A liquid protein diet plan can be useful for losing weight and it doesn’t have to be unhealthy. As long as you know what to drink, you’ll stay healthy without struggling to get your nutrition as well. The liquid diet protein contains the approved formula, which is used by people to lose the weight naturally. You can lose up to 15 pounds within a week, this diet provides the required ease from metabolic operations.
How Much Protein Is Needed in All Liquid Diet?
While on a liquid meal plan, you get your nutrition from liquids and foods that have a smooth, liquid consistency. Your doctor prescribes this type of eating plan for various reasons. It’s commonly used to promote weight loss before bariatric surgery, to rest the digestive system during recovery from bariatric surgery and to treat obesity when other diets have failed. It’s also used during recovery after stomach or intestinal surgery. Only undertake a liquid diet under your doctor’s advice, supervision and instruction.
Amount of Protein
The amount of protein you need on a liquid diet varies depending on the reason your physician prescribed this type of eating plan for you. Doctors commonly recommend high protein if you’ve been prescribed a liquid diet for weight loss. A typical recommendation is to consume 80 grams if you’re male and 65 grams if you’re female, according to Missouri Bariatric Services. Under other circumstances, 45 grams of protein may suffice. Your doctor will provide a specific protein goal for your situation.
Importance of Protein for a Liquid Diet
Protein plays a crucial role in your diet in general, and being on a liquid diet is no exception. While on a weight-loss liquid diet, protein helps your body preserve muscle. If you don’t consume enough protein during weight loss, your body resorts to breaking down muscle as a source of energy. While you’re on a post-surgery liquid diet, protein plays a critical role in repairing your tissues and promoting healing.
General Guidelines
Examples of foods you eat on a liquid diet include soup, pudding, soy milk, yogurt, milk and broth. For a weight-loss liquid plan, it’s typical to have six small meals each day. You’ll likely use a protein-supplement drink to help meet your protein needs. When your liquid diet is not for weight loss, your doctor may allow ice cream, frozen yogurt, soda, flavored ice and other higher-calorie liquid foods.
Choosing a Protein Drink
Protein-supplement drinks play a role in helping you meet your protein needs while following a full liquid diet. It’s typical to look for a liquid protein supplement that contains at least 15 grams of protein per 8-ounce serving. You can find ready-to-drink protein supplements and powder that you add water or milk to. If your liquid diet is for weight loss, your physician may recommend choosing a protein drink low in calories and fat, with a moderate carbohydrate content. It’s typical to choose a supplement containing no more than 200 calories, less than 5 grams of fat and fewer than 20 grams of carbs per 8-ounce serving.
2-Week Liquid Diet For Weight Loss: Is There A Catch?
Contrary to what most people think, not all willingly choose to go on a liquid diet. Unfortunately, some are forced into it, especially those with digestive issues or those scheduled for a medical procedure. Aside from that, for those who willingly go on this diet, the main goal tends to be weight loss. It is possible to lose weight when following liquid diets because most of them help you maintain a calorie deficit. That said, these diets may not be safe for you, especially in the long run because you will end up missing out on various nutrients and vitamins. Considering this, should you go on a 2-week liquid diet? Let us find out!
This read will discuss what a liquid diet involves and whether or not it is good for you. We will also discuss what you need to consider when crafting a 2-week liquid diet. With this in mind, stick around to determine what this plan means for you if you use it for weight loss.
What Is A Liquid Diet?
Liquid diets refer to eating plans that control an individual’s calorie intake by restricting what an individual eats mostly to liquids . It means that there are several types of liquid diets. The most common one is the full liquid diet.
A full liquid diet refers to an eating plan where an individual does not consume any solid foods but only consumes liquids like smoothies, juices, and soups . Full liquid diets tend to offer different flavors, especially if you choose to drink smoothies.
Besides the enhanced flavors, you also reap great nutritional value because these liquids are prepared from nutritious substances. For example, protein smoothies can contain protein, fiber, and essential vitamins and minerals.
The other type of liquid diet is the clear diet. You should not confuse a full liquid diet with a clear diet. In a clear diet, an individual can only have clear liquids like water, broth, and tea . Other liquid diets may only replace one or two meals with drinks, usually breakfast and lunch. Unlike the different types of liquid diets, this one allows you to enjoy a more balanced diet.
