Annette NelsonWhen it comes to diets, people get amazingly diligent, even with the most exhausting ones. Losing weight at any price becomes a motto for a short period of time. One of the popular ways of tweaking your shape is a liquid diet for weight loss. It’s claimed to have a beneficial impact on your health by cleaning the body and helping to get rid of toxins and weight. Let’s check together what types of liquid diets exist and what kinds of meal replacement are offered. Let’s get started.
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How To Lose Weight In 7 Days With A Liquid Diet
Liquid diet weight loss is a trend that has been holding its position for quite a long time. The main idea is to eliminate any type of solid food and provide energy intake with fluids. Some may think that it reminds of fasting, as long as only fluids are involved. However, there are more drinks to choose from:
- smoothies
- shakes
- juices
- soups
- sports drinks
A liquid diet is relatively easy to follow – despite a lower calorie intake; you experience less hunger. If you want to embark on a liquid diet for weight loss at home, keep in mind the following tips:
- Make protein shakes – protein is essential for keeping muscle mass; besides, it provides the feeling of satiety and protects muscles from being lost. Aim for at least 50 grams of protein per day.
- Apart from meal-like fluids, don’t forget about water intake – 8 glasses daily.
- Include a variety of liquids in your diet to get all the nutrients your body needs.
- To make 7 day liquid diet weight loss results visible, it’s essential to add physical activities to your daily routine – they help to tone up the body and create a more significant calorie deficit.
- Don’t make the liquid diet your lifestyle; otherwise, you’ll have problems with digestion; be moderate.
- When you aim to lose weight quickly, be ready to regain everything if you don’t change your daily meal plan.
Types Of Liquid Diets
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Detox Liquid Diet
A detox diet is also called a juice cleanse, juicing, juice fast, etc. During the cleanse, you consume nothing but vegetables and fruit juice. The followers of the idea claim that it helps to get rid of toxins and replenish vitamin stores.
The most effective part of such a liquid diet is a complete refusal of refined sugars, caffeine, and other substances. Basically saying, if you do it without a diet, you’ll make an effective start of a sustainable weight loss process without any diets.
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Meal Replacement Liquid Diet
A liquid meal replacement diet is a quick method to shed a few kilos in a short period of time. This diet involves substituting one or two meals per day with a liquid meal replacement shake. It’s essential to have meal replacements that cover your needs in micro- and macronutrients. Otherwise, a week of poor nutrition will lead to exhaustion, and the lost kilos will not make any sense. Besides, they will be regained as soon as you return to a typical diet.
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Clear Liquid Diet
A clear liquid diet consists of easily digested liquids that leave no undigested waste in your intestine: broth, gelatine, and water; they are transparent. Following this idea for weight loss reasons is highly insensible because it can’t provide you with adequate calories and nutrients. It is typically prescribed by the doctor before specific medical procedures or when you have digestive problems and is taken under the doctor’s control.
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Full Liquid Diet
A full liquid diet comprises fluids and usually liquid foods and foods that turn to liquid when they are at room temperature – ice cream, creamy soups, tea, juice, milkshakes, and pudding. This eating plan was also given before special medical procedures; however, medically prescribed liquid diets were turned into weight loss diets.
This liquid diet plan also excludes any types of solid food from the menu. A full liquid diet may be helpful for returning to a regular diet if you follow a clear liquid diet for some time. It’s not dramatically restrictive on calories and contains different tastes and flavors.
What To Include In Your Liquid Diet Menu Plan?
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Meal Replacement Shakes
Meal replacement shakes are becoming increasingly popular nowadays: they are convenient if you need a quick way to get energy for your body, and, of course, marketing is doing its job. They are created to replace several meals and ensure that you meet your nutritional needs. They make it easy for you to track calories, and you don’t need to care about a calorie calculator while cooking.
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 [1], average calorie intake ranges from around 2,200-3,200 calories for adult men and 1,600-2,400 for women. However, this measure should be personalized according to activity levels, metabolism, weight, age, etc.
When buying meal replacements, be sure to check the nutritional value: some can provide you with a balanced amount of carbs, fats, and protein; some can be just a supplement.
Recommended reading — Low-carb diet weight loss in 2 weeks.
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Soups
According to the research [2], people who consumed a low-calorie soup (around 150-170 calories) before lunch consumed about 20% fewer calories overall. Soups, compared with solid food, extend your stomach more, making you feel full faster. The ratio between volume and number of calories provided is decisive – a portion of soup with ∼ 150 calories will take the same place as pasta with sauce, tomatoes, and cheese, which ∼ is 400 calories (depending on the weight).
Smooth soups work even better than chunky [3]; they boost satiety by slowly emptying the stomach.
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Fruit And Vegetable Smoothies
The fruit and vegetable diet works best during the summer season – the ingredients are always fresh and are easy to find; besides, when it’s hot, you typically eat less, so following the diet will be easier. Smoothies are made of whole fruits and vegetables, including skin containing plenty of vitamins. That’s the biggest difference between juices and smoothies; the latter keeps the fiber and skin; thus, it’s more filling and nutritious.
