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Wedding Etiquette Forum
tpender13
member
Meal Replacement Shakes
I'm thinking about ordering Ideal Shape and having those for breakfasts and/or lunches. I would like to lose 20-25 pounds, and I'm not great at making healthy food choices readily available for myself. I get that I need to exercise as well, but I thought shakes would help me out a bit in that goal, plus it would save money since I wouldn't be buying full cafeteria meals at work like I've been doing often lately. I'm trying Special K premade shakes for now to see if I'll be able to drink a meal or two per day. ATM, I'm deciding whether to have another shake for lunch or if I'm going to go buy some real food.
My question is, has anyone tried/used them? Any thoughts/tips? The only people I know that have used them are FB who use Visalus shakes, and from the way they post about them, I'm half-convinced they've all joined a cult, so that has scared me away from asking them questions. TIA!
My question is, has anyone tried/used them? Any thoughts/tips? The only people I know that have used them are FB who use Visalus shakes, and from the way they post about them, I'm half-convinced they've all joined a cult, so that has scared me away from asking them questions. TIA!
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Re: Meal Replacement Shakes
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I wouldn't eat a smoothie/shake for more than one meal. Losing weight is about making healthy choices. Why can't you bring a salad, or a healthy lunch from home every day?
The reason I haven't really considered homemade smoothies is that I feel like I would use that as an excuse -- "Oh, I don't have the right ingredients since I didn't make it to the store yesterday." or "I don't want to wake H." Or I'd be tempted to make them with ice cream or something sugary. I feel like shake powder would take those variables out of the equation.
I do agree with Habs though, if you are going to go the meal replacement route, I say try all natural smoothies that you can make at home.
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Froggie, I've tried cooking and saving food, but I'm way too lazy to keep that up. When we cook, it's usually pretty decent food, and I usually have leftovers for lunch. But both H and I need to get better about planning meals -- we don't cook nearly as often as we should.
Thanks for your thoughts, ladies. I'll check back in a little later.
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It's my opinion, if you want to lose weight and be healthy, that "weight loss" shakes are not the ideal way to go. Any dietician will tell you that real, unprocessed, healthy foods beats processed and marketed "health foods" (e.g., shakes, lean cuisines, etc.) every day of the week. All the proteins, fats, and carbohydrates you need are in foods that are unpackaged in the produce section and meat counter at the grocery store. Eat fresh and natural - not processed powder.
Now I do a homemade smoothie with some protein powder on the mornings I'm working. It's quick and easy.
We have a Magic Bullet which helps make smaller portion sizes and isn't as loud as a blender. My H never hears it. I'm up before him and our bed is against the wall where the kitchen is.
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Wedding stuff.
If you log everything you eat, and try to eat clean, or at least nothing that has more than a few ingredients listed, you will lose the weight.
A couple of things that really work for me:
Cut out all soda, including diet
Eat breakfast
Drink lots of water
If you don't meal plan, and are lazy about what you make and eat, you aren't going to lose weight, or you will and then gain it back plus some. You have to make a conscious effort to control what you eat. It's not easy, or else everyone would be at their ideal weight. It takes work an commitment.
[QUOTE]Habs, I wouldn't be able to bring a blender and stuff to work, but a homemade smoothie in theory is something I could do for breakfast. I wake up way earlier than H right now though, and I'd hate to be waking him up every day with the blender. Can a homemade smoothie save for a day or so in the fridge? The reason I haven't really considered homemade smoothies is that I feel like I would use that as an excuse -- "Oh, I don't have the right ingredients since I didn't make it to the store yesterday." or "I don't want to wake H." Or I'd be tempted to make them with ice cream or something sugary. I feel like shake powder would take those variables out of the equation.
