Diet Plans With Powdered Supplements

Losing weight is often difficult for dieters who have time constraints that keep them from preparing low-calorie meals consistently. A stop at the coffee shop or a fast food drive-through for breakfast can wreck your diet plan for the day. Diet plans that have weight loss supplements help you stay on track. These powdered meal replacements save time when you are in a hurry and keep your daily calorie intake within budget. Consult a physician or dietitian before you enroll in a meal replacement diet plan.

Features

Diet plans that have powdered supplements offer dieters a meal option that involves no calorie counting. The shake or smoothie mixtures are powders that you mix with water, skim milk or other liquids to make a beverage that replaces one or two of your daily meals.

Herbalife, Medifast and Slim Fast are similar plans that feature powdered supplements to replace one or more meals. The Optifast diet plan is a medically supervised program with meal replacement supplements. The premixed powders that you purchase with these diet plans cost from $160 to as much as $300 per month, according to a Consumer Search review. Some mass retailers' brands may be easier on your budget than popular national brands.

Calories

Diet plans that have powered supplements have total daily calorie intakes that range from 700 to 1,000 calories, according to Every Diet. Powdered supplement shakes start at fewer than 200 calories, but may be more than 400 when prepared with juice.

Nutrition

The FDA categorizes meal replacement powders as dietary supplements, instead of food. It also does not require manufacturers to seek approval for their sales or to provide scientific evidence about the nutritional soundness of product ingredients.

Consumers should review the diet plan's nutrition claims before purchasing these supplements. The Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center (CRDAMC) at Fort Hood, Texas, states that the nutritional content of powdered supplements varies widely. Some have vitamin and mineral content that is equivalent to an ordinary soda.

Effectiveness

The CRDAMC reports that Columbia University conducted a meta-analysis of six scientific studies on the effectiveness of meal replacements. Researchers found that participants that used meal replacement supplements lost more weight than those who used low-calorie diets alone to lose weight. In a study that the U.S. Army conducted, participants that consumed meal replacement supplements lost 2.6 lbs. more and 1 percent more body fat than low-calorie diet subjects. The U.S. Army published these findings in the February 2010 "Journal of the American Dietetic Association."

Warning

The University of Maryland Medical Center warns that daily calories in a diet should not be fewer than 1,200 for women and 1,400 for men. The transition from powdered supplement meal replacement to real meals may undo your weight loss. According to Consumer Search, these diet plans fail to help consumers develop the healthy eating habits needed to sustain weight loss.