Can nutrition and protein shakes replace meals?

[hammanta]

What is whey protein made of though? It has meat in it right?

I saw it at Walgreen. How many scoops do you put into a glass? The protein shake I bought requires you to put a huge scoop into 16oz of water or milk. With the size of those scoops, I don't think it can make many shakes, since the scoop size is huge and half of the container is empty. I hate when a container is half full. That's deceptive packaging.

It's not meat. It's a by product of cheese production. You put in as many scoops as you want protein. You need to calculate your protein requirement for the day. The jug lasts a long time. I still have mine and its only half empty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whey_protein

Oh. Someone here said whey protein wasn't vegetarian. But cheese is ok. So how many teaspoons of whey protein do you mix with a glass of water?

How were you able to keep the weight off? Usually diets have a yo you effect. How were you able to avoid that?

Like one person mentioned, Whey is the byproduct of cheese production, which comes from Milk. Milk is made up of roughly 2 types of protein: casein and whey. Whey is faster absorbed by our system where as casein takes longer to be absorbed. Most serious lifters use both kinds of proteins, whey right after a workout and casein usually at night or in the morning.

Diets fail because they are too unrealistic. People make it so complicated. Counting macros and micros, limiting calorie intake to a specific number, leaving out certain foods, having cheat days, consuming supplements, blah blah blah. The old myths of eating 6 small meals a day, consume "X" food that will burn more calories, breakfast is the best meal, etc, plague the diet industry. I highly suggest reading up on Martin Berkhans Intermittent Fasting. Best diet I have ever done and it is so realistic. It is a lifestyle rather than a diet. Just google it and check out his informative posts.

In reality people don't know wtf they are talking about. If you eat 3 square meals a day, have a set eating plan (12pm, 4pm, 8pm), limit calorie intake through liquids and perform exercise at least 3 times a week it doesn't really matter all that much WHAT you eat. For health purposes it makes more sense to eat healthy foods but really you could eat fast food 3 times a day and as long as you are active enough you will lose the weight. Macros and micros and certain supplements have their place but only for those in serious training regimens that want an extra edge (bodybuilders, serious lifters, fitness athletes). Protein alone isn't gonna do much for you.

If you are serious about losing weight and getting in shape seriously check out Intermittent Fasting. It will give you all the knowledge you need to know and the author is quite humorous in his posts.

This is coming from myself who is a competitive power lifter and fitness nut with 8 years of experience researching and training myself and other people.

[Winston]

The only products I know of that can completely replace eating food entirely are Jevity-type meal replacements and Soylent. If you completely forego eating for the shakes you have purchased, you'll eventually start to develop some severe deficiencies, most likely in regard to sulfur (required for cysteine production) and a few other things that shakes tend to be deficient in. I was looking to replace meals two times a day with shakes to make med school easier, so I followed the Soylent project quite closely and learned quite a bit about the many problems encountered in the manufacture of true meal replacements. It's a hard thing to get right- too much of one thing, and you end up with farts that could choke a room to death, too little of another and you start suffering from muscle weakness or your gums start swelling and bleeding.

I never suggested not eating at all and drinking only shakes. The usual plan is to eat one meal and replace the other meal with a protein shake and nutrition shake. What do you think of that plan? MrPeabody said it worked for him.

[Moretorque]

] I started doing 20 to 30 minutes of cardio ( biking ) a day along with dieting and got real good results. Could eat as I like and maintain stable weight and keep it there.

Exercise is key in maintaining your health as you age.

[MrPeabody]

The only products I know of that can completely replace eating food entirely are Jevity-type meal replacements and Soylent. If you completely forego eating for the shakes you have purchased, you'll eventually start to develop some severe deficiencies, most likely in regard to sulfur (required for cysteine production) and a few other things that shakes tend to be deficient in. I was looking to replace meals two times a day with shakes to make med school easier, so I followed the Soylent project quite closely and learned quite a bit about the many problems encountered in the manufacture of true meal replacements. It's a hard thing to get right- too much of one thing, and you end up with farts that could choke a room to death, too little of another and you start suffering from muscle weakness or your gums start swelling and bleeding.

I never suggested not eating at all and drinking only shakes. The usual plan is to eat one meal and replace the other meal with a protein shake and nutrition shake. What do you think of that plan? MrPeabody said it worked for him.

I used calorie counting. I created an excel spreadsheet and wrote down every calorie and grams or protein I consumed. I used the protein powder only to assure I was getting more than 40 grams of protein a day. The protein shake is just a tool. To loose weight you need to consume more calories than you are taking in. I was on basically a very low calorie diet for about 60 days ( 600-700 calories a day). I don't necessarily recommend that anyone go that fast. But it worked. I lost 60 pounds.

