Protein shakes for fast FAT loss?

[moonbogg]

I want to lose about 15lbs of fat and I don't have the will power to not eat things that make me fat, at least not without a replacement. Can protein shakes be used as a tool for fast and easy fat loss? I know its not a long term solution, but I just want to trim some fat real quick without starving to death. I eat things like huge cereal bowls completely over filled with cake and ice cream with whipped cream on top and a bigass glass of milk to go with it. I do that kind of thing often. I'm thinking maybe I can slam a yummy protein shake instead of eating the mountain of cake and ice cream.

 

[BW86]

Calculate your TDEE (it's a rough estimate - give or take a couple hundred calories)

Eat less than that

Lose weight

It's really that simple

 

[GasX]

It's really that simple

NO - it is not

 

[GasX]

Increase your intake of fiber - both soluble and insoluble.
Decrease the carbs

 

[Ancalagon44]

Don't bother.

The only way you will lose weight and keep it off is through a consistent change in your eating habits. You've got to see it as a change you are making to your habits instead of just removing some fat.

It is the habits that determine how much fat you carry. Your habits, both in terms of what you eat and how much you exercise, are the reason you have extra fat. Temporarily adding protein shakes will do nothing unless you permanently change your eating habits.

 

[sbpromania]

- Change your eating habits and try eating more veggies
- Go to the gym and try some HIIT classes or classes that will allow you to burn fat.

Fyi: A protein shake won't do magic and won't allow you to eat the same and lose weight.

Good luck with this journey of yours!

 

[mikeymikec]

Calculate your TDEE (it's a rough estimate - give or take a couple hundred calories)

Eat less than that

Lose weight

It's really that simple

PS - don't try to eat loads less than that in the hope that you can quickly shed the excess pounds. Two reasons:

1 - The less you eat, the more inclined you'll be to have a pig-out at some point.

2 - As others have said, its your general habits that need to change. Even if there was a way to quickly lose a load of weight, if you go back to your old habits, you'll just put it back on again.

I have the opposite problem, I'm trying to gain weight but I can't eat high fat and/or heavily processed food (which pretty much eliminates all the usual suspects for 'easy' weight gain). At the moment I'm trying to ensure that I consume at least 2000 calories a day (I think I'm averaging about 2400). I spent a short while finding out the calorific content in foods I typically eat, make a note of them, calculate my average daily diet, and beyond that I have a note of the figures in case I need to look something up.

A lot of people with (over) weight issues eat because they think they're hungry when they're not. Eating is habit-forming for some people. There are loads of ways into working around what you think your body is telling you, like drinking instead of eating (low calorie drinks obviously). Some types of soup are helpful as well like consomme soup.

Another thing to look at is how often you eat. A typical wait gain strategy is to reduce the time between meals, however to each their own. I personally have to remind myself to eat, and that's helped by feeling peckish, therefore I go for large meals and not eating between them (if I try the typical tactic then say a sandwich fills me up for hours, also I have work to do!). You may prefer to calorie-count then eating more foods you enjoy eating (than you would expect for 'being on a diet') to make up the numbers, then learning to make some compromises.

 

[z1ggy]

I want to lose about 15lbs of fat and I don't have the will power to not eat things that make me fat, at least not without a replacement. Can protein shakes be used as a tool for fast and easy fat loss? I know its not a long term solution, but I just want to trim some fat real quick without starving to death. I eat things like huge cereal bowls completely over filled with cake and ice cream with whipped cream on top and a bigass glass of milk to go with it. I do that kind of thing often. I'm thinking maybe I can slam a yummy protein shake instead of eating the mountain of cake and ice cream.

Yeah you're going to need a life change. You're literally addicted to sugar and bad food, and thinking you can just drink your way to fat loss is a pipe dream.

Reality check: You need to consume less energy than your body expends to lose weight.
Fun fact: Lifting weights 3-4x a week at a fairly intense level will help to preserve muscle mass.

 

[edro]

NO - it is not

YES - it is

And yes, eating a protein shake instead of an ice cream mountain is a sure fire way to lose weight.

 

[SlitheryDee]

If you replace cake and ice cream with anything that is considerably lower in calories that'll certainly help. A protein shake would have the added benefit of supporting muscle gain. If you think about it, protein shakes are kind of like a "dessert" anyway. I don't see the harm in making protein shakes your defacto dessert for a while, or even permanently.

 

[TheStu]

If you replace cake and ice cream with anything that is considerably lower in calories that'll certainly help. A protein shake would have the added benefit of supporting muscle gain. If you think about it, protein shakes are kind of like a "dessert" anyway. I don't see the harm in making protein shakes your defacto dessert for a while, or even permanently.

