shakes for meal replacement?

[Justin R]

Just a little background before my question, ~2 months ago I was at 270 @ probably around 25%bf(im 6'2") and I decided to cut down quite a bit of weight. I'm currently at 248. I am doing Starting Strength with a 15 min HIIT warmup before my routine. I was progressing fairly well, since Ive been out of the gym for a few years, but now my gains(and weight loss) are hitting a wall, and I know its because of my diet.

my goals: loose ~1-2lbs per week while maintaining or hopefully gaining some strength.

my(bad)diet (fyi I work 4 day weeks, 11am-10pm, hence the crazy schedule)

10:30am breakfast: bagel with 2oz lox salmon, 2 tbl cream cheese
1:30pm 10 min break, currently no meal here
5:00pm lunch: 12oz chicken 6oz vegetable mix
8:0pm 10 min break, currently no meal here
12:00pm dinner/PWO: protein snack: nuts or jerky and protein shake(nitrean)

wow, its sounds even worse when I write it out!

workday total was usually around 1700-1800 cals. friday and sunday I eat 4-5 good clean meals(~2500 cals) and saturday is usually a cheat/refeed day, no fast food, but other than that I eat what I want and have some beers(probably 3500-4000 cals).

Obviously I need 2 things, more meals, and more cals. Problem is other than lunch, I only get 2 10 min breaks at work, so I have no time to eat meals or make shakes. I recently ran out of nitrean so I have been drinking metrx RTD 51 shakes from the gym bar for PWO. I checked out the stats and though they would make a pretty damn good meal replacement drink, and I would have plenty of time to down one on my breaks.

So, my question is, should I simply add the RTD51 shakes to my 2 breaks? my cals would be up to an acceptable cutting level(2300ish) and I would have 2 more meals in my day. It seems like a simple YES to me, but speaking with a few friends and guys at the gym, and they seem to think solid meals are WAY better for you because it keeps your metabolism higher. Should I go with the shakes, or should I try and find a meal I can eat in a few min to get more solid meals per day?

[Joe Black]

Hey,

Yeah, you definately have to fill those gaps somehow.

As for solids vs liquids - It's important to consume a decent amount of solids, sure - but the whole point about liquids is they are convenient and often higher quality than some foods. It's all about a balance and the way to think about it is if really don't have the time to eat real food in those gaps, supplementing with an MRP is better than not eating in those periods.

For example yesterday I had 1 serving of Opticen, 1 servinjg of Nitrean and a Novus protein bar - thats 100 g of protein (roughly) from supplements but I also had eggs, salmon and beef so it was a nice balance.

I would try and think of things you can make the previous day that you can eat in 10 minutes. How about a chicken wrap? Make some protein flapjacks etc.. Beef sandwich... Novus bars are awesome for something quick and I use them every day.

As for your diet in general, it's not bad but I think each meal could be more balanced.

My meals tend to have veggies with each one, lean protein and carbs only during and post workout, apart from that the carbs come from fruit and veggies and this is making a tremendous difference.

Good luck in cutting!