Meal replacement v counting calories?

[omtotheg]

So I've been thinking of ordering a meal replacement plan (like I've never done that before!)

But would there be any difference between a VLCD or eating 800 calories a day and taking a vitamin supplement?

Would the results be the same?

(I posted this in calorie counting but didn't get any responses)

I’ve actually been doing a combination of both. I started off calorie counting at 1200 a day, but honestly I was fucking starving and found I got to 1200 really quickly and was never full.

I bought a few aldi meal replacement shakes just to see if they were ok and they were really yummy, and I didn’t feel hungry for ages after one. So I still calorie count and usually have a shake for lunch. With a bit of trial and error, I also found them much nicer and more filling adding a lot more water to them than what they recommend.

I think the main difference is that you would be absolutely starving on 800 cals and would be unlikely to stick to it. It would probably only work if you put your body into ketosis, either through meal replacement or through eating super low carbs. Both would be hard. Is there a reason why you want to eat so little? If you’ve done it before without success what will be different this time?

I was going to do this - something like exante or lipotrim- but decided on slim fast so I could have evening meal.

I downloaded and paid for nutracheck- it is brilliant much much better than MFP- and allow myself 1200 calories. I weigh and measure every single thing even -cucumber!

I exercise on the bike for 30 minutes as it makes me feel better. This helps control diet. It's weird. I need to lose 4 stone to get to the top end of healthy BMI so I am very overweight. I have a couple of !light days' too where I have a a few less calories. I am committed for 12 weeks with the odd cheat meal but no cheat days!

Typical day - I have one shake a day

B- small banana
L- vanilla slim fast with blueberries
Snack -apple/lean meat/ veg/ crisps
D: chicken souvlaki with Greek salad and a flatbread
Drink: gin and slim
Treat: mini magnum/ cake bar/ etc

When I started out to lose weight I found meal replacement worked well for me but eventually switching to calorie counting real food.

The advantages of meal replacement for me were:
No prep, no thinking ahead, no planning what to eat.
Ready made shakes easy to carry in your bag.
There's a financial commitment that motivates me.
Portion sizes all ready planned out and no risk of returning to the pot for another serving.
They don't take into account how active you are, so 800 calories is fine for me if I'm not active, but torture if I'm working.

The disadvantages are:
they can get boring after a while,
they tend to be sweet so spike insulin more than a healthy meal
They are more expensive than say scrambled eggs on toast

They were effective for me in the short term.
Long term I use a combination of intermittent fasting to maintain weight loss but also keep an eye on the calorie count.

Long term you need to learn how to plan your meals, find your motivation to be disciplined in serving sizes, learning what makes up a healthy meal and what nutrition you need. There are lots of great strategies for managing your willpower and help get into better habits in the long term.

Good luck OP.

I've just read something on linked in about 'Alkaline Juice' diets ? Googled it as the LI thing seemed to be an advertorial for a particular 'guru' . Wonder if that might be a good replacement for two meals a day ?
Found these online ...

This last one looks the most palatable

I started the Cambridge diet before lockdown and lost 10lbs in 2 weeks. Then my mother in law died and we were locked down.....

Started again last week and find it fantastic honestly. With eating food diets I always eat too much. Or underestimate calories.

I have a shake for breakfast to which I add ice, lots of water, blueberries and raspberries. Makes 2 big glasses of delicious smoothie. Then a soup for lunch with a punnet of cherry tomatoes and some lean meat or fish. Then another massive smoothie for tea. Plus theres a raspberry sorbet flavouring you can make sweets with or add to iced water which is delicious.

I'm 7lbs down as of this morning. Would definitely recommend.