He could add ice and reduce the water content (a little), make a thicker protein smoothie sort of thing. Who doesn't like milkshakes?

 

[moonbogg]

OK so last night I tried a whey protein shake (vanilla). Jesus H holy man these are good. I want them all the time. I had 3 last night. I am having a serving of 1.5 right now in milk which I microwaved to warm the milk, then I added the powder. Damn its so good lol. It kind of smells like baby formula, but that's OK. This is also good in water, but in milk, holy crap I love it. Warm or cold, both delicious. I am going to see if I can manage a shake for breakfast and lunch then eat a normal dinner. Normal doesn't mean a truck load of ice cream though.
Regarding being addicted to sugar, yes its true. The addiction to sugar and sodium and all that other good stuff is very real. I often don't feel satisfied unless I eat enough meat and fat and often times, plenty of sugar.
I don't feel I have a weight problem and that's not why I am posting, but I do have a diet problem which will result in severe fatness if I stop exercise. Right now I lift 6 days a week pretty intensely. As I get stronger, I naturally find myself squeezing in more intensity and volume into my routine.
I have some fat around my body that I want gone so I can see the work I have been doing in the gym. I was looking for a temporary, quick way to cheat my way down a few pounds. A lifestyle change is something that I will have to surrender to. I will have to be ready to take responsibility for what I put in my body, all the time. That means ensuring I have bought my own food and prepared it for the week, or at least the day. Being prepared to say no to certain foods or to say no to a second helping of certain foods at least. I am not there yet. I'm not quite ready but the pressure is building to make a concrete decision. It won't be about losing a few pounds to show off my muscles. It will be an all or nothing lifestyle change.

EDIT: OK, honestly, part of the reason why I say I am "not ready" to choose a better lifestyle is because I simply don't know what to do. My mind is messed up in this area pretty bad. When I think about eating healthy, I have visions of the same boring turkey sandwich for lunch every day. I get discouraged from starting because I cannot envision myself living with a healthy diet. I can't visually see it, so I don't know what to do. I just have no experience at all with this. I am fully buried by the western diet I grew up with and can't see the light shining through the cracks to even know which direction to start digging my way out.
If you guys tell me what to do, I'll do it. Your way will be better than my way.

 

[mikeymikec]

If you don't think you're ready to completely change your diet, why don't you try making a small change to begin with, and stick to it? Maybe base one meal each day on lighter/healthier choices?

 

[moonbogg]

Calculate your TDEE (it's a rough estimate - give or take a couple hundred calories)

Eat less than that

Lose weight

It's really that simple

I did it and well, that explains some things. I use between 2,700 and 3,000 calories per day. `I didn't expect it would be that much. My BMI is 28, so I am considered overweight. 5'9", 185lbs. I feel I should be 170lbs. Interesting.

 

[Zivic]

I did it and well, that explains some things. I use between 2,700 and 3,000 calories per day. `I didn't expect it would be that much. My BMI is 28, so I am considered overweight. 5'9", 185lbs. I feel I should be 170lbs. Interesting.

figure your caloric needs at your current weight and at your desired weight. Eat as close to the number of calories required to maintain your desired weight as you can. if the difference is large; say 1000 calories, then would have to work your way towards that number. If the number is close, yours likely is 170 vs 185 bodyweight, it's probably only a few hundred calories, which should be fairly easy to do.......... granted that assumes you aren't over eating your current weight's caloric needs.

 

[Kaido]

YES - it is

And yes, eating a protein shake instead of an ice cream mountain is a sure fire way to lose weight.

I'll expand even more on that - ice cream is a great way to lose weight:

https://www.youtube.com/user/jaklcrow

Or donuts:

https://nicolecapurso.wordpress.com/2014/08/31/how-donuts-gave-me-abs-an-80kg-snatch/

Or twinkies:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/

My current philosophy:

1. Eat less than you burn to lose weight, doesn't matter what you eat
2. Despite that, you're doing your body a favor by eating more real food than junk food
3. The more you track & meet your macros, the better results you will get

I used to think that you had to eat brown rice & plain chicken and all that jazz all the time, but that's definitely not the case. For fat loss, simply manage your diet. Discovering IIFYM was a gamechanger for me. Everyone is convinced that you either need to do a lot of exercise to get in shape or eat some special super healthy diet, but if your sole goal is losing weight, just learn about calorie tracking. If you want to lose fat & build muscle, add in macro tracking & exercise to that. Pretty straightforward.

