loss success. Recently though, meal replacements have made a comeback and the medical community, especially weight loss experts, are beginning to change their mind about some, suitably developed and effective, not to mention nutritious replacements.
Previous concerns around meal replacements included the nutritional content, the variety available, and the lack of supervision around the process of replacing meals. Meal replacements can cause a quick drop in metabolism and without supervision and guidance this can lead to long term weight gain.
Recently things have changed considerably. The leading meal replacements available today are nutritionally balanced, taste good and the better ones come with education and guidance on how the supervision is to occur. Most experts agree that meal replacements combined with effective supervision and education are an affective tool in reducing the waist line.
Do they work?
Research over the last ten years shows weight loss of up to 10% for up to 5 years. This is twice as affective as structured diet programs. The new mix of meal replacements also provide a degree of hunger suppressing ability due to the protein and calcium mix within the milk shakes that are not found in low calorie diets.
When all the evidence is put together meal replacements are second only to bariatric surgery (also known as gastric banding, i.e. mechanically reducing the amount of food that can go into the stomach). Meal replacements also work out to be quite cheap. On average one sachet costs around $2.50 so for those on a tight budget they can be an effective and economically viable option. In fact a meal replacement can work out to be even cheaper than a normal meal.
Meal replacements primarily work by reducing the food volume thus reducing energy coming in. When combined with exercise, the energy balance tips in the right direction resulting in fat and waist loss. Additional benefits of meal replacements are education regarding portion size and energy requirements as well as improved blood sugar levels.
Like anything involving weight loss, meal replacements can work, and will work most effectively long term as part of a broader strategy that embraces long term lifestyle modification.
For more information
Lifestyle Medicine has made available a number of free Diet and Nutrition tools to assist you in your weight loss strategy.
Using Meal Replacements
If you want to find out more on how to use meal replacements check the patient download on Using Meal Replacements for Long Term Weight Loss.
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