The Slim Fast program is a weight loss diet that combines the brand's diet products along with small amounts of fresh foods. As you consider whether the Slim Fast plan is a good diet for you, think about whether it will help you lose weight at a healthy rate, meet your nutrient needs and increase your chances of keeping the weight off once you reach your goal weight. Obtain your doctor's approval before starting any weight loss diet.
Background
Each day on the Slim Fast Three-Two-One Plan, you eat three Slim Fast snack bars or 100-calorie portions of nutrient-dense foods, two Slim Fast bars or shakes instead of two of your regular meals, and one 500-calorie balanced meal with vegetables, a starch and lean protein. Since the program relies so heavily on diet bars and shakes, it can be a good diet for you if you do not like to cook. On the other hand, if you prefer more variety in your meal plan, Slim Fast might become boring and discourage you from continuing the diet.
Nutrition
While on the Slim Fast diet, you will probably meet your micronutrient requirements because Slim Fast snack bars, meal replacement bars and shakes are fortified with essential vitamins and minerals. The meal replacements have at least 20 to 30 percent of the daily value for most essential vitamins and minerals, and snack bars have 10 percent of the daily value for many vitamins and calcium. However, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend that you get your nutrients from natural sources whenever possible because they may have antioxidants and other important nutrients. On the Slim Fast diet, you only get one meal and up to three 100-calorie snacks from fresh foods, which means you may not meet your recommendations for whole grains, dairy products, fruit, vegetables, legumes and nuts.
Weight Loss Success
To lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories than you burn, or expend, and Slim Fast Three-Two-One Plan can help you do this. The program provides 1,200 calories per day, which is probably a low enough level to create a calorie deficit because you probably need more calories than this to maintain your current weight. According to the Mayo Clinic website, a 40 year-old woman who weighs 180 lbs. and is lightly active would need about 1,700 calories to maintain her weight. This means that the Slim Fast program would help her lose about 1 lb. per week by creating a deficit of 500 calories per day.
Considerations
A good diet not only helps you achieve your goal weight, but it also helps prevent you from regaining the weight later. A potential concern with the Slim Fast program is that it may not prepare you for healthy eating after you go off the diet. Since the Three-Two-One Plan includes such a high amount of diet products, it does not teach you portion control and other eating habits that can guide you in making good food choices for the rest of your life.
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