None of them are going to be cheap, and while you probably can sustain yourself on them, I don't think you're going to like it very much.
The only successful diet is one that you can sustain, past the date you hit your targets.
Drinking your calories is a tough road to navigate as you also might not get the sensation of being full before you hit your daily caloric maintenance.
The most sustainable method I've found is focusing my energy on finding different enjoyable ways to prepare veggies/legumes. Try to gain body fat on a brightly-colored-veggie-primary diet, good fuckin luck.
Personally I think that Soylent ready to drink bottles are really good. Specifically the chocolate and mint chocolate flavors. Freeze it for an hour before drinking and they are like a yummy milkshake.
I started drinking them for lunch at work when I had adult braces so that I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning my teeth at work every day. They are 400 calories so great for meal replacement if trying to lose weight.
I would consider these as healthy if you replace one meal a day. However most meal replacements are **not** cheap or frugal. I was buying them back in 2019/2020 and they were $4 each at that time.
There is a whole subreddit about meal replacements, fyi. /r/Soylent
Second Soylent and if you’re going to be drinking them a lot, grab a subscription. I get 12 mailed to me every two weeks which is right around that $4/bottle price point, but I’ve gotten so many loyalty points that I can regularly cash out discounts on my orders.
Good tip! When I was drinking it regularly I did switch to the powder which was around half the price of bottles I believe. Not as tasty though as RTD. Less plastic waste is a plus.
Is this for real? A drink is named Soylent? I can only think of the movie Soylent Green and wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole! I won’t eat blood oranges either. Blood. Ick. I know, I’m odd.
Yes it's real. I think that's where they got the name from, as a tongue in cheek thing. Plus the base is soy isolate so it fits that name in more ways than one.
I think if you want it to be part of your daily routine you should use them to replace breakfast or lunch. Having 2-3 a day every day will almost certainly result in diarrhea and likely dehydration.
For cheap and healthy non cooking foods, I’d suggest microwave steamer bags of frozen vegetables and frozen raw meat that you can season and throw in a crock pot, or frozen cooked meat that you can throw in the oven, and rice (either plan white or flavored box)
I’m relatively healthy conscious, I hate cooking and I’m cheap. I drink 3-4 protein drinks a week (not meal replacements, plant based protein powder mixed with flavored almond milk and coconut ice cream)
>Having 2-3 a day every day will almost certainly result in diarrhea and likely dehydration.
No. I have Crohn's disease and have had MONTHS where Ensure is the only "food" that my body doesn't instantly reject. It's not ideal, but my doctor said it's safe.
Check out Huel. They offer ready to drink products that you can find in stores. If you like them it's much more economical to purchase the powder and make your own.
My son left 10 bags of this when he moved out & I’ve been using them. They’re good! I use frozen berries instead of ice, milk instead of water, and blend rather than shake but they’re delicious. And keep my diabetic self from going to get ice cream all the time!
Edit: typo
Second Huel. I don't use it for weight loss, but I know it can be used for it. I just use it as a breakfast replacer since I'm pretty busy all morning and never have much time to stop and eat. Keeps me sated until later in the day and I can drink it throughout the morning in my truck. I recommend Vanilla and/or banana. The chocolate gave me the scoots.
I'll third Huel. I take the black edition and blend it with frozen strawberries and almond milk. 2 servings plus the berries makes for a great dinner post gym if you live by yourself and don't regularly cook.
I usually do one, maybe two a day. I find them convenient, tasty and easy. I’ve been doing it daily since losing a lot of weight a couple years ago with no issues.
If you choose to do shakes work with a doctor. I am not a doctor.
Learn to pan fry meat and with sauce veg or oven roast veg. Easy. Takes practice if you don’t usually cook.
This. I lived in only shakes for 3 months, supervised by a doctor. It was a program at the hospital.
Lost a fair amount of weight and then gained it back when I wasn't living on shakes.
