Meal replacement

What is meal replacement?

Meal replacement refers to a food or drink that’s intended to replace a solid meal. It often comes as a shake, but it can also include things like soups, snack bars or other drinks.

You can use meal replacements as either a means to help you lose weight (like slimming shakes) or to help you to gain weight or take in more nutrition if you’re malnourished, or at risk of becoming malnourished.

Meal replacements are regulated to provide a reasonable amount of your essential nutrients and calories for the day, so that you can safely use them to replace some of your meals without the risk of you not meeting your nutritional needs.

How do weight loss shakes work?

Weight loss shakes work by regulating your calorie intake, so that if you follow the ‘plan’ that’s been set out, you’ll take in less calories than you burn. When you burn more calories than you take in from food and drink, you’re running on a ‘calorie deficit’, which means that your body has to burn its fat stores for energy, meaning that you’ll lose weight as a result.

Basically, weight loss shakes do the heavy lifting for you – meaning that you don’t need to think about what you’re going to eat, count calories or spend a lot of time cooking healthy or low-calorie meals.

How do nutritional supplement drinks work?

Nutritional supplement drinks are essentially designed to do the opposite of weight loss shakes. They’re usually fairly dense in calories, and are often intended to supplement, rather than replace, a food-based diet.

It might be recommended to you if you’re malnourished, or are at risk of becoming malnourished, to drink nutritional supplement drinks throughout the day or between meals in order to increase your weight and improve your health. This can often be useful if you’re elderly, as malnutrition is particularly common and dangerous in older populations (especially if you suffer with low mood, cognitive impairment or other health conditions).^[1]

Because they’re rich in calories and nutrients, they make it easier for you to take in more calories than you use – and so create a calorie surplus. This means that you can build muscle and fat stores and support your body’s healthy function. When people are malnourished, it means that their bodies aren’t working as effectively as they could be. As such, getting to a healthy weight is important to help your body to fight off illnesses, keep your brain working at its best and to maintain your energy levels.

What meal replacement options are there to help me lose weight?

SlimFast is one of the most well-known meal replacement options for weight loss. It typically comes as a powder that you mix with water and contains around 200 calories per serving. But there are plenty of options and brands for weight-loss meal replacements. If you’re planning to use meal replacements for weight loss, then you should consult a clinician first to make sure that they’re safe for you.

A clinician can also advise you on a product and plan that’s going to provide you with enough calories and nutrients for a sensible length of time.If you don’t take in enough calories and nutrients for a long period of time you could be in danger of becoming unwell or malnourished.

What meal replacements can help with malnutrition?

As well as meal replacements that can help you to lose weight, there are plenty of options for ‘meal replacements’ that can help people to put on weight if they’re underweight. Ideally, these options should be used alongside food or meals, but they can be used without for a short time if you struggle to chew or eat for whatever reason.

Examples of meal replacements to help with weight gain include: Aymes, Complan and Ensure.

What’s the ‘best’ meal replacement shake?

The ‘best’ meal replacement really depends on you. If you’re using meal replacements to lose weight, then you should try to look for options that provide you with enough nutrients and calories to maintain a healthy lifestyle. You should also discuss your chosen option with a clinician before you start, so that you can monitor your weight and health whilst you’re using it, and so that you can decide on a safe and suitable length of time for you to use it for.

Aside from that, the ‘best’ option for you can often largely be down to your taste and budget preferences.