Posted by tpender13[/QUOTE]
You can make a smoothie the night before and it still tastes great in the morning, I do it on a regular basis. As for ingredients.....you can usually make them with stuff you should already have around. For my shakes I use 1 banana, milk, orange juice, a few heaping spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt (but not a full serving) and frozen mangos and strawberries (any frozen fruit will work though). I don't know the exact measurements of the liquid......maybe 1/4 OJ and 1/4 cup of milk. I'd say I use about 3-4 mango chunks and 4-5 strawberries. If you want some extra to keep your full, throw in a spoonful of peanut butter to the mix. I find that between the vanilla yogurt and the fruit it's sweet enough for me. Sometimes I use plain instead of vanilla yogurt and then add a little honey or agave nectart in the blender. Another variation is milk, banana, yogurt, peanut butter and cocoa powder for a chocolate banana smoothie.
[QUOTE]I bring my smoothies to work with me. You can buy insulated plastic cups ( clicky ) with straws (also no waste like a slim fast would be) and I make it and bring it to work and chuck it in the fridge and eat it for lunch. It's delicious. I put in water, kale, spinach, avacado, frozen fruit, Mila (chia seeds) and Arbonne protein mix (it's all natural, you have to be careful of protein. A lot of it has arsenic in it!). It keeps me full and has lots of good nutrients in it. If you are trying to lose weight, I would put very little avacado in it, even though avacado is a healthy fat. <strong>If you don't meal plan, and are lazy about what you make and eat, you aren't going to lose weight, or you will and then gain it back plus some. You have to make a conscious effort to control what you eat. It's not easy, or else everyone would be at their ideal weight. It takes work an commitment</strong>.
Posted by Habs2Hart[/QUOTE]
So much agree with the bolded! Sometimes weight loss is very simple (calories IN vs calories OUT) but that doesn't mean it's easy. It takes a lot of work and commitment. My first 20 pounds came off pretty easily, but since then it has been a lot of hard work and I've read and learned more about what and how to eat.
Meal planning has been crucial for me. I plan healthy meals that make leftovers so I always have something good to eat. I always have fruit or yogurt or steel cut oats around so I have an easy snack.
Good luck! There are TONS of resources on the interwebs, so use them! I'm down about 35-40 pounds in the last 2.5 years. (I'm at about 168-170 right now, and my heaviest weight was 210)
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[QUOTE]If you really want to replace your meals with something, what about a homemade smoothie? You can put so much goodness in them and get way more nutritional content than you can from a meal repacement you buy. Plus it's all natural. I wouldn't eat a smoothie/shake for more than one meal. Losing weight is about making healthy choices. Why can't you bring a salad, or a healthy lunch from home every day?
Posted by Habs2Hart[/QUOTE]
This is what I've been doing for breakfast. Green smoothies are great, lots of spinach, veggies, fruit, some milk or yogurt and you're good to go. The best thing is that you can add in whatever you like. I never taste any of the veggies, just the fruit. These keep me full until lunch and I can tell I have more energy than before I was drinking these.
Snippy, to answer your question about my weight, I was just weighed at the doctor last week, and I'm at 152, and I'm 5'3". My wedding was Nov '10, and I have no idea what I weighed then, but to guess I was probably 10 pounds lighter and definitely more toned since I was exercising more regularly. The weight I've gained since then feels like it's all where I can see it -- face, upper arms -- where most of my weight before was in my butt and thighs where it's more easily hidden. Oh, and in my belly where I've never really gained weight before.
I get that a lot of things since then have really changed since the wedding, relationship-related and otherwise. I need to work on that. I've felt overwhelmed to really change things since it feels like so much needs to be done, but some stuff has recently happened at work to give me new energy, and that's given me momentum and snowballed into good things happening for me there. That's what really made me think seriously about the shakes -- I see it as a kickstart to get me working towards developing healthier habits.
[QUOTE] We have a Magic Bullet which helps make smaller portion sizes and isn't as loud as a blender. My H never hears it. I'm up before him and our bed is against the wall where the kitchen is.
Posted by barrelbabe004[/QUOTE]
We have a Magic Bullet too -- I used to make smoothies in the AM and H complained about it. We grind coffee beans with it for our Keurig only once a week or so, because he'd be pissed if I was running it every morning. I can't blame him though because I would be, too.
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