[momopi]

Oh. Someone here said whey protein wasn't vegetarian. But cheese is ok. So how many teaspoons of whey protein do you mix with a glass of water?
How were you able to keep the weight off? Usually diets have a yo you effect. How were you able to avoid that?

Cheese made with animal rennet is not vegetarian friendly:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennet

It doesn't matter. I take fish oil omega 3 supplements too, and they are not vegetarian. I'm not trying to be 100 percent clean on that. What's important is if it's good for you.

OK, so to be clear, you're not vegetarian?

[Winston]

The only products I know of that can completely replace eating food entirely are Jevity-type meal replacements and Soylent. If you completely forego eating for the shakes you have purchased, you'll eventually start to develop some severe deficiencies, most likely in regard to sulfur (required for cysteine production) and a few other things that shakes tend to be deficient in. I was looking to replace meals two times a day with shakes to make med school easier, so I followed the Soylent project quite closely and learned quite a bit about the many problems encountered in the manufacture of true meal replacements. It's a hard thing to get right- too much of one thing, and you end up with farts that could choke a room to death, too little of another and you start suffering from muscle weakness or your gums start swelling and bleeding.

I never suggested not eating at all and drinking only shakes. The usual plan is to eat one meal and replace the other meal with a protein shake and nutrition shake. What do you think of that plan? MrPeabody said it worked for him.

I used calorie counting. I created an excel spreadsheet and wrote down every calorie and grams or protein I consumed. I used the protein powder only to assure I was getting more than 40 grams of protein a day. The protein shake is just a tool. To loose weight you need to consume more calories than you are taking in. I was on basically a very low calorie diet for about 60 days ( 600-700 calories a day). I don't necessarily recommend that anyone go that fast. But it worked. I lost 60 pounds.

Losing weight isn't supposed to be that complicated. Like Steve said, if you eat the right foods, you don't have to count calories. Fat doesn't make you fat. Carbs does. Didn't you know that?

OK, so to be clear, you're not vegetarian?

I am but I don't have to 100 percent strict about it, especially when it comes to nutrition supplements. You should have deduced that. Besides, cheese is vegetarian, just not vegan.

[MrPeabody]

The only products I know of that can completely replace eating food entirely are Jevity-type meal replacements and Soylent. If you completely forego eating for the shakes you have purchased, you'll eventually start to develop some severe deficiencies, most likely in regard to sulfur (required for cysteine production) and a few other things that shakes tend to be deficient in. I was looking to replace meals two times a day with shakes to make med school easier, so I followed the Soylent project quite closely and learned quite a bit about the many problems encountered in the manufacture of true meal replacements. It's a hard thing to get right- too much of one thing, and you end up with farts that could choke a room to death, too little of another and you start suffering from muscle weakness or your gums start swelling and bleeding.

I never suggested not eating at all and drinking only shakes. The usual plan is to eat one meal and replace the other meal with a protein shake and nutrition shake. What do you think of that plan? MrPeabody said it worked for him.

I used calorie counting. I created an excel spreadsheet and wrote down every calorie and grams or protein I consumed. I used the protein powder only to assure I was getting more than 40 grams of protein a day. The protein shake is just a tool. To loose weight you need to consume more calories than you are taking in. I was on basically a very low calorie diet for about 60 days ( 600-700 calories a day). I don't necessarily recommend that anyone go that fast. But it worked. I lost 60 pounds.

Losing weight isn't supposed to be that complicated. Like Steve said, if you eat the right foods, you don't have to count calories. Fat doesn't make you fat. Carbs does. Didn't you know that?

OK, so to be clear, you're not vegetarian?

I am but I don't have to 100 percent strict about it, especially when it comes to nutrition supplements. You should have deduced that. Besides, cheese is vegetarian, just not vegan.

Calorie Counting is the most simple system. It is based on physics and thus will work. If over the long term you use more calories of energy than you take in, you will loose weight. It doesn't matter what you eat but the energy deficit you create. It worked for me. I lost 60 pounds and could have kept going. People who use all the gimmick diets and try to get complicated usually fail. They don't understand physics. How many people do you know who just "eat the right foods" and then loose weight? Talk is cheap.

[MrPeabody]

I have enclose a link to the SuperTracker which is provided by the USDA. You can signup and keep a food journal for free. It is actually pretty good. It lets you choose healthy foods and instantly shows you the calories, and all other nutritional information of the food. It is good for tracking progress and planning meals. I actually recommend the US government material because they are much better than all of the hundreds of exploitative and nonsensical diet books out in the market place. And it's free.