Beyond that, it boils down to learning what your body likes. Like, I can't handle a lot of fiber due to gut issues, so all this stuff about eating a ton of fiber is really really bad for me. Or how sugar is devil - I have low blood sugar & have to manage it by eating sugar, haha. Which is a change from years past, where I had to avoid all this stuff because I had really weird food allergies to stuff like corn, which they stick in everything. But yeah, as it turns out, you can lose weight & get abs by eating ice cream every day

 

[Kaido]

I did it and well, that explains some things. I use between 2,700 and 3,000 calories per day. `I didn't expect it would be that much. My BMI is 28, so I am considered overweight. 5'9", 185lbs. I feel I should be 170lbs. Interesting.

Yeah, it's pretty eye-opening stuff. Like, I can eat BK all day & stay in shape because I have plenty of calories to use daily (which I did for awhile a couple months ago, haha).

Same idea with looking muscular. You can exercise all you want, but unless you have a low bodyfat percentage (controlled by diet), your muscles won't pop out. So track your macros (protein/fat/carbs) & calories to control fat levels, and exercise to control muscle levels.

 

[Humpy]

I did it and well, that explains some things. I use between 2,700 and 3,000 calories per day. `I didn't expect it would be that much. My BMI is 28, so I am considered overweight. 5'9", 185lbs. I feel I should be 170lbs. Interesting.

Once I understood how many calories I should be eating the big thing that really helped me lose weight was the often mentioned weighing and measuring of my food. I needed to learn what 2000 calories looks like on a plate.

So I wouldn't feel hungry, I then started to gravitate towards the stuff I could eat more of, vegetables, chicken, etc. and still stay under my target.

I also started weight training, and now that I'm a strong 200 instead of a weak 260, I have a lot of fun riding bicycles or wandering around in the mountains.

Just like a lot of things, you realize it just isn't that hard after you do it for a while. You just sort of spiral into control.

 

[Kaido]

That means ensuring I have bought my own food and prepared it for the week, or at least the day. Being prepared to say no to certain foods or to say no to a second helping of certain foods at least.

...

OK, honestly, part of the reason why I say I am "not ready" to choose a better lifestyle is because I simply don't know what to do. My mind is messed up in this area pretty bad. When I think about eating healthy, I have visions of the same boring turkey sandwich for lunch every day. I get discouraged from starting because I cannot envision myself living with a healthy diet. I can't visually see it, so I don't know what to do. I just have no experience at all with this. I am fully buried by the western diet I grew up with and can't see the light shining through the cracks to even know which direction to start digging my way out.
If you guys tell me what to do, I'll do it. Your way will be better than my way.

Been in the same boat. Thoughts:

1. If you are willing to count numbers, you don't have to be stuck with eating turkey sandwiches every day. Or ever. You don't even have to cook if you don't want to...you can live off frozen food & restaurants just fine. I would highly recommend watching the documentary "Fathead" (I think it's on Youtube for a few bucks) because it does a good job introducing the concept that it's not what you eat, it's how much you eat. He has like a burger & fries every night for dinner and loses weight, so it's not like you have to deprive yourself or starve yourself.

2. Eating healthy is nice, but is not required for fat loss. See the links in my post above. Sure, you can go nuts on a low-fodmap, whole-foods-only, everything-homemade diet, but per all measurable tests, eating fast food all the time, within your daily calorie limits, and doing some basic exercise (like going on a brisk walk) lets you hit all of your numbers properly (weight, cholesterol, blood sugar, etc.). Yes, the more whole foods you eat (meat, veggies, fruits, grains, etc.), the better, but according to health tests & weight loss goals, you don't need to go bananas on clean eating. So basically - yes, it's a good idea to healthy, but that doesn't mean you have to be at a bodybuilder-level of clean eating to get good results.

3. I like to do 5 to 7 smaller-sized meals (meals & snacks) throughout the day. Keeps me full all day long, never have to worry about getting hungry. I like snacks & desserts a lot too, so I just kind of graze all day. I also don't do well with large meals (makes me sleepy....I can handle half a plate of food, but a whole plate makes me want to take a nap), so that works out better for my body in particular. On the flip side, I have a couple friends who do interesting methods of eating - one does intermittent fasting & eats within a window, which gives him great results, and another only eats one (very large) meal per day, and that works well for him.