Do Liquid Diets Really Work?
Outside of medical necessity, the primary reason why most people consider going, for example, on a 2-week liquid diet plan is to lose weight. However, for weight loss to occur, an individual must be consuming fewer calories than their body is burning.
Since liquid diets typically contain significantly reduced calories, they may contribute to weight loss. However, experts acknowledge that weight loss from such a diet plan may tend to be short-lived. Despite this, they argue that such diet plans drastically reduce the number of calories you are consuming.
As a result of this, your metabolism tends to slow down trying to conserve energy . If you were to go back to your eating patterns, you would boost your metabolism because you are not consuming significantly low calories. Most likely you would gain all the weight you lost back.
Therefore, experts acknowledge that this eating plan is not the best to consider, mainly if you want to shed pounds for the long haul . You are advised to speak with your healthcare provider to determine more effective weight loss meal plans that help you lose weight safely and long term. Similarly, it may not even be ideal in the short term. So, always consult before picking a weight loss program.
Is The Liquid Diet Good For You?
Some people may argue that it is a healthy diet plan because it contains a balance of nutrients you need. However, this is not always the case because you may end up missing out on some nutrients, leading to malnutrition and other nutritional deficiencies.
Take an example of a liquid diet that restricts your calorie intake between 400 and 800 calories a day. Remember that an active male between 16 and 18 years needs to consume at least 3200 calories while women between 19 and 25 years consume 2000 calories daily.
By looking at the calories you are obtaining from the liquid diet, it is clear that they are very restrictive. Sticking to it for an extended duration may lead to nutritional deficits because most liquid diets are low in iron, vitamin B-12, A, and thiamine .
These diets are also unhealthy because when you miss out on essential nutrients, you experience other possibly serious side effects. According to WebMD, these range from dizziness, fatigue, hair loss, heart damage to gallstones .
How Do I Start A 2-Week Liquid Diet?
If you insist on giving this diet plan a try, the first thing you must do is talk to your physician. As we mentioned earlier, these diets are not complete or balanced, so following them without medical supervision can lead to other severe health problems.
If your doctor prescribes a liquid diet, they will go through the liquids they recommend you take. Again, they will give a specific timeline detailing how long you should be on this liquid diet. It would help if you followed their instructions to the latter because any slight deviation may increase your risk of various health complications.
Similarly, talk to your doctor about your goal of starting the 2-week liquid diet plan. If it is for weight loss, they will evaluate if this program is the best for you. Keep in mind that we have determined that this program may not be effective for long-term weight loss.
Your doctor will likely discourage you from going on such a meal plan if you are pregnant or are breastfeeding. Similarly, they do not advocate for individuals taking insulin for diabetes or those with chronic illnesses to go on this diet
How Do I Craft My 2-Week Liquid Diet?
If and only if your doctor gives you the okay to follow this eating plan, then your next stop should be at your dietitian’s office. The first thing that your dietitian will do is double-check to see if you are getting enough calories and nutrients.
If you are not getting enough, they may recommend you to take various vitamins or nutritional supplements. The other thing they will do is go through the list of what you can and cannot consume when following this plan. Again, it helps to know what you are drinking and its pros and cons.
Talk to your dietitian about any concerns you may have about a particular drink. Similarly, talk to them about a beverage you may want to incorporate in this plan. They will advise you on whether or not it suits the bill.
Like with any other nutrition plan, you may come across several liquid diet plan ideas. They may contain suggestions of what to consume in a day, week, or month. However, do not start following such a plan without seeking professional advice first.
The Bottom Line
Like any other weight loss diet plan, a 2-week liquid diet can trigger weight loss. However, it is only effective in the short term and isn’t likely to result in long-term weight loss. The program also has several cons, including health complications such as gallstones, nutritional deficiencies, hair loss, heart damage, constipation, dehydration, and delayed drug dissolution among patients. Regardless of whether your goal for following this plan is weight loss or not, make sure you talk to your doctor and dietitian first before implementing it.
Do Liquid Diets Help You Lose Weight—And Are They Safe To Try?
