Can meal replacements really help you lose weight?

As various chronic diseases become younger, people are paying more and more attention to their health. In particular, obesity, which people used to think was a symbol of good family conditions, has now become something that makes people worry. After all, many chronic diseases are related to obesity, so many people have embarked on the road of losing weight.

Of course, many people lose weight by dieting, but most of them end in failure. After all, not everyone can stand the feeling of being so hungry that you wake up from sleep. . . At this time, various meal replacement products are applied. However, those who have enough time and are willing to exercise can choose running or aerobics. As long as they have enough persistence, they will definitely succeed; but for people who are busy at work, meal replacement becomes a good choice. Today, let’s share with you whether meal replacement can really help lose weight?

First of all, I can answer in the affirmative that meal replacements can help you lose weight, and the core principle is relatively clear, which is: reducing energy intake.

Don't underestimate these words, they are the basis of all weight loss methods.

As a living organism that cannot carry out photosynthesis, all our energy sources come from food intake, and our energy consumption includes daily exercise and the most basic basal metabolism.

The two are in a dynamic equilibrium relationship. If the dynamic is broken and the intake exceeds the absorption, the excess energy will be stored, leading to obesity. On the contrary, if the intake is lower than the absorption, the energy stored in the body will be consumed, resulting in weight loss.

Therefore, for anyone, the core principle of weight loss is to reduce energy intake and increase energy expenditure, so that weight loss can be achieved.

However, it is easier said than done.

As mentioned above, almost everyone who wants to lose weight has tried this simple and crude way of dieting, but most people fail. They then self-deprecate it as: lack of willpower. Some people even go on a revenge diet, but not only do they fail to lose weight, they gain weight instead.

Is this really a matter of sheer willpower? The answer is no.

In fact, studies have found that our hunger is not only related to the energy intake, but also to another important neural perception, that is, satiety.

Although many people have come across the term satiety, it is not simply a perception, but involves a series of neural regulation processes. For example, a study was published last year in the neuroscience journal Neuros[1] to explore the mechanism of satiety signals. They found that our internal organs have a set of mechano-sensing neurons that sense the eating process.

This perception process is the mechanical perception of the gastrointestinal intake process, which is closely related to the total amount of food we eat. This is why it often takes us a long time to feel full after eating. If it is less than a certain time and amount, the feedback of the nerve perception will be insufficient, which will cause us to feel "not full".

Interestingly, when the neural genes responsible for satiety are knocked out, the fruit flies lose their sense of fullness and continue to eat until their crop (roughly equivalent to our stomach) is ruptured.

From this we can see that our diet is actually subject to complex regulation. It is unrealistic to simply diet because our gastrointestinal satiety-related nerves will always remind us that we are not full, and ultimately tempt us to continue eating.

Therefore, why is it so difficult for many people to lose weight through dieting? Because we are fighting against a set of long-term adaptive and neural-related regulatory mechanisms, which naturally manifests as "lack of self-control" and "inability to persist."

Therefore, one thing that needs to be paid attention to when losing weight is to achieve a sense of fullness. In other words, do not reduce the total volume of food in the stomach.

So, is weight loss really hopeless? Of course not.

We can maintain the volume of food to maintain satiety, but this does not mean that we cannot reduce the energy density of food. As long as the calories of our food are low enough, it is not a problem if we consume a lot.

Meal replacements apply this principle by maintaining the total intake volume but reducing the energy intake density. This way, you can avoid hunger due to the lack of timely feedback from the body's mechanical sensitive nerves while satisfying the feeling of fullness, ultimately achieving the goal of reducing overall intake.

Therefore, the meal replacement that can help you achieve the above must meet the following points:

1. Satiety

The above discussion is about this content, that is, weight loss must not reduce the feeling of fullness from food, otherwise you will not be able to resist the hunger craving of the nerves. Therefore, the amount of meal replacement must meet the need for fullness. First of all, the total amount of solid and liquid food consumed by a normal adult in a day is about 1-2kg, so the total amount of meal replacement should not be less than this number.

2. Low energy

After satisfying the feeling of fullness, the next step is to reduce the energy density of meal replacements. The basal metabolism of a normal adult is around 1500-2000 (kJ/(m2·h)), so the energy density of intake should be around this number or lower, but not lower than this number for a long time. Meal replacements are generally produced using very low-calorie foods, which are often derived from plants. After all, plants themselves are low-calorie foods, and they also contain a large amount of cellulose that the human body cannot directly metabolize and absorb. It can effectively satisfy the feeling of fullness and reduce energy density.

3. Must not lack normal nutrients

Although losing weight is important, health is more important. If excessive weight loss causes the body to lack normal nutrients, affects normal metabolism, and even causes health problems, then the gain will not outweigh the loss.

Therefore, meal replacements must not lack normal nutrients. For example, vitamins are essential for the health of the body. For example, vitamin C itself plays an antioxidant role. If it is deficient, it will cause scurvy.

4. Delicious and portable

In fact, if the above three requirements are met, the needs of meal replacement can basically be met. However, there are still some application considerations that cannot be missed, that is, the taste must be good, otherwise if people don’t like it, no matter how good the meal replacement is, it will be in vain. Of course, for busy modern people, portability is also an important consideration. After all, work is already very busy, where is the time to exercise? If the energy brought by a cup of meal replacement is equivalent to the energy consumed by jogging for an hour after a meal. Then meal replacement is definitely a good choice. You know, it is not so easy to stick to jogging for an hour.

As someone who has been struggling to lose weight, I must consider the above four points when choosing meal replacements. I suggest that you choose some more mature and reliable products so that you can feel at ease with your meal replacements.

In short, weight loss still needs to be done gradually. Those ways of losing weight suddenly are unhealthy, unscientific, and undesirable. You must find the most suitable method for yourself and stick to it. If you also use meal replacement to lose weight, there is also an adaptation period. Don't rush for success.