Meal replacement bars or shakes are meant to cut down on your caloric intake while still providing you with the energy, protein and nutrients of a full meal. While meal replacement bars and shakes are mostly marketed as a way to lose weight, they have several other applications. Use them carefully and remember that they are not a long term solution or meant to completely replace food. They are effective in the short term, or as a once-a-day maintenance program.
Step 1
Use meal replacement shakes or bars in place of meals to achieve weight loss. The most popular meal replacement diet plan allows you to drink a shake for breakfast and lunch, incorporate snacks and a sensible dinner to keep your caloric intake low and help you to lose weight without feeling hungry or starving yourself. A 2009 study in the Australian Journal of Dairy Technology found that it was, in fact, a choice for short term weight loss under six months.
Step 2
Drink one meal replacement shake or eat one bar per day to achieve weight loss maintenance when paired with other good, low calorie choices for the rest of your meals. A 2003 International Journal of Obesity and Other Metabolic Diseases found that meal replacements aided weight loss, and that a smaller dosage of meal replacements helped with maintaining that weight loss.
Step 3
Have a meal replacement bar or shake when you're on the go and don't have time to start the day with a healthy, homemade breakfast. Drinking a meal replacement shake is preferable to going without breakfast, especially where metabolism and weight are concerned. Keeping some bars and shakes on hand for this very purpose is a good idea.
Step 4
Use meal replacements if you are diabetic and have problems with unstable sugar levels. The diabetes website DiabetesSelfManagement.com notes that if you can't get a meal and feel your blood sugar becoming unstable, a meal replacement bar or shake can help get you back to normal without adverse side effects.
Step 5
Pump iron while using meal replacements as a way to gain weight. Not all meal replacements are for those who want to lose weight. Some are packed with calories and protein for people who want to gain more weight and get bigger. In that case, eating or drinking after a workout can make your workout more successful by adding protein for muscle building.
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