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Friday, March 13, 2009

Slim Fast Diet: Pros and Cons

By Kim Archer

If you'd like to lose a few pounds, hopefully you're only considering healthy weight loss programs and not fad diets. Perhaps you've been considering the Slim Fast program, but don't know if it's healthy or not. Here's a look at the features of this diet plan that might help you make a decision.

In the original Slim Fast diet, you made up a shake by mixing Slim Fast powder with skim milk, twice a day instead of meals. There were three flavors: vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. You would drink one of these shakes at breakfast and another at lunch, and then have a nutritious dinner of about 600 calories.

Today, there are several more products in the Slim Fast line-up. You can get pre-mixed canned shakes, snack bars in a variety of flavors, and soup mixes. You are allowed these products about three times a day. And a recommendation was added that you drink eight glasses of water every day.

That's the short version of the Slim Fast diet. Next, we'll take a look at the pros and cons.

Pros: First of all, you can certainly lose a considerable amount of weight on the Slim Fast diet if you make sure to exercise. The program is easy to follow. You can take the shakes with you to work, to the gym, on the road, and just about anywhere else. There's no counting calorie or meetings.

Cons: It's hard to feel full after drinking your Slim Fast shake, and you might be longing for some real food at mealtimes. This makes it pretty difficult to stick with this diet for too long. There isn't an abundance of fruits and vegetables on the plan, so you won't be getting your fiber requirements and you'll miss out on some important nutrients (although the shakes contain vitamins and minerals).

There's no doubt you can lose weight on the Slim Fast diet, but given the disadvantages, you might want to use the Slim Fast products to replace a snack instead of a meal. The shakes are flavorful, but you won't get the satisfaction that you do from eating a real meal.

As a final note, it's not uncommon for dieters on this plan to put back on all the weight they lost, plus some more. One woman followed the Slim Fast program and exercised moderately for a year. She lost 60 pounds. And then she gained it all back the next year. The problem is, if you haven't changed your eating habits, and then you stop using the shakes, you're likely to go back to eating your unhealthy favorites.

Recommendation: Since it's so difficult to stay with this plan indefinitely, the Slim Fast diet is best for people who only need to lose a few pounds. If you have a lot of weight to lose, you could use this diet as a starting point for some quick weight loss, then move on to food-based plan to help you continue to shed a pound or two a week.

Every time you turn around, there's a new diet book on the market. It can be hard to choose the one that's best for you. While you're checking out the latest weight loss miracle, remember that long-term weight loss requires a change in your eating habits that you can live with for life. - 17268

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