One of the most popular ways to lose weight quickly and that is promoted heavily in Australia is the concept of replacing main meals with shakes and only having one 'whole-food' meal a day, perhaps with a couple of snacks for in between meals.

By following this approach people will lose weight. In fact, if they follow any approach that reduces their calorie/ food intake substantially they will lose weight. However, shake diets along with any diet that uses the 'Starvation Principle' will not work simply because they are not sustainable long term. Plus, the body will rebound, which means they will put back on any weight that is lost.

Since people want an easy way to lose weight, these diets have become enormously popular (as well as the fact that they are heavily marketed). All they require people to do is to have shakes instead of food for breakfast and lunch, perhaps have a few small snacks during the day and then have a small dinner.

Whilst they do help people lose weight, they do not teach people good eating habits or how to keep the weight off. The fact remains that losing weight is not an easy task if your goal is to keep the weight off.

Worst of all, the quality of nutrition provided by these shakes is often woefully inadequate. Many of them tend to contain high-glycaemic index sugars that causes problems with blood sugar regulation and insulin responses. They also tend to use cheap, poor-quality protein sources like skim milk powder or milk protein solids.

Overall, here is a summary of why shake diets do not work:

- Not sustainable long term

- Do not teach people good eating habits

- Result in rebound weight gain

- Poor nutritional sources

If people are serious about losing weight then they need to follow some basic strategies:

- Learn the proven and successful weight-loss principles

- Create the habit of meal preparation

- Be willing to make permanent lifestyle changes (nutrition, exercise, supplementation)

- Do not go on a diet

Learn the proven and successful weight-loss principles

There are many ways to lose weight. However, some principles are sustainable and some are not. Only use principles that suit your lifestyle and can be followed for the rest of your life. If you can't see yourself using a principle for the rest of your life, do use it!

Create the habit of meal preparation

This is one principle that almost guarantees permanent weight loss. By preparing virtually all of your meals yourself, you know exactly what goes into them, you can control your portion sizes better and it helps keep you focused on your weight-loss goal.

Be willing to make permanent lifestyle changes (nutrition, exercise, supplementation)

As mentioned before, any weight-loss principles you choose to incorporate into your lifestyle must be sustainable. If it isn't, the results you achieve by using it will be short term as well.

Do not go on a diet

Many people follow the latest 'fad diet' in order to lose weight. Of course, this approach never works simply because diets don't work. What does work are sensible, long term nutritional habits that provide good nutrition to your body, use sustainable principles, ensure you never feel hungry and that fit comfortably into your lifestyle.

If you are serious about losing weight and keeping it off then you must avoid the shake diets and should use the four basic strategies mentioned above.

Copyright (c) 2009 Stephen Smith