Smoothies can be a great supplement to a healthy diet. Whether you drink them because they’re nutritious, convenient, or just straight-up delicious, there’s no doubt smoothies are the bee’s knees. A friend of mine approached me recently about wanting to replace meals with smoothies to help him lose weight, so I wanted to write a post about how to make the most of the liquid meal replacement.
Once in awhile, I’ll make a smoothie for lunch or breakfast, usually because I’m either lazy, craving one, or want something loaded with nutritious goodness. While I believe the fruit-based drinks can be a great aid in weight loss, there are certain qualities I think smoothies should have to keep you full, taste great, and not be secretly sabotaging your weight loss efforts.
Based on outside research and my own experiences, I’ve come to the conclusion that the following must apply to smoothies in order to make them work for weight loss.
Make Them Filling
They say that every meal should be around 400-500 calories. Don’t jip yourself on smoothie if you’re drinking it as a meal. You don’t want to be ravenous after just a couple hours. According to a study done by the journal Flavour, people who drank thicker smoothies felt twice as full as those who had thinner ones. It has to do with us associating a thick texture with feeling satisfied. Some of my favorite ways to thicken smoothies are add-ins like frozen fruit, oats, chia seeds, ground flax seed, and xanthan gum.
Include Important Nutrients
This one is huge. Every meal should be balanced and include carbohydrates, healthy fats, and proteins. Depending on the time of day and what you have planned, the level of each may vary (AKA, if you’re going to workout soon, you’d probably want a smoothie with more carbs for energy). I never have to try to add carbs because everything I want is usually heavy on the carbs. However, for protein I always add Greek yogurt and/or protein powder. For healthy fats, I often use peanut butter and flax seed. And don’t forget to add some fruits and veggies!
Be Consistent
Like any part of healthy living, consistency is key. If you want to lose some weight by drinking smoothies as meals, you should incorporate the replacement on a regular basis. I’m not talking about three meals a day, seven days a week. You could just do it once or twice a week, or maybe you could start drinking smoothies in the morning for a breakfast on-the-go. It really depends on your lifestyle and when it’s most convenient for you. I know for me breakfast is easiest since I’m at work all day, and I like dinner to be real food.
Get Creative with Flavors
Ideally, you’d have a veggie-packed smoothie every day, but after my 2012 protein green smoothie obsession, I realize that can get VERY old and blah. And that is how frozen berries became my best friend. If you want to be a rockstar at something, it helps if you actually enjoy it.
Cut Back on the Bad Ingredients
One of the biggest ones: beware of sugar! I never add sugar to my smoothies (or even juice), but once in awhile I’ll add honey or agave nectar. While these are a little healthier, they’re still sugar in the end. Try to find alternatives to the bad. Fruit is a great option to add some pizzazz to an otherwise boring smoothie. Blueberries, for example, are my best friend.
Recipes to Try
I’ve featured several smoothie recipes on here, as well as protein shakes and a smoothie bowl. Check some of them out:
Almond Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie, Antioxidant-Rich Protein Smoothie, Berry Spinach Smoothie, Chocolate Peanut Butter & Banana Protein Smoothie, Cranberry Chia Smoothie, Green Smoothie Bowl, Mocha Protein Shake, Strawberry Chocolate Protein Shake, and Tropical Smoothie.
Do you ever drink smoothies in place of meals? What’s your go-to? When I do, I often use my Berry Spinach Smoothie recipe.
When do you usually drink smoothies? (i.e. workout recovery, meals, snacks) I used to always have a green smoothie following workouts but have since gotten lazy. Now it’s more so for a quick and healthy breakfast or lunch.
Disclaimer: I am not a registered dietician. The above tips are based on my own experience and research. Always consult a qualified professional before starting a new diet or weightloss program.
I always have a fruit smoothie after a weightlifting workout, and often after a long bike ride (70 miles or more). One advantage of being a distance cyclist is that I don’t have to limit my smoothies to 400 or 500 calories. After burning 4,000 or 5,000 calories on a bike ride I really don’t have to worry about a few extra calories in my smoothie!
Haha that is true. Probably want as much as you can get!
You already have lot’s of great tips for making smoothies, but I’ll share a couple of things that also do. Totally agree that you gotta make it thick, so I always use some banana+chia seeds+ scoop of protein powder (unsweetened). Trust me, you’ll feel full & satisfied for a while if you include those 3 things. Often I have one to be my breaky or lunch, so I’ll add some spinach in there too. I think they are a great way to eat healthy and help with fat loss.
Banana, chia seeds, and protein powder all at once!? That sounds like a foolproof way to stay full from a smoothie. Thanks for your tips!
I add everything you mentioned plus acai powder, wheatgrass powder, cacao powder, and 5oz of organic coconut water. Counting all the ingredients its about 400 calories but it makes me feel full.
I really need to get myself a blender or nutri bullet. Every time you post another recipe I want a smoothie so bad and this one sounds great.
lol, I can agree with that! I’m SO looking forward to trying some of the smoothies I’ve been seeing around because I’ve gotten super curious about how effective they really are. It should work for me because personally I’ve had a lot of success just focusing on developing habits that contribute to an overall healthy lifestyle. That tends to be the basis of most successful weight loss strategies, it seems. In fact, the following article that does a wonderful job of explaining the key factors in an effective, long-term weight loss strategy: fatfreeme.net/big5
HI! I juice and make smoothies everyday for lunch and dinner. I actually eat breakfast because you are supposed to have the bulk of your calories early in the day. It’s great! Totally loved this post. Keep up the good work!
