Losing Weight and Retaining Muscle with Meal Replacements

A Controlled Trial of protein enrichment of meal replacements for weight reduction and retention of lean body mass was conducted by the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. This study enrolled 100 overweight people to examine the effects of two different levels of protein in the diet on their weight loss over a one-year period.
The researchers wanted to see if the people taking in more protein would lose more weight than people taking in a more standard amount of protein. Since protein helps to maintain lean body mass, they also wanted to see if people on higher protein would lose more body fat than those people in the regular protein group, even if both groups ended up losing the same amount of weight.

The subjects had to follow a diet that included two meal replacement shakes per day. The shakes used were Herbalife Formula 1 with non-fat milk with one. The subjects were evenly divided into two groups. One group–the high protein group–made their shakes with extra protein powder added. Herbalife personalized protein powder was used. The other group–the placebo group-made their shakes with Formula 1, but added a placebo powder that had no protein in it. The subjects did not know which group they were in.

Weight loss was about the same in both groups, but, as the researchers suspected, the people consuming more protein lost more body fat than the people consuming standard amounts of protein. Also, the study showed that meal replacement shakes are an effective way to lose weight. The results of the study have been published in the August 2008 issue of Nutrition Journal.

A similar study at Seoul National University Hospital followed 75 obese people for three months to see the effects of a diet using two meal replacements a day with either a standard amount of protein or a high amount of protein. Herbalife Formula 1 and Personal Protein Powder were used in this study also. The study participants also had certain conditions that often occur in overweight people, such as high blood pressure, a large waist circumference, above normal blood sugar or abnormal values of certain fats in the blood.

In addition to seeing the effects of the two different diets on weight loss, the researchers also wanted to see if subjects taking in the higher amount of protein in the diet would lose more body fat and/or more belly fat than those taking in a standard amount of protein. They also wanted to study the effects of the diets on the other weight-related conditions. The subjects were assigned by chance to the high protein diet or the regular protein diet. The women followed a 1,200 calorie diet, and the men followed a 1,500 calorie diet for weight loss. The diets included two meal replacements a day and the subjects were followed for 12 weeks. At the end of 12 weeks, both groups lost weight and both groups lost weight in the belly area. But, in the subjects who followed the diet most strictly, the people in the high protein group lost more body fat and less lean body mass than the people consuming the standard amount of protein.

To learn more about meal replacement diets and Herbalife, go to https://www.herbalhealthdirect.com/robert.