Slim Fast Diet

 

The Slim Fast Diet is a low calorie liquid supplement diet. The basic plan (and there are several variations but all are based on the same scenario) is that you drink three versions of the low calorie drinks along with eating a few vegetables and fruits each day.

Slim Fast recommends a Jumpstart diet plan to achieve quick results. Here are the basics of their Jumpstart diet plan:

• 1 large salad 
• veggies 
• 3 Jumpstart Shakes 
• Unlimited Sugarfree Gelatin 
• Exercise 30 minutes per day. 
• Drink at least 8 glasses of water per day. 

So a typical days meal plan would look like this:

• Breakfast: 1 shake + 1 fruit 
• Lunch: 1 shake + 1 fruit + gelatin 
• Mid-Afternoon Snack: 1 veggie + gelatin 
• Dinner: 1 shake + 1 large salad + 3 veggies 
• Snack: 1 fruit + gelatin

The goal is dropping your consumed calories to be between 1000 and 1200 per day. The drinks, vegetables, and fruits provide the necessary nutrients to supply your basic needs each day. Sounds good in theory, and you will lose weight dropping down to such a low calorie intake level.

The diet is drop dead easy and convenient. If you shop around, you can get most of the different drink flavors at about $2.50 each. And you certainly don't spend much time eating, so you save a couple hours a day in time.

The problem with any supplemental food or drink diet is once you stop eating (or in this case drinking) the food, you no longer lose weight. And even if you like the taste in the beginning, you won't after a few days.

The radical change from 2000+ calories a day to less than 1200 in mostly liquid form can impact a lot of people. The hunger pangs, the body's reaction (as in constipation or opposite), and lack of energy is a common complaint by many participants.

The contents of the supplemental drinks is suspect too. Many contain lots of sugar which can wreck havoc with your blood sugar levels. So you get a fast boost at first and then crash when the sugar high goes away.

If you read the Slim Fast shake label, you'll see the following ingredients. Skim milk, sugar, fructose, and cocoa. Depending on the drink variation, you will also see ingredients that include various vegetable oils, emulsifiers, and a vitamin mix.

Broken down in nutrients, a typical Slim Fast shake contains 12 grams of protein and 38 grams of carbohydrates. The carbohydrates are the sugar and fructose. If you would drink the same amount of 1% low fat milk, you would get a little more protein (15 grams) and no sugar. And the natural vitamins like A and D, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B12, Calcium, Phosphorous, Magnesium and Zinc are also in the milk.

So sugar is the main ingredient. After the sugar rush dies out you get fatigue, hunger pangs, and cravings. And going to such a low calorie level, the first thing the body wants to burn is muscle. Your metabolism goes up and down and instead of working to your advantage, may do just the opposite.

Most people want to lose fat, not muscle in their weight loss program. In fact a good way to track results is to measure the percentage of body fat, not just weight. That will tell you whether you are making progress in losing fat, not just weight.

Just measuring weight loss in pounds includes muscle and water. If your really want to get an accurate measurement of fat loss you need to look at your percentage of body fat. The best way to determine if any diet is successful is to determine the amount of body fat you have at the start, then monitoring your percentage of body fat.

If you want to go on a liquid supplement diet, like the Slim Fast diet, you could probably make your own diet shake with much less sugar and more protein and natural ingredients. Even when you are not on a diet, large amounts of sugar is not a good thing.