Meal replacements are your answer if you're
like most people, and don't have several hours a day to
prepare healthy and nutritious meals. Most bodybuilders
eat 5 to 6 meals a day - you'd have to spend all day cooking
(almost).
With meal replacement supplements, you
can substitute some meals and still get a nutritious and
balanced meal. Of course , not only bodybuilders use meal
replacements, people who are trying to lose weight also
use MRP to have a balanced diet and cut down on calories.
What's A Meal Replacement (MRP)?
As the name suggests, you take a meal
replacements instead of eating a regular meal. They're a
quick and convenient way to get a lot of high quality protein,
carbohydrates, and a host of other important nutrients.
You can get meal replacement powder, bars, and shakes, and
the price range is typically around $35 to over $50 depending
on what you get. It's really not that expensive when you
think about it - each container usually has 20 to 30 servings,
that works out to just over a buck. Where you going to buy
a balanced meal for under 2 bucks? (See our meal replacement buying guide here.)
What To Look For
There are mainly 2 types of uses for meal
replacements: 1) you're trying to lose weight, and 2) you're
trying to gain some weight. Ironic isn't it? So when you
select a meal replacement, the first thing to consider is
whether the nutrition contents meet your dietary, or fitness
goals.
Goal: Lose weight and stay lean
Are you trying to lose weight and get
lean? Then you want meal replacements with low fat and low
calories. Myoplex
Lite is highly recommended. It's one of the popular
meal replacement supplements from EAS. Each packet has only
190 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, and only 2 grams of sugar.
This is a popular supplement with females.
Goal: Weight Gain
You should be looking for meal replacements
that has at least 30 grams of protein; over 40 is even better. Myoplex Deluxefrom EAS is the hands-down winner for
this. Each packet has 42 grams of protein, 300 calories,
25 grams of carbs, and 29 vitamins and minerals, and a variety
of flavors to choose from.
If you're looking for high proteins in
a mrp, then Isopure is your answer. It doesn't taste all the great (not bad
either), but like the name says, it's almost pure protein.
Each serving has a whooping 50 grams of protein, 25 grams
of carbs, 300 calories, and pretty much nothing else.
Above, we've already said that Myoplex
light is very popular among women. Another excellent meal
replacement for women is Lean Body For Her, which is formulated
specifically for women users. Each serving has 30 grams
of protein, 200 calories, and only 1 gram of fat. It's definitely
one the best meal replacements for women.
We've prepared a 3 part series on meal replacement reviews.
Each article will review a meal replacement and let you
know what we think about it.
