Meal replacement or weight loss shakes are really easy to use as part of your diet

 As the name suggests you simply replace your normal meals with a meal replacement shake. Studies have shown that when you combine this with a healthy, calorie controlled diet it can help you achieve your weight goals.

Most commonly people use meal replacement shakes to help them lose weight. In this instance you want to replace 2 of your daily meals with a shake. You might choose breakfast and lunch or breakfast and dinner, depending on what works best for you and fits in with your lifestyle.

Meal replacement shakes can also be used once you've achieved your target weight in order to help you maintain your weight and your new found body shape. Instead of replacing 2 of your daily meals, you only need to replace 1 meal each day with a shake in order to help you maintain your weight.

Here's what a typical day could look like using a meal replacement shake for weight loss:

Breakfast	Chocolate meal replacement shake
Snack	Cup of blueberries
Lunch	Strawberry meal replacement shake
Snack	Carrot batons and low fat houmous
Dinner	Chicken breast, with stir fried vegetables and small portion of fresh egg noodles

Or

Breakfast	Banana meal replacement shake
Snack	Small apple cut into wedges with a couple of cubes of cheese
Lunch	Jacket potato with tuna fish, low fat mayo and mixed leaves
Snack	Home-made kale crisps
Dinner	Chocolate meal replacement shake

It's a good idea to make sure that you drink plenty of water throughout the day as well. This will keep you hydrated and flush out any toxins in your body. It will also help to suppress your appetite and stop you feeling tempted to add extra snacks into your diet. If you get bored of just drinking water, green tea with mint or low calorie fruit teas are another excellent choice.

One of the best things about meal replacement shakes is how easy and convenient they are. All you need to do is add one scoop of your chosen flavour to 200ml of cold semi-skimmed milk. Give it a good shake to mix it up and your meal is ready!

Find out about our recommended meal replacement shake here - plus get a free 7 day diet plan to give you loads more meal and snack ideas. (on the Evolution Slimming website)