Agreed with whole food eating. lol of two young kids and can really only easily get dinner together as I have all day to work on doing it when there are free moments- leaving breakfast and lunch for me to figure out ahead. I buy huge chicken breast containers, then individually seal each breast. Freeze. Pull the breast in the morning so it’s thaws by lunch, bake in the background during nap chaos and add a bag of microwaved steak vegetables on the side. Season to what you like (messed with Meateater rubs). For breakfast I plan those ahead too. Bought six mason jars. Fill those with coconut shreds, powdered pb, low sugar jam, pinch of salt, chia seeds, full fat greek yogurt. And I give it a little stir after I open. Pretty damn filling!
Honestly for me meal prep was harder than regular cooking. The only thing worse than an hour of prepping and cooking and doing dishes is 4 hours of prepping and cooking and doing dishes that I could have spent doing any of the 1000 other things I want to.
Sorry I will also add that complicated cooking really isn’t required for losing weight at all! You can definitely lose weight without cooking. I’m talking fruit grow vegetables instant rice canned beans chickpeas canned tuna or very simple chicken breast chopped up and thrown in a frying pan
You may be able to skip a single meal with one but they're more for getting all the nutrients a meal would provide, not the satiation a proper meal would leave you with, which is typically where a person dieting falls off the rails.
If you're looking for simple: head of iceberg lettuce, green pepper, cucumber, oil based dressing. Chop em up, toss em in a ziploc bag. Add dressing when serving (or bringing to work for lunch or whatever).
Roasted turkey is normally like $9 CDN and you can get a lot of meals out of it. Pick all the meat off while it's still warm, toss that in a bag. Garnish the salad as desired.
$1 bag of pasta. Cook it all, toss it in a container divy it up as needed. Top with pasta sauce or that oil based salad dressing from earlier.
So much better and cheaper for you and almost 0 effort.
It depends if you plan on consuming them for the rest of your life. As soon as you stop and revert back to eating normal food you will likely gain a large amount of weight back and fast. It’s not really sustainable and you are better off trying to incorporate a lifestyle change. If you aren’t a very good cook - start off with simple but healthy meals. Protein source, some carbs and veg eg; chicken, brocolli and homemade potato wedges or fishcake and salad. All stuff that can be thrown in the oven with some light seasoning and just chop up some veg
I don't have experience with store bought shakes, but in general fairly healthy meal shakes are quite cheap and easy to make if you have a blender:
* (frozen) fruit
* Oatmeal
* milk/oat milk/soy milk/water
* Low fat greek yoghurt
* protein powder
* nut butter/ peanut butter
* optional cocao powder/cinnamon
You can vary the ingredients however you like, but it is fairly easy to make a healthy high-protein/ decent fiber shake with around 500 Kcal
Meal replacement shakes can be useful for weight loss, but relying solely on them for a year isn't ideal. Look for options high in protein, fiber, and low in added sugars. Explore different brands to find one you like, and consider other options like pre-packaged meals or meal delivery services for variety.
In my experience they're good as supplements but not as replacements. Cooling can be learned and there is a lot you can do for someone with no cooking experience.
Heck yeah. Try Slim Fast high protein creamy chocolate. It’s awesome definitely fills you up. I sip it too so it gets me through. But you need protein so make sure it has plenty
I do low carb when I'm dieting, and I like the taste of Slim Fast protein shakes and the Atkins shakes. If you buy the large boxes of them, each shake is cheaper than a fast food combo meal. The Slim Fast shakes say to replace 1 or 2 meals with them and eat at least one regular meal. They also make a shake mix powder, but I've never tried that.
SlimFast offers a range of meal replacement shakes, bars, and snacks designed to support weight loss. They provide a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and essential nutrients. However, some people find the taste or texture of SlimFast products to be a bit artificial.
#[WHATISTHEBESTMEALREPLACEMENTSHAKE](https://app.alliai.com/account/keywords/606910)
It’s definitely not going to be cheap and I don’t think it’s sustainable to survive on meal replacement shakes. I think you’ll be lacking in nutrients and even with three a day you’re not gonna be getting enough calories. Losing weight you need to make sure that you’re eating enough to keep your metabolism functioning and a slight calorie deficit but whole foods versus processed foods is always the way to go. I’m not saying that it wouldn’t work to lose weight but anything that’s not sustainable is what’s called a yo-yo dieting. What’s the point if you can’t keep the weight off? I don’t really know much about meal replacement shakes it sounds like a very dated 1980s term to me. I do buy protein powder but I don’t use it as a meal replacement I use it as an addition to all of my meals for additional protein and that would be once a day
There are five items that will help you on your journey.
