Does Slim Fast Work?

Why does Slim Fast work as well as it does? Many wonder if the Slim-Fast diet plan is a real diet plan or just concocted to suit the product, but from all the reports I have received it seems to be genuine enough. In fact, I must admit that until I was sent details from a visitor to the site I had never heard of it, and that's why I have decided to offer my visitors an easier way of recommending their own diets.

Details of that will be provided later, once I have enough visitors to warrant it, because Slimming Tips is still a young website and I am very slowly building up a base of regular visitors.

The Slim Fast Diet

However, back to the question, does Slim Fast work? So, a good question: does Slim Fast really work? First here is some information of what this diet plan involves.

If you do not like the idea of eating meat by the truckload on the Atkins diet, or do not like the idea of the bad breath it causes, and putting all your friends off you while you are on the diet, then you might have tried Slim-Fast. This is one of those milkshake diets which claim to help you lose weight quickly.

The diet consists of reducing your calorie intake by replacing two meals with a Slim Fast milk shake and having one proper meal a day of only 600 calories. Each shake made with 250 ml of skimmed milk is 230 calories, so if you do the math your calorie intake will be 230 at breakfast, 230 calories at lunch and 600 calories for dinner. That's a total of 1060 calories each day.

You are also allowed three snacks a day in the form of low calorie Slim Fast snacks or fruit and vegetables.

The recommended normal calorie intake for the average adult is 2000 calories of energy per day. In theory the math works, so not only does slim fast work, but there is mathematical proof for it - or so some may claim.

The diet also states that you must drink at least 2 litres of water per day and carry out some form of exercise. The Slim Fast shakes are supplemented with lots of vitamins and minerals so you do not have to take any additional supplements while enduring this diet.

Did I say enduring?

Now I let you into a secret: this web page is written by my niece Gail, and these are her words. I have not personally tried this so I cannot answer the question of does Slim Fast work or does it not work, but Gail can, so we shall continue in her words:

"I have personally endured this diet a long time ago and the main thing I remember about it was the fact that I was starving all day long, and I did not have any energy left to undertake any exercise at all. I began to crave bacon sandwiches dripping with butter (wow- fabulous says Pete), and I resented cooking for anyone else because I was not allowed to eat it.

Hence, their meals began to be thrown together much faster than normal. I stuck to it for about 3 weeks which was a miracle and I did lose weight quickly. I felt great afterwards and looked nice and slim for about two months and then my weight gradually slipped back on again.

Does slim fast work for me? Yes and no: yes it did, but not a permanent benefit. You have to keep it up and that is very hard to do.

The Slim Fast Diet Plan - Problems

The problems with Slim-Fast:

Personally, I found the major problem with the Slim Fast diet is that the milkshake itself is quite high in sugar content, so that you are drinking something sweet everyday which cannot be good for your insulin levels.

I am not a chemist like Pete but I think that would affect the way your body responds to this diet. Check out the website and see Pete's explanation for insulin levels .

You do not educate yourself about eating the right foods on this diet you just grin and bear the hunger because you want quick results. You do not have energy to exercise and if you do try to exercise you will be left feeling light headed and a bit sick (that indicates low blood glucose OR low insulin levels - Pete).

You will lose your bloated water look in the first couple of weeks and then the fat will start to burn off: the key is how long can you keep the diet up without eating properly and without touching that beer or glass of wine which will totally mess everything up for you? Does Slim Fast work if you drink beer or other forms of alcohol? Unlikely, because alcohol is full of energy, and unused energy = fat!

Slim-Fast might help you in a quick fix type of way, so that you lose your half a stone in a couple of weeks ready for the wedding or the holiday you have planned, but personally I do not think that it is a diet that is sustainable for long periods of time.

That is because you are not in the real world of eating food that is around you all day, and you are not educating yourself in what foods give you more energy intake than other foods. Does Slim Fast work over the longer term? Lilely, but who can keep it up?

As soon as you come off the Slim Fast diet you will be back to eating your old ways. You will eat what you want when you want because you look so good, and then slowly every week the pounds will begin to creep up and before you know it you will end up perhaps more overweight than you were before you started your Slim-Fast diet.

That is, rather obtusely, the result of many diets that have not been maintained, and yet so many diets out there are OK for a while, but cannot possibly be maintained for a lifetime. Some, such as Atkins and perhaps even Slim Fast, change your metabolic processes and when you come off the diet your body can't cope, and you pack the pounds back on quicker than they came off and your great diet has suddenly become a liability.

However, given that you understand how the Slim Fast diet works, then does Slim Fast work? Yes, but only if you either keep it up, or maintain a healthy diet after coming off it.

So what to do?

Check out the rest of the site for further tips on how to lose weight quickly or how to improve your muscle building. There is no need to starve yourself just yet; if you understand the science behind it all it will help you make an informed choice. That's what Pete's website is about: information and understanding."

Note from Pete: Gail is correct in what she writes. Understanding is very important, and if you understand why you are losing weight when you use a certain diet or exercise program then you will be able to adapt your knowledge to a good maintenance program once you have attained your objective.

So to answer the question Does Slim Fast work - in fact Does Slim Fast Really Work? You bet it does, but so does Atkins and any other fad diet. It's what you do afterwards that matters.

Try to avoid jumping from one fad diet to the next that comes along. Atkins to South Beach to HCG to. . .

It's got to stop sometime, and you have to take stock of what you are doing. Learn the theory and then work out a lifetime plan. Stop jumping about from plan to plan. Get your feet on the ground and be sensible and remember:

Eat more calories than you use - you gain weight

Use more calories than you eat - you lose weight

That weight gain can be in muscle bulk if you take a high protein diet with good anaerobic muscle work-outs. The weight loss can be in fat or muscle bulk - the latter if you are short in protein and burn off all your fat. All that is left to burn then is muscle protein.

Remeber, protein is carbohydrate + amino acid. If you are short of fat and do not eat a good diet, your protein will be burned for its carbohydrate.

Absolutely nothing of which has to do with does Slim Fast work or not, but it is eduactational which is the purpose of this website.

Leave Does Slim Fast Work and return to Slimming Tips