WHAT FORMULA SHAKES CAN DO AND WHAT YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO
With formula drinks, those who want to lose weight can better control how much energy they consume every day than with any other diet. Long-term weight loss can only be achieved with additional nutritional advice, according to medical educator Lars Selim
Contents
What is the best way to take the shakes?
Which formula diets are recommended?
GEO WIS SEN: Mr. Selim, your office hours are very overweight people who have been trying to lose weight for a long time. How does it fail for most of them?
Lars Selig: Many patients complain that others do not always correctly perceive their suffering. Studies show that, on average, general practitioners speak to them less expensively than to other patients, among other things because doctors cannot do anything against obesity with medication. Many overweight people then try to lose weight on their initiative – and switch from one diet to the next. But that only messes up the metabolism and usually does not help with long-term weight loss.
Are Formula Diets A Great Way To Lose Weight?
We recommend these products to extremely overweight patients who, for example, want to have their stomachs made smaller; With them, the fat in the liver can be reduced in advance. Formula diets have one fundamental advantage for all those who want to lose weight: if you use them correctly, you will most certainly lose weight. Because the dieter can control exactly what amount of energy he takes in during the day – that never works so precisely with normal foods. The recipes therefore also help those people who want to lose a few pounds within a few weeks. There is nothing wrong with this from a medical point of view.
What is the best way to take the shakes?
We recommend skipping all normal meals for a week and replacing them with formula drinks. Afterward, one meal a day can be eaten normally again – balanced and healthy, ideally with the help of a nutritionist. From the third week onwards, the Formula product only replaces one meal a day. After a few weeks of use, the metabolism has slowed down so much that the body breaks down significantly less fat and the weight only slowly decreases. From this point on you should eat normally again – that is, according to the guidelines of a healthy diet.
How do dieters recognize this point in time?
The fact that they no longer decrease significantly over a longer period. However, you should not stop the diet too early: a loss of 500 grams of body weight per week is sufficient. To many, this seems too little because they lost more weight at the beginning. You also have to consider: If you move around a lot, you usually lose body fat even if this is barely noticeable on the scales – because now muscle mass is building. In our clinic, this can be proven by determining the body fat percentage as part of bioelectrical impedance analysis. Body fat scales for the home, on the other hand, are usually too imprecise.
When weight loss does not continue with normal diets, some people resort to formula drinks. Good idea?
This can be worth a try. We use this specifically as a motivational boost for our patients. But you also have to know the limits of formula diets
Which are they?
The most important objection: The gain in knowledge about healthy eating and one’s behavior is zero with formula diets. For example, many overweight people do not have a healthy feeling of satiety – and the drinks with the prescribed portion sizes do not change that – because the patient completely relinquishes his responsibility. But to be able to maintain the lower weight after a diet, he has to recognize the causes of his obesity – and change his behavior accordingly. For example, he should know where calories are hidden in highly processed foods. Therefore, a formula diet only works in the long term with a nutritionist.
Where can I find it?
The term is not protected by law – anyone can call themselves that after a weekend course, but it does not guarantee competent advice on its own. Well-trained specialists are trained as state-approved dietitians, nutritionists, or ecotrophologists.
Which formula diets are recommended?
You can lose weight with everyone. So-called fully balanced recipes – i.e. powders that contain all the nutrients the body needs – usually don’t taste that good. The industry tries to make this a little more palatable by adding sugar or fat. Unfortunately, this happens at the expense of the nutrients.
Dieters should therefore ask themselves why a drink tastes good – and check the composition of the shake on the label.
What else should users of a formula diet pay attention to?
You shouldn’t use the powder as you please today and not tomorrow, but stick to the manufacturer’s diet plans very closely. Otherwise, there will be no success for sure.
Quite a few also believe that the products are slimming products – and simply take the drinks in addition to eating; this is of course counterproductive.
The products should not be discontinued suddenly, but gradually so that the metabolism can gradually adjust to normal food and higher amounts of energy. Otherwise, you will quickly gain weight again.
What do you think characterizes the success of the market leader Aliased?
The manufacturer succeeds in addressing customers well through advertising. There are also planning aids, recipes, and magazine articles related to the product – this is how the company suggests that it deals with the entire life situation of the customer.
Some people report food cravings that set in after about three weeks of the formula diet and against which they feel downright powerless. What is the cause of this?
Presumably, this is not a matter of actual cravings, but rather the desire to eat something with pleasure again. Because eating also includes chewing and tasting as well as perceiving the different textures of food, the smell of fresh fruit or braised vegetables. And formula drinks cannot do any of that. Only very few people have blood sugar fluctuations that trigger these cravings.