Super Tracker

https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/default.aspx

USDA Dietary Guidelines

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/dietaryguidelines.htm

[E Irizarry R&B Singer]

I am pretty surprised that Renata didn't touch this thread yet.

[momopi]

OK, so to be clear, you're not vegetarian?

I am but I don't have to 100 percent strict about it, especially when it comes to nutrition supplements. You should have deduced that. Besides, cheese is vegetarian, just not vegan.

Then you're not vegetarian. Milk and cheese do not require the slaughter of animals (or poultry or fish), fish oil does.

But that's not important -- if you're taking fish oil supplements, I'm curious to why you might think the vegetarian supplements are inadequate.

[Renata]

What is whey protein powder made of? Can you mix whey protein powder with just hot water?

Little miss muffet sat on a tuffet eating her curds & whey ... When you boil milk, add a few spoons of vinegar & stir, that's how you get curds & whey. Curds are solid cheezey bits & the whey is the liquid. Strain away the curds to get the whey. Milk curds are real nice when you add them to some stir fry veges or noodles. They are kind of like tofu.

The Whey, well I tend to boil that down until it's mostly oil then I add salt & garlic then wisk it in the cake mixer to make garlic butter. Whey is oily guys & it makes nice butter. I think whey protien is mainly for body builders who want to bulk up?

Winston, you can make your own smoothies at home in the blender. Banana + milk / Banana + milk + coco powder + honey / carrot juice + milk / coconut milk + strawberries / mango + apple / frozen berries + almond milk / soaked chick peas + milk + bananas + honey / coconut water + pineapples / coco powder + milk + honey / coco powder + milk + dates / water melon + coconut water /
hot milk + honey + green tea + cardamon + clove + slice of ginger / etc

[Jackal]

I also got a high protein shake that claims to help in weight loss. It contains all vegan ingredients. Is that a good idea too?

I would guess that a vegan protein shake is full of soy, which will increase the estrogen in your body and make you fat. If this is true, I would stay away from it and stay away from soy products in general. I have even read about transsexuals drinking soy milk to increase their estrogen! It is "man-hooter juice"! lol

If you want to drink whey protein powder, that can be good, but since you are trying to lose weight, I would get a blender and blend it with only water and not with milk to reduce the amount of fat and calories in it.

[Winston]

OK, so to be clear, you're not vegetarian?

I am but I don't have to 100 percent strict about it, especially when it comes to nutrition supplements. You should have deduced that. Besides, cheese is vegetarian, just not vegan.

Then you're not vegetarian. Milk and cheese do not require the slaughter of animals (or poultry or fish), fish oil does.

But that's not important -- if you're taking fish oil supplements, I'm curious to why you might think the vegetarian supplements are inadequate.

I don't get what you mean. Yes I am. But I am not 100 percent strict about every minute ingredient. I eat gummy bears sometimes, which contain gelatin, and is not vegetarian. There is no 100 percent or 0 percent. Why are you talking in extremes? We just do our best that's all. It's not perfect.

I took fish oil because I had problems with liver enzymes and they are supposed to help. Omega 3 is an important supplement. You know that.

Which vegetarian supplements are you talking about?

[Winston]

I also got a high protein shake that claims to help in weight loss. It contains all vegan ingredients. Is that a good idea too?

I would guess that a vegan protein shake is full of soy, which will increase the estrogen in your body and make you fat. If this is true, I would stay away from it and stay away from soy products in general. I have even read about transsexuals drinking soy milk to increase their estrogen! It is "man-hooter juice"! lol

If you want to drink whey protein powder, that can be good, but since you are trying to lose weight, I would get a blender and blend it with only water and not with milk to reduce the amount of fat and calories in it.

Well here are the ingredients of the nutrition shake I'm drinking from the manufacturer's website:

http://gardenoflife.com/Products-for-Li ... -Meal.aspx

It says it's soy free. What do you think?

And here is the info page of the protein shake I'm drinking from the same manufacturer:

http://gardenoflife.com/Products-for-Life/RAW-Fit.aspx

What do you think?

[Jackal]

Well here are the ingredients of the nutrition shake I'm drinking from the manufacturer's website:

http://gardenoflife.com/Products-for-Li ... -Meal.aspx

It says it's soy free. What do you think?

And here is the info page of the protein shake I'm drinking from the same manufacturer:

http://gardenoflife.com/Products-for-Life/RAW-Fit.aspx

What do you think?

I think the ingredients look good, but it seems pretty high in calories, so just blend it with water and don't use too much of the powder in each shake. If you eat too much of even the best foods, you will get fat.