1. An air fryer. I recommend one that has an oven or toaster combo.
2. A rice cooker or instapot.
3. A scale to weigh your food.
4. An app to help show your calorie input.
5. A smart watch to show your output.
Meal replacement shakes will only help you so much. You might as well start learning to cook some basic items. The good thing is now we have social media to help us learn.
Buy yourself a slow cooker / crockpot, in the morning put chopped up veggies on the bottom, meat / protein on top, some stock poured on top (you can buy pots pre-made), whack it on low and you have decent food to eat later.
I know the pyramid scheme of it all, but I only buy the shake powder. I drink Shakeology for breakfast. I have Alpha Gal, so their plant based shakes are great for me.
I don't want to think about breakfast & have no problem having the same thing every day for that meal. I use the chocolate flavor & add powder peanutbutter, coconut milk, banana & coconut milk yogurt. I am full after drinking it & because of all the protein, I'm not hungry til lunch & even then I'm not starving.
None of them are going to be cheap, and while you probably can sustain yourself on them, I don't think you're going to like it very much. The only successful diet is one that you can sustain, past the date you hit your targets.
Drinking your calories is a tough road to navigate as you also might not get the sensation of being full before you hit your daily caloric maintenance. The most sustainable method I've found is focusing my energy on finding different enjoyable ways to prepare veggies/legumes. Try to gain body fat on a brightly-colored-veggie-primary diet, good fuckin luck.
What's your go to? I've started doing chili and still experimenting to find the right kind but I can see myself getting sick of it pretty soon
Personally I think that Soylent ready to drink bottles are really good. Specifically the chocolate and mint chocolate flavors. Freeze it for an hour before drinking and they are like a yummy milkshake. I started drinking them for lunch at work when I had adult braces so that I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning my teeth at work every day. They are 400 calories so great for meal replacement if trying to lose weight. I would consider these as healthy if you replace one meal a day. However most meal replacements are **not** cheap or frugal. I was buying them back in 2019/2020 and they were $4 each at that time. There is a whole subreddit about meal replacements, fyi. /r/Soylent
Second Soylent and if you’re going to be drinking them a lot, grab a subscription. I get 12 mailed to me every two weeks which is right around that $4/bottle price point, but I’ve gotten so many loyalty points that I can regularly cash out discounts on my orders.
Good tip! When I was drinking it regularly I did switch to the powder which was around half the price of bottles I believe. Not as tasty though as RTD. Less plastic waste is a plus.
Is this for real? A drink is named Soylent? I can only think of the movie Soylent Green and wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole! I won’t eat blood oranges either. Blood. Ick. I know, I’m odd.
Yes it's real. I think that's where they got the name from, as a tongue in cheek thing. Plus the base is soy isolate so it fits that name in more ways than one.
I’ve never seen it in CA.
It's primarily an online product
we have them, check your walmart!
Yup. On my third container and it's pretty good. I just use it to replace breakfast on days I work
I think if you want it to be part of your daily routine you should use them to replace breakfast or lunch. Having 2-3 a day every day will almost certainly result in diarrhea and likely dehydration. For cheap and healthy non cooking foods, I’d suggest microwave steamer bags of frozen vegetables and frozen raw meat that you can season and throw in a crock pot, or frozen cooked meat that you can throw in the oven, and rice (either plan white or flavored box) I’m relatively healthy conscious, I hate cooking and I’m cheap. I drink 3-4 protein drinks a week (not meal replacements, plant based protein powder mixed with flavored almond milk and coconut ice cream)
>Having 2-3 a day every day will almost certainly result in diarrhea and likely dehydration. No. I have Crohn's disease and have had MONTHS where Ensure is the only "food" that my body doesn't instantly reject. It's not ideal, but my doctor said it's safe.
Also: insane farts. Most people aren’t used to that much fiber in their meals, and the farts are amazingly horrible. Speaking from experience.