The main thing is daily calorie intake...people were fat long before they figured out how to refine sugar or make artificial preservatives, you know? So it's not when you eat, or what you eat, but rather how much you eat. And that's not necessarily restrictive...I'm at 2,400 calories right now and that is plenty of food. I've actually been eating out a lot for the past few months for convenience...they have the calorie numbers all calculated for you, so you can just pick something & buy it and eat it, no food prep or boring food required! For example, here's BK's menu:

https://www.bk.com/pdfs/nutrition.pdf

If I'm in a rush, sometimes I'll just hit up the BK for all of my meals for the day. For example:

Breakfast: 470
Ham, egg, and cheese croissant sandwich (330 calories)
Orange juice (140 calories)

Lunch: 680
Chili cheese hot dog (330 calories)
Chocolate milk (190 calories)
Ice cream cone (160 calories)

Dinner: 1180
Double Whopper with Cheese (990 calories)
20-ounce Sprite (190 calories)

Total: 2330 calories.

But is it better to eat healthy foods like brown rice & chicken? Yeah, but if you don't want to cook & don't mind tracking your calories, then you can still stay in shape just fine. Being overweight is one of the best ways to kill yourself, so if you're not ready or don't want to "eat healthy", then you can still lose weight no problem if you start tracking your daily caloric intake. This is what I call "stage 1", where you just track your calories in order to lose weight & maintain your weight. "Stage 2" is adding in macro tracking, which is where you make sure you meet your numbers for protein, carb, and fat intake every day. Sounds like you've already got a handle on exercising with your lifting program, so I'd just start out doing calorie tracking. Here is a pretty good, free calculator to play with:

http://whataremymacros.com/

You mentioned your goal is to lose 15 pounds; you can play with the fat loss section to see how many calories you should be eating. For example, if I wanted an aggressive fat-loss program, my TDEE is 2,400 calories a day, but I would cut that down to 2,000 calories a day to start losing weight faster. Per the sample BK menu listed above, all I'd have to do is drop the ice cream cone at lunch & change to a water instead of Sprite with dinner & boom, I'm at 2,000 calories. ~$400 a month, depending on how much BK charges in your area.

It gets a bit more complicated once you start tracking your macros in addition to your calories. For that same aggressive fat-loss diet, I'd need 219 grams of protein, 123 grams of carbs, and 70 grams of fat with an overall 2,000 calories per day. A Double Whopper, for example, only has 40 grams of protein, but has 63 grams of fat and 51 grams of carbs, so I'd have to throw in some protein shakes to up the protein & also watch my fat intake for breakfast & lunch. But it's totally doable...just requires some number-tracking. But I'd suggest just starting out at calorie-tracking to keep it easy, especially if you're feeling overwhelmed by everything. Get used to be aware of how much you're eating in a day (remembering that quantity isn't a bad thing, it's the total calorie number that we want to meet for the day) to begin with.

 

[Kaido]

Once I understood how many calories I should be eating the big thing that really helped me lose weight was the often mentioned weighing and measuring of my food. I needed to learn what 2000 calories looks like on a plate.

For me, I'm a specs guy...I like knowing the facts. Know what my targets are gives me a far more concrete approach to my diet than just "gee, I should eat healthy". Which isn't a bad thing, but I know I can still stay in shape even after killing a pint of Ben & Jerries.

The same thing happens in the computer world & it drives me nuts haha. "Can you build me a computer?" "Sure, what do you need it to do?" "I dunno." "What's your budget?" "I dunno." Well I can get you a Kangaroo Atom PC for $99 or a Mac Pro for $10,000...there's a lot of room for configuration in there.

 

[edro]

I can vouch for IIFYM.
I did weight training and IIFYM about 10 years ago (before it was called IIFYM) and got in really good shape.
I slacked off for about 5 years and gained a lot of fat back. (moved away from a gym and slacked off on diet as well)

I started back up again about a year ago and I am in the best shape of my life.
Lost ~25lbs and gained 5lbs lean mass, @ ~15% BF according to today's BodPod measurement.

I am a strong believer in writing down everything you eat and tracking macros.
My diet wasn't horrendous before, but it's amazing how quickly and easily your body gets used to less.
It's OK to feel a little hungry. I don't think a lot of people ever feel hungry... they just eat all the time.

The American diet is extremely calorie dense and very high carb.
Even a simple 33/33/33% split of fat/carbs/protein looks "high protein, low carb" to most people.

 

[SlitheryDee]

For me, I'm a specs guy...I like knowing the facts. Know what my targets are gives me a far more concrete approach to my diet than just "gee, I should eat healthy". Which isn't a bad thing, but I know I can still stay in shape even after killing a pint of Ben & Jerries.

Tracking what you eat gives you more flexibility in what you can eat than anyone who's never done it before can probably imagine. You can literally have the best tasting, most calorie laden food if you want it, but you always have to pay for it in some form or fashion.