Liquid diets don’t scream fun. If you’ve ever been on one, you know that it’s often bland, boring, and texture-less. And while sticking to a diet of non-solid foods is pretty miserable for most people, they are used for many reasons. Some have even followed a liquid diet for weight loss.
Doctors sometimes prescribe a liquid diet to patients for different medical reasons. “A liquid diet is a specific type of diet that provides all or most of your daily calories from a liquid source,” explains Erin Rossi, RD, LD, with Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Human Nutrition. “Any liquid that can be poured at room temperature or a soft solid that can melt in your mouth and has a smooth texture could be included on this type of diet.”
She adds that liquid diets may be prescribed prior to gastrointestinal surgeries to help prep the body for the procedure or after surgeries of the mouth, throat, or stomach, where liquids can lessen the pain of eating or rubbing against the surgical site.
Post-surgery they can help and allow for healing. “This provides an opportunity for the body to heal, improve hydration, and assess toleration of the liquids before advancing to liquids or foods that are more difficult to digest,” says Melissa Majumdar, RD, CSOWM, LDN, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Liquid diets may also be prescribed in other health situations. “Some doctors use liquid diets when patients are unable or unwilling to eat solid food due to mental health concerns,” adds Rossi.
Meet the experts: Erin Rossi, RD, LD, is a nutritionist with Cleveland Clinic, and she specializes in adult chronic disease management, bariatric nutrition, and weight management.
Melissa Majumdar, RD, CSOWM, is a bariatric coordinator at Emory University Hospital Midtown, and focuses on the care of bariatric surgery patients. She is the chair of the integrated health planning committee for the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
What are liquid diets for weight loss?
On the other hand, liquid diets are also utilized to lose weight—and quickly. (Liquid diets are also known as fad diets.)
“Liquid diets for weight loss are not recommended, as they are not sustainable or healthy. They lack essential nutrients such as fiber and protein, which are crucial for overall health and well-being,” says Rossi.
A medical liquid diet is short-term and closely supervised by a doctor or dietitian to prevent nutrient deficiencies.
A medically controlled liquid diet is often short-term and closely supervised by a doctor or dietitian to ensure the person following the diet does not become malnourished, she explains.
And FYI: Liquid diets for weight loss generally do not provide long-term results. “Often, patients are discouraged that they have gone through the trouble of following a liquid diet and then lose very little weight or gain any lost weight back as soon as they begin eating food again,” Rossi adds.
Can you lose weight on a liquid diet?
You can definitely lose weight on a liquid diet—up to three to four pounds per week, but the number of pounds you drop will vary depending on your height, weight, nutritional status, and the timeframe of the diet.
“These types of diets typically come with pre-determined structured routines, which can be helpful when reducing calories,” says Rossi. “Long-term, liquid-only diets do not provide sustainable weight loss because when a person drastically reduces their calories, it tends to also slow down their metabolism.”
So, when you stop the liquid diet, weight gain typically happens. You have slowed your metabolism down so much that you then have rebound weight gain. “Those that use a combination of liquid meals and solid meals tend to have more long-lasting weight loss,” Rossi adds.
Does a liquid diet offer any health benefits?
A medically supervised liquid diet can offer some benefits.
“Many surgeons request liquid diets after surgeries to help ease the pain of eating and to relieve some GI discomfort following surgery,” says Rossi. “However, recent research is looking at the effects of lessening liquid-only diets surrounding surgeries with promising outcomes.”
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A liquid diet can also be helpful for those with mental health concerns or physical disabilities who cannot or will not consume solid foods by removing the stressor of eating and improving quality of life.
If the medical team is concerned about a person being able to meet their nutritional needs while on a liquid diet, they will prescribe supplements or nutritional support. “This means they may use a tube for feeding or an IV or central line to get closer to the vitamin, mineral, carbohydrate, fat, and protein needs of that person,” says Majumdar.
What are the risks of following a liquid diet to lose weight?
The downsides of liquid diets are almost all related to missing essential nutrients like vitamin and minerals. “Physical side effects of missing out on these nutrients include hair loss, muscle wasting, dizziness, heart damage, kidney stones or gall stones, fatigue, and constipation,” says Rossi.