Thoughts on meal replacement shakes

[static_jacket]

I'm getting a little antsy to loose fat, and progress has been very slow for me. I'm pretty sure I'm making lean muscle gains, but I'm not even sure if I'm losing much fat. I have been doing weight training and been on a moderately strict diet for quite a while. Refer to last posts if you want background, because I haven't really changed diet or exercise very much, besides I've taken some weight off of certain lifts and increased reps.

Anyways, I work a job that doesn't necessarily allow me the time to eat several small meals, but I could see myself doing some meal replacement shakes to more easily manage it time and calorie-wise. I was going to see what you guys think about meal replacement shakes.

I would probably usually use it on rest days, but it sounds like it would be convenient for caloric needs on training days as well. From what I've read, doing meal replacements short term aren't a terrible idea as long as you get them low in added sugar, and made from whole foods. So I'm wondering: A) Are they a good idea? and B)What brands do you recommend? I'm having a hard time finding ones made from whole foods, or at least ones that say they are.

[Boss Man]

Well you do have choices.

You can take a protein powder, either concentrate, isolate or hydrolysate, but you also have soy based ones casein and plant matter based ones too, but don't choose a casein one as casein is twice as many calories per gram and you want one that digests pretty quickly.

You don't need ones with a load of ingredients and "proprietary blends", as they're expensive and not necessary, but make sure your powder comes with carbs in it, as carbs help to work alongside the protein intake.

As for post-workout absorption use water not milk, as milk thickens up shakes, adds more calories, adds more casein and because of the lactose, you need lactase enzymes to breakdown the galactose part of the lactose disaccharide, so you just increase enzyme competition.

Taste wise apart from the ratio of power to water, if you have taste issues then experiment with things like vanilla essence, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, honey and mocha powder, to adjust the taste.

If you were planning on consuming one that was not the post-workout one, then you could use milk if you wanted.

[static_jacket]

I'm more curious about a powder that I could be quickly put into a blender bottle. Sometimes all I have, time-wise, is a minute or two, to work in doing the whole "have a meal every 3 hours" deal. Plus it would be nice to be able to more conveniently control calorie intake. What I'm curious of is an actual meal replacement powder, one hopefully made from real food. Since the supplement industry is kind of shady, I'm wondering about an honest brand of meal replacement products, from what I understand most of them are pretty terrible. I like the concept of meal replacements though, would be pretty ideal for me if I could find a good one.

[Boss Man]

Well maybe you're talking more about the Met-rx brand of product that comes in pouches then I presume.

[Fitafter50]

It's going to be pretty hard to find a "real food" meal replacement. I haven't run across any yet. I know that some companies will tell you that it's all "real food" in those canisters, but obviously it's very processed. If you can't always do a real food meal, maybe just do a protein shake once a day, and maybe a green drink to round it out? Or make a pot of soup on the weekend, put it in your blender, and then bring a thermos of that to work? That way you could have your chicken, veggies, and rice or sweet potato, whatever you are considering a meal, in one convenient sippable package.