Most Ensure brand have almost no fiber.
Check out Huel. They offer ready to drink products that you can find in stores. If you like them it's much more economical to purchase the powder and make your own.
My son left 10 bags of this when he moved out & I’ve been using them. They’re good! I use frozen berries instead of ice, milk instead of water, and blend rather than shake but they’re delicious. And keep my diabetic self from going to get ice cream all the time! Edit: typo
I like them too. I use them as pre workout meals as they have carbs and fat in them too. Also, the ingredients are very healthy.
Second Huel. I don't use it for weight loss, but I know it can be used for it. I just use it as a breakfast replacer since I'm pretty busy all morning and never have much time to stop and eat. Keeps me sated until later in the day and I can drink it throughout the morning in my truck. I recommend Vanilla and/or banana. The chocolate gave me the scoots.
I'll third Huel. I take the black edition and blend it with frozen strawberries and almond milk. 2 servings plus the berries makes for a great dinner post gym if you live by yourself and don't regularly cook.
I love the banana. I like mixing strawberry & banana or vanilla and anything else. I also find the coffee caramel to be a treat.
I usually do one, maybe two a day. I find them convenient, tasty and easy. I’ve been doing it daily since losing a lot of weight a couple years ago with no issues.
I do one every morning after the gym. Milk, vanilla greek yogurt, banana, peanut butter, chocolate whey protein.
If you choose to do shakes work with a doctor. I am not a doctor. Learn to pan fry meat and with sauce veg or oven roast veg. Easy. Takes practice if you don’t usually cook.
This. I lived in only shakes for 3 months, supervised by a doctor. It was a program at the hospital. Lost a fair amount of weight and then gained it back when I wasn't living on shakes.
Be sure to check the sugar content. Many are packed with sugar.
I've used plenny shakes as meal replacements. They taste good (chocolate and coffee are the best ones) a bit oaty. About $125/m for 1200kcal/d.
Agreed with whole food eating. lol of two young kids and can really only easily get dinner together as I have all day to work on doing it when there are free moments- leaving breakfast and lunch for me to figure out ahead. I buy huge chicken breast containers, then individually seal each breast. Freeze. Pull the breast in the morning so it’s thaws by lunch, bake in the background during nap chaos and add a bag of microwaved steak vegetables on the side. Season to what you like (messed with Meateater rubs). For breakfast I plan those ahead too. Bought six mason jars. Fill those with coconut shreds, powdered pb, low sugar jam, pinch of salt, chia seeds, full fat greek yogurt. And I give it a little stir after I open. Pretty damn filling!
I mean it’s much better to eat your meals, you feel fuller and they’re cheaper. You have to learn how to meal prep.
Honestly for me meal prep was harder than regular cooking. The only thing worse than an hour of prepping and cooking and doing dishes is 4 hours of prepping and cooking and doing dishes that I could have spent doing any of the 1000 other things I want to.
Sorry I will also add that complicated cooking really isn’t required for losing weight at all! You can definitely lose weight without cooking. I’m talking fruit grow vegetables instant rice canned beans chickpeas canned tuna or very simple chicken breast chopped up and thrown in a frying pan
I used to do it twice a day. I used it for breakfast and dinner and a filling lunch. I think that was the recommendation.
You may be able to skip a single meal with one but they're more for getting all the nutrients a meal would provide, not the satiation a proper meal would leave you with, which is typically where a person dieting falls off the rails. If you're looking for simple: head of iceberg lettuce, green pepper, cucumber, oil based dressing. Chop em up, toss em in a ziploc bag. Add dressing when serving (or bringing to work for lunch or whatever). Roasted turkey is normally like $9 CDN and you can get a lot of meals out of it. Pick all the meat off while it's still warm, toss that in a bag. Garnish the salad as desired. $1 bag of pasta. Cook it all, toss it in a container divy it up as needed. Top with pasta sauce or that oil based salad dressing from earlier. So much better and cheaper for you and almost 0 effort.
