Meal Replacement Shakes
When it comes to staying fit, most people don’t think about the fact that it involves staying on top of your nutrition aside from working out and being dedicated. This is all well and good, but when you want to really lose fat and gain muscle, the most important aspect of it is your diet. You can have the best training in the world, but it’s an old saying that you cannot out-train a bad diet. So rather than continuing to mess things up in the kitchen, it’s always a good idea to simplify your diet with a meal replacement shakes routine. This is an awesome way to not only get all of the macronutrients and micronutrients in one “dose,” but you can also get the calories you need to fuel your body as you transition to more training.
Nutritional Balance of Meal Replacement Shakes
This is very important because all too often people don’t put enough emphasis on getting enough calories during the dieting phase of their training. They automatically assume that just because they are looking to change their body they can no longer consume a lot of calories. This is not only false, but it’s a very corrosive myth that is rather pervasive in the fitness community. The reality is that you want meal replacement shakes that are going to provide you with nutrients, but most importantly, are going to keep your body from reaching for unhealthy foods when you begin to lose weight.
But putting the right ingredients in your shakes is basically the end-all, be-all of this working or not. So to ensure that you have enough in the tank, you have to make sure all the pieces fit properly. This is essential to advancing to the next phase, and without it, you’re going to see that you won’t be as successful as you could be with your diet. So keep these tips in mind, and your meal replacement shakes will be out of this world.
Strong Protein Source
Meal Replacement ShakesWhen it comes to utilizing protein, you have to ensure it’s one of the primary macros in your shake profile. Without it, you’re going to notice rather quickly that you will be unsuccessful in ensuring the shake is going to work. A meal replacement shake has to replace a food you would normally eat. So for example, if you were normally to eat a steak with french fries for dinner, that could be something upwards of 1200 calories, 50g fat, 50g protein, and 70g of carbs. Your shake has to not only replace the level of calories, but it has to provide a similarly high level of macronutrients to ensure that you’re getting the same fuel without the same quantity.
This might sound counter-intuitive, but you have to keep all of that in mind or you’re going to fail to achieve the results you really want. So by no means should you cheat. This just means you need to keep a different perspective when it comes to the food you’re purchasing for your shakes, because yes, some people actually blend up things like fish, chicken, and beef and put them in shakes. It may sound disgusting, and if it is too disgusting for you to get down your gullet, there are some alternative methods for getting protein.
You can always use a good whey or protein powder replacement product, but rather than buying meal replacement shakes that are bulky and really calorie dense, you get some that are much less dense in terms of the caloric content. This way you can strike a fair balance between good macronutrients and tons of calories.
Good Carb Source
Aside from protein, replacing your meals is going to require carbs. The reason you need carbs is that protein is going to fill you up too quickly, so you’ll struggle to get all of the nutrients you need from the shake. While protein is good, it is too thermogenic and satiating on its own. For carbs, make sure you are using complex sources like maltodextrin or something similar. You don’t want pure sugar, otherwise, it’s going to trigger a massive insulin response which will not only upset your stomach, but it will make you lose all of the valuable nutrients.