I was chatting with a friend earlier this week about slimming and she brought up the subject of meal replacement plans. She was trying to find a "quick fix", something that will help her lose weight quickly for a holiday and my immediate reaction was to say "Don't do it!!" I don't doubt that in some very rare cases people will lose some weight and keep it off, but for the vast majority of us they will not work in the long term.
I've been driven on more than one occasion to try either a meal replacement plan, or the sort of diet that greatly reduces what you can eat. Anyone tried the Cabbage Soup Diet, Slimfast, Heart Foundation, Lighter Life etc etc? If so you probably know exactly where I am coming from. There are probably a lot of you that have found yourself in a similar position. My own experience with this came from a horrible shopping session where I'd found it really difficult to find something to wear for a night out. I'd just had my first child and as a result my body shape had changed quite a bit since my last night on the tiles. I had a clear picture in my head of exactly how I wanted to look, but I was faced when looking in the changing room mirror with the harsh reality that unless I lost a big amount of weight I was never going to look like I wanted to. Absolutely detesting the somehwhat lumpy creature in the mirror, panic ensued and I bought a shedload of meal replacement milkshakes, determined that I was going to look like the sylph-like creature on the tin in a matter of weeks.
The harsh reality was that it never happened. I managed to stick to it for less than a fortnight and yes I did lose twelve pounds, but these were pounds that were very quickly gained back plus another stone more when I started to eat normally again. This is a cycle that I'm ashamed to admit has been repeated several times over, not always with meal replacements but often with other short term quick weight loss fads that gave me an initial great loss that was never sustained or kept off. I learned the hard way that this is a damaging process both physically and mentally. It is very difficult to lose weight in the long term when you are caught in this sort of cycle.
One great reason not to embark on any regime of this sort is the impact that this can have on your health. For example, research tells us that around 25% of the weight you will lose in restricting calories drastically or using meal replacments will be muscle mass. Your body goes into "fight or flight" mode and tries to hang onto the fat for as long as possible, who wants to lose lean tissue over fat?? Also, a person who uses meal replacements (usually less than 800 cals per day for a typical plan) will not lose any more weight than a person who is eating a healthy balanced low fat and sugar diet so why put yourself through any suffering? And you will suffer, lack of energy, light headedness, headaches, nausea and lots of other horrid things you wouldn't want by choice. Anyone want to experience that lot when you can follow a healthy meal plan and eat a wide variety of foods that satisfy your hunger? I think not.
The most sensible way to achieve better health and lose excess weight in the process is to educate yourself on what the sensible choices are, and make conscious decisions on what you are eating. Don't deny yourself something if you want it but make it a conscious choice and consider what effect it will have on your body or the health goals you have set for yourself. You can make a big difference by doing exactly that. I have lost 18 pounds recently in using this approach and am three stones lighter than I was three years ago, and I've dropped seven places on the BMI chart which is a great indication of the positive effect this will have on my overall health. I'm hoping to take this even further because I still have a bit to lose and I'd really like to be able to help anyone else who has found themselves in the same situation so I'm currently studying Clinical Nutrition and Weight Management, knowledge is power as they say :)
Don't forget to leave me a comment if you've made small changes that have had a big impact. I get real motivation from hearing how everyone else is doing and I know that some of you that read reguarly are really trying hard xx
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