That pint of Ben & Jerry's would probably utterly break the will of a strict dieter, but if you know you can work it into your calorie count, you don't sweat it a bit. I've even found ways to completely binge on holidays and special occasions while still technically staying under my calorie goals. For instance last christmas I ate a ton of everything at christmas dinner, but I still tracked it all and spread the overflow of calories over the next 2-3 days. So what I ended up with was one day where I went WAY over, but if you averaged my calorie intake over about a 4 day span you'd see that I stuck to my diet, macros and all.

 

[Kaido]

Tracking what you eat gives you more flexibility in what you can eat than anyone who's never done it before can probably imagine. You can literally have the best tasting, most calorie laden food if you want it, but you always have to pay for it in some form or fashion.

That pint of Ben & Jerry's would probably utterly break the will of a strict dieter, but if you know you can work it into your calorie count, you don't sweat it a bit. I've even found ways to completely binge on holidays and special occasions while still technically staying under my calorie goals. For instance last christmas I ate a ton of everything at christmas dinner, but I still tracked it all and spread the overflow of calories over the next 2-3 days. So what I ended up with was one day where I went WAY over, but if you averaged my calorie intake over about a 4 day span you'd see that I stuck to my diet, macros and all.

Yeah, I wish I had understood this principle earlier in my health journey, because I spent an awful lot of time learning how to cooking & making a lot of overly-healthy meals. Not that that's a bad thing by any means, but it's also nice to grab food out sometimes & know that I am still on track :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

I can vouch for IIFYM.
I did weight training and IIFYM about 10 years ago (before it was called IIFYM) and got in really good shape.
I slacked off for about 5 years and gained a lot of fat back. (moved away from a gym and slacked off on diet as well)

I started back up again about a year ago and I am in the best shape of my life.
Lost ~25lbs and gained 5lbs lean mass, @ ~15% BF according to today's BodPod measurement.

I am a strong believer in writing down everything you eat and tracking macros.
My diet wasn't horrendous before, but it's amazing how quickly and easily your body gets used to less.
It's OK to feel a little hungry. I don't think a lot of people ever feel hungry... they just eat all the time.

The American diet is extremely calorie dense and very high carb.
Even a simple 33/33/33% split of fat/carbs/protein looks "high protein, low carb" to most people.

Yeah, I like being full all the time so I just break everything up into smaller meals. This is what I (loosely) do right now: (when I'm not eating Whoppers, apparently )

http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/78929159/Meal Plan

So right now I'm doing 7 "meals":

1. Morning snack
2. Breakfast
3. Brunch snack
4. Lunch
5. Afternoon snack
6. Dinner
7. Dessert

So like, I have a small hit of overnight oats for a morning snack, then a breakfast burrito (eggs, chorizo, cheese, bell peppers, tortilla), then hummus & carrots for a brunch snack, then usually leftovers for lunch, then some energy bites for an afternoon snack, then a bigger dinner & something good for dessert (sometimes a healthy dessert, sometimes not). I love food & don't like being hungry, so this works out great for me.

OP, here are a couple recipes to try if you want to dip your toes in the ocean of cooking:

1. Overnight oatmeal: (no cooking required) Get a cup. Fill it up with 1/3 cup of oatmeal (just plain old-fashioned oats, the kind that comes in a tube is fine, don't need quick oats), add 1/3 cup of milk, and throw in a big spoonful of brown sugar & stir. Put a lid on top (or a piece of plastic wrap) to seal it up & then stick it in the fridge before you go to bed. In the morning, stir it up, add a little extra milk if it needs it, and enjoy (eat it cold!). 300 to 400 calories depending on how much milk & sugar you add to it.

2. Energy Bites: (no-bake) These are basically like fresh granola bars, shaped into a ball. Kind of like cookie dough, only good for you. The standard recipe is usually chocolate chips, toasted coconut, vanilla extract, creamy peanut butter, plain oats, honey, and ground flaxseed. Literally all you do is stir that stuff together, roll into balls, and throw in your fridge or freezer:

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/

Protip: Don't eat too many at once (2 or 3 max for a snack, per day) or you will get sick of them. Here's a bunch more recipes you can rotate through tho:

http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/84297007/Energy Bites

Good news is they freeze well, so you can make a few big batches of different flavors & just thaw out what you need for the day. So there's a couple of easy recipes to try, no cooking or baking required - overnight oats & energy bites :thumbsup;

 

[moonbogg]

Jesus Christ I'm hungry as hell right now.