Sample Liquid Diet Menu Plan
A liquid diet meal plan can be balanced according to your tastes and food tolerance.
Time | Food |
Breakfast |
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Lunch Menu |
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Dinner Menu |
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Benefits & Side Effects Of Liquid Diets
A liquid diet weight loss diet plan offers you quick results and total cleansing of the body. Some people believe that taking a liquid diet is the best way to keep fit and healthy. Is it really so? Are such miracles possible? Let’s look into the benefits of the liquid diet meal replacement.
Pros Of The Liquid Diet
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Weight Loss
If you follow a meal replacement liquid diet, you will receive roughly 1200-1500 calories per day, equivalent to the average basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR is the number of calories you need to support your daily functioning. Naturally, if you do something during the day, move somewhere and do physical activities, you will lose twice the number. Thus, you will create a daily calorie deficit required for weight loss. Besides, in the first several days, you will also get rid of water excesses, adding to the total kilos lost.
However, be aware of the calorie intake, don’t go lower than 1200calorie a day; otherwise, your body will start an ‘energy-saving mode, which will cause an opposite process – slower metabolism.
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Beneficial For Health
Liquid meals accept eating fruit or vegetable juices, soups, and protein shakes – these are beneficial ingredients for your health. Of course, you limit eating refined sugar products, greasy foods, and “I-will-just-try-one-piece’ snacks and pastries, which leads to positive results
- you feel better and healthier,
- your digestive system is not overloaded with excessive food,
- and you even feel lightness in movements.
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Easy To Prepare
Depending on the diet meal replacement liquid you use, you’ll save some time for meal preparation. You must admit that blending fruit or vegetables together or buying meal replacement shakes is a win-win situation – food is ready in 5-10 minutes, and you’re free to engage in other activities.
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Convenience
A significant time of our day is dedicated to food – meals during the days and coffee breaks, and thoughts about shopping, cooking, etc. With a liquid diet, you get rid of this burden. Everything is clear and quick, especially if you buy meal replacement foods – they even have a total number of calories, so it’s easy to plan your daily menu and move toward a better result – losing more fat and more fat.
Cons Of The Liquid Diet
As always, diets are quick; however, all their benefits and cleansing effects can’t beat the effectiveness of healthy dietary eating. Besides, everything you lose quickly is sure to return quite soon.
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Low-Calorie Intake
Low calorie intake may provide you with the first days’ success in losing weight. However, don’t be misled by it. Your whole body’s work relies on the energy and nutrients provided by food. If you limit the intake for longer than a few days, your health condition will deteriorate.
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Muscle Loss
Muscle loss happens naturally because your body will not have a different source to take the energy from. Under normal conditions, you consume fat, proteins, and carbs, which are used for immediate energy or storage. However, when all the rainy day savings are spent, you have no choice but to use lean muscle mass for fuel. Obviously, you will lose weight, but is it the right way to do it?
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Poor Nutrition
Meal replacement shakes, smoothies, bottled lunches – everything sounds attractive; however, these foods lack vitamins and minerals found in fresh vegetables or grains. The manufacturer adds refined fibers like dextrin and inulin to make up for fiber deficiency in the juices, the same story with vitamins and micro-nutrients.
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Less Energy For Daily Activities And Exercise
Low calorie intake for the first few days will give you a great sensation of legerity. Your digestion will go smoothly without feeling overloaded stomach; water weight, which always goes away first, will make you feel psychologically better because your diet and plan are working well. However, what happens next? Your body will enter the exhaustion stage because you keep moving, working, and thinking – everything requires energy – the longer you limit the provision of fuel, the more tired you’ll get.
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Not For Everyone
Originally different types of liquid diet were composed for people who required medical tests or observation after certain surgeries or those who had digestive problems. However, the idea of losing weight quickly is appealing to others who don’t see the dangers of such diets in the long run perspective. Before switching to liquid foods, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian to define your daily recommended needs and check if you are okay with all the types of foods for a diet. People with diabetes should be especially attentive so as not to worsen their health condition. To reap all the benefits from nutrition, it must also include solid food, not just liquid meal.
The Bottom Line
Liquid diets are thought to be a magic wand for those who crave fast changes in body complexion. They are endowed with almost supernatural powers – legerity and cleansing of the body, better health, lower weight, no toxins…what else can we dream about?
When planning a weight loss regimen, it’s essential to be aware of the main rule: you lose weight quickly – you regain a double portion even quicker. You can try a low in calories and detox liquid diet for just a few days, not more. If you opt for 1 week liquid diet, it may be too exhausting and cause unwanted side effects – diarrhea, hunger, tiredness, a ‘loud’ stomach, etc.
Instead of looking for a diet, just change your approach related to nutrition – gradually reject refined sugars, greasy snacks, and sugary drinks; go for homemade, minimally processed food. If you want to lose weight healthily:
- create a 500 calories daily deficit and plan regular physical activities;
- avoid rushing things – it brings nothing but the opposite effect after some time,
- take a slower pace, watch how your body is starting to change, and the extra pounds go away without exhausting diets.
