FAQ

All your answers to your questions

Why are you only drinking meal replacement shakes?

I've always had trouble eating in general. Especially when I was at college and stress was an all time high, I hit a all time low weight. I'm also very lazy to even cook, to the point i'd rather skip a meal than cook it.

I've tried many different types of diets and ways to make cooking easier and fun, but nothing worked. My weight at the time was 45kg. For a 22 year old male. I had to do something.

That's when I stumbled upon meal replacements and started to dig deeper until I found Soylent's subreddit. I found other people were already testing eating 100% meal replacements for years and I had to test it myself.

I've used Nominal Fitness as a base to my diet and exercise and kept tweaking it until it was confortable for an ectomorph's body. That's why you'll see many parallels from Nominal's website here.

Which meal replacement are you using?

I'm using YFood, the RTD version. It's not the cheapest option by a long shot, but still cheaper than my previous diets. I've wen't through some other brands but this one is the one that taste exactly like a shake and not some floury, oaty taste.

Also, Plenny Shake gave me some terrible stomach aches.

Did you take any supplements?

I've taken Serious Mass by Optimum Nutrition. Some extra calories are always welcome.

How did you measure your body mass?

I got one of those home body fat scales that use bioelectrical impedance. I know it’s not the most accurate, but it gives me a pretty good estimate. I tried to measure myself each time with similar conditions (right after waking up and using the restroom).

If my weight and body fat stays about the same for 3 to 4 weeks straight, I increase or decrease my calories by 10% depending on if I’m bulking or cutting.

When are you going to eat traditional food?

I still eat traditional food. I don't refuse food from others, and when going out I also eat with everyone. It's not worth going with a shake to a social environment and every twists their nose around you. That being said, 90% of my meals will remain to be shakes for as long as I can keep the lifestyle.

What advantages have you experienced with this diet?

The biggest advantage about an all meal replacement diet is the convenience. Three major conveniences are:

1. Time

2. Money

3. Calory Tracking

In regards to time and money, I spend less than 5 minutes a day doing food-related things (meal prep, consuming, clean up). There is no traveling to get food, no waiting in line, no refrigeration, no cooking, and no wasted leftovers.

It is way cheaper than my previous diet that consisted of tuna cans, instant mashed potato, and frozen food.

With regards to calory tracking, it’s stupidly easy to keep track of calories when you eat the same thing every day. Losing/gaining/maintaining weight is all about calory management.

Being confident that I can control my weight at will is a great superpower I’ve gained since experimenting with this diet.

What other physical activities do you do?

I usually do bouldering once a week. Overall I go to the gym 3 times a week and 1 time bouldering.

How do people react around you?

When people first hear about my diet, their knee-jerk reaction is usually disbelief. They can’t imagine something like this can be healthy or sustainable. Be prepared for everyone to make you change your diet, even if you show them your gains and proof that it works.