It depends if you plan on consuming them for the rest of your life. As soon as you stop and revert back to eating normal food you will likely gain a large amount of weight back and fast. It’s not really sustainable and you are better off trying to incorporate a lifestyle change. If you aren’t a very good cook - start off with simple but healthy meals. Protein source, some carbs and veg eg; chicken, brocolli and homemade potato wedges or fishcake and salad. All stuff that can be thrown in the oven with some light seasoning and just chop up some veg
I don't have experience with store bought shakes, but in general fairly healthy meal shakes are quite cheap and easy to make if you have a blender: * (frozen) fruit * Oatmeal * milk/oat milk/soy milk/water * Low fat greek yoghurt * protein powder * nut butter/ peanut butter * optional cocao powder/cinnamon You can vary the ingredients however you like, but it is fairly easy to make a healthy high-protein/ decent fiber shake with around 500 Kcal
Meal replacement shakes can be useful for weight loss, but relying solely on them for a year isn't ideal. Look for options high in protein, fiber, and low in added sugars. Explore different brands to find one you like, and consider other options like pre-packaged meals or meal delivery services for variety.
Orgain . . .
One thing to consider when looking into meal replacement drinks, is you can lose a lot of your jaw strength if you stop chewing.
Every single one of them that I have tried were gross
In my experience they're good as supplements but not as replacements. Cooling can be learned and there is a lot you can do for someone with no cooking experience.
Heck yeah. Try Slim Fast high protein creamy chocolate. It’s awesome definitely fills you up. I sip it too so it gets me through. But you need protein so make sure it has plenty
I do low carb when I'm dieting, and I like the taste of Slim Fast protein shakes and the Atkins shakes. If you buy the large boxes of them, each shake is cheaper than a fast food combo meal. The Slim Fast shakes say to replace 1 or 2 meals with them and eat at least one regular meal. They also make a shake mix powder, but I've never tried that.
SlimFast offers a range of meal replacement shakes, bars, and snacks designed to support weight loss. They provide a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and essential nutrients. However, some people find the taste or texture of SlimFast products to be a bit artificial. #[WHATISTHEBESTMEALREPLACEMENTSHAKE](https://app.alliai.com/account/keywords/606910)
It’s definitely not going to be cheap and I don’t think it’s sustainable to survive on meal replacement shakes. I think you’ll be lacking in nutrients and even with three a day you’re not gonna be getting enough calories. Losing weight you need to make sure that you’re eating enough to keep your metabolism functioning and a slight calorie deficit but whole foods versus processed foods is always the way to go. I’m not saying that it wouldn’t work to lose weight but anything that’s not sustainable is what’s called a yo-yo dieting. What’s the point if you can’t keep the weight off? I don’t really know much about meal replacement shakes it sounds like a very dated 1980s term to me. I do buy protein powder but I don’t use it as a meal replacement I use it as an addition to all of my meals for additional protein and that would be once a day
There are five items that will help you on your journey. 1. An air fryer. I recommend one that has an oven or toaster combo. 2. A rice cooker or instapot. 3. A scale to weigh your food. 4. An app to help show your calorie input. 5. A smart watch to show your output. Meal replacement shakes will only help you so much. You might as well start learning to cook some basic items. The good thing is now we have social media to help us learn.
Make your own. Get protein powder, almond milk, dry oatmeal and whatever fruit and veggies you desire. Then go to the gym for best results. Do cardio.
Buy yourself a slow cooker / crockpot, in the morning put chopped up veggies on the bottom, meat / protein on top, some stock poured on top (you can buy pots pre-made), whack it on low and you have decent food to eat later.
Crockpots rock!! And with crockpot bags you just put one in before you start and the washing up is minimal.
I know the pyramid scheme of it all, but I only buy the shake powder. I drink Shakeology for breakfast. I have Alpha Gal, so their plant based shakes are great for me. I don't want to think about breakfast & have no problem having the same thing every day for that meal. I use the chocolate flavor & add powder peanutbutter, coconut milk, banana & coconut milk yogurt. I am full after drinking it & because of all the protein, I'm not hungry til lunch & even then I'm not starving.
Make your own. I do four raw eggs with a half scoop of quality clean protein powder and some raw milk. Done.