Aidan Lee

BISC 1005-31
10/6/18
Slim Fast Diet

Expectations of topic/personal reflection:

Before conferring with my lab partner over the topic of this assignment, I did not know

the Slim Fast Diet even existed. I was loosely familiar with the term and some varied practices in

consuming very few calories throughout the day and eventually eating a single meal at night or

the late afternoon. My concerns and current conceptions of this diet are that this method may be

an oversimplified way of cutting the number of calories one consumes per day, while also

missing out on the essential nutrients needed for a healthy lifestyle. It is my understanding that

human bodies require a certain amount of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in their daily diets, as

well as a recommended calorie intake depending on one’s weight and average level of physical

activity. I would expect those using these types of weight loss diets to feel deprived of the energy

they are normally accustomed to when eating without certain parameters due to a lower intake of

essential nutrients. Ideally, I would expect a weight loss program to design a diet in which people

are able to feel full and energized by the foods they consume while also cutting the number of

calories and fats they consume through these specific foods. I would expect a healthy diet to

incorporate those nutrients essential to energy production and nothing else.

Explanation of Topic:

The Slim Fast Diet is an eating regimen that is designed to help people “lose weight fast

and keep it off” (Sarafian). The diet encourages customers to consume one basic meal per day

for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner while supplementing the other two meals for Slim Fast

protein shakes. For example, if one chooses to eat breakfast as they normally would with their
family at a diner, they would continue to supplement both their lunch and dinner with Slim Fast

protein shakes and snacks. The snacks included in the weight loss program are all one hundred

calories and the protein shakes are typically one hundred and ninety calories each. In this way,

customers are able to consume less than seven hundred calories per day aside from their meal of

choice. Slim Fast also encourages customers to exercise daily for at least thirty minutes in order

to maintain a positive attitude towards the weight loss program while also allowing your body to

burn fat.

According to the Slim Fast Diet website, these protein shakes contain twenty grams of

protein, five grams of fiber, twenty-four vitamins and minerals, and just one gram of both sugar

and carbohydrates. The diet is designed to help customers not only burn fat, but replace this fat

while building muscle, which is why such emphasis is placed on the amount of protein included

in their protein shakes. The theory behind this weight loss system is that you will naturally lose

weight quicker and easier by lowering your calorie intake while working hard to burn existing

calories through casual exercise each day. This program also suggests that a high protein diet

will replace the burning fat with muscle. Research has shown that roughly 3,500 calories is equal

to about one pound of fat, therefore an individual must burn that amount in order to lose any

weight. A consistent exercise routine and a significant reduction of the number of calories one

consumes per day has been shown to drastically reduce weight gain. In addition, a high protein

diet can suppress the urge to eat excessively through the release of an appetite-regulating protein

called Peptide YY. As long as an individual is capable of eating a high protein diet while also

capable of reducing the number of calories eaten collectively in a day then they will theoretically

be able to lose weight fast, as long as they are also exercising frequently.
Sources:

Hopkin, M. (2006, September 05). High-protein diet reduces appetite. Retrieved from
https://www.nature.com/news/2006/060904/full/news060904-3.html

Sarafian, S. (2018, July 20). How It Works. Retrieved from https://slimfast.com/how-it-works/

The Best Ways to Cut Calories from Your Diet. (2018, March 28). Retrieved October 5, 2018,
from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/calories/art-
20048065