Hanna
I like your logic! Glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂
Hi I am wondering if I were to just have a smoothie for lunch instead of breakfast will I get the same results? I get up early and don’t want to wake the rest of the house by running a blender. Also should I have one everyday? I want to lose 15 pounds by July 1
Hey, Bonnie! I’m with you on not wanting to run the blender in the wee hours of the morning. I think replacing lunch with a smoothie would be just fine. In regards to losing weight, the whole day’s worth of food really comes into play, though. I think swapping out a healthy smoothie for a big meal would really help though. Hope this helps!
I am trying this smoothie right now it has water,lemon, lime,blueberries, ginger, honey and kale Is there a way to make the kale blend up more so its is not so chunky? otherwise very tasty
The only way I have found is to but the kale already chopped up in bit sized pieces. I sometimes juice the kale and pour it into the blender before I blend. I would juice the kale and then follow it with the lemon so the kale washes out of the juicer well.
Good to know! I’ve always found kale to be a bit thicker but never knew how to fix that.
I’ve personally found that putting the Kale and liquid in the blender first, and just blending that for a bit does wonders! Once that liqifies I then add the other ingredients.
I’ll have to try that!! Thanks for the tip. 🙂
I usually start the day with a pint of oatmeal smoothie. I mix juice, 100g of oat, and a layer of frozen berries. Blueberries are the cheapest so usually that. occasionally I´ll put in a banana. Without the banana this adds up to 570 +- kcal, 14gprotein, 8g fat, and 104g carbs. I´ll top it off with a protein shake adding another 30g of protein.
Yeah Katie,
I like your common sense approach to smoothies as meal replacements. These nutrition packed drinks can be a really good tool to help us lose some weight. Eat healthy. Exercise. And replace some meals with the right smoothie. That’s the plan that’s working for me. – Landon.
Is it possible to replace all meals with a nutritionally complete smoothie? I’m trying to lose weight but its difficult to make 2 separate meals each meal (one for me and one for the rest of the family)
Hi Angie. I have been pondering the same question for the last week or so and doing some research. As far as I can tell it is definitely possible to do this but there are a couple of nutrients and minerals that might be hard to come by in smoothie recipes, especially when following a vegetarian or vegan diet. The main things that might be hard to get are vitamins A, D and B12, iron, zinc and calcium. I understand that these are available from various plant based foods but have lower absorption rates when compared to dairy, meat, fish, poultry and eggs (which I assume won’t be going in your smoothies). That’s just from what I’ve been reading though so I could be totally wrong haha. I’m thinking about heading to a registered dietitian and seeing what they have to say. Hope your weight loss journey is going well. Regards, Chris.
I just got a ninja blender for my birthday and I’m going smoothie crazy right now! I love it! I’ve been adding flaxseed meal and Brewers Yeast for protein and other vitamins and minerals along with a veggie blend of organic– chard, spinach, kale, and carrot I get from sams club. I add bananas, blueberries, and strawberries you can’t even taste the green stuff and it’s a great amount that’s in the smoothie!
Awesome!! Look at you with that variety! And it’s so amazing how veggies can be masked with the flavor of fruit. I feel guilty when I DON’T include veggies now.
I usually replace lunch 5 days a week with a smoothie consisting of kale, spinach, chard, cruciferous microgreens, 1 frozen banana, frozen blueberries, cherries, 1 tbsp almond butter, Fat free vanilla Greek yogurt, dash of pomegranate juice, super reds powder and almond milk. This satisfies me although I don’t want to lose weight. Is this not recommended to replace a meal if I am trying to maintain my weight? Do I need to eat something besides it?
I loved the article and how you went into detail of whats needed, and how your opinion reflected that point. The only piece of criticism is that this has been tagged under weightloss, where under ‘Include important ingredients’, you say that if you are going to workout later, add carbs for energy, where realistically carbs are what restrict a lot of peoples weight loss, it means the body has to burn through the carbs to then burn fat, its the reason Atkins diet has been so popular for so long, don’t consume carbs (or a miniscule amount) and the body doesn’t have to burn it, just instant fat burning. On average, with an average australian diet, it takes 2 hours of exercise just to burn through your carbohydrate stores.
I am 74 with 5 artificial major joints due to hereditary osteo arthritis. I am only 10 lbs more than my skinny high school weight and often have a smoothie in the morning. I vary the fruit but like blueberries, strawberries, mango, blackberries, apple, peaches, seedless grapes, to name a few. I use 0% Greek yogurt, some kind of liquid ( pomegranate juice , orange juice, coconut water, lemon or lime juice, and I use whatever greens I have ( kale, spinach being my fave. ) I have added oats, protein powder, bran buds, and just got some chia seeds to try. Some use beets, carrots and other veggies but may need to steam them a little to blend better. Or if you have a juicer use it first. I believe if you vary the ingredients and eat balanced meals otherwise, you should lose weight unless your other meals are huge in caloric value. A wise person said you should eat breakfast like a king ( morning calories are burned off during the day and an early full meal stokes the furnace and tells it to burn fat IF it is balanced), eat lunch like a prince and supper like a pauper. Good habits make a big difference throughout a life. When I have a meal, I use a salad plate, keep my servings 1/2cup, have 3 ozs protein, 1/2 cup carbs, and 1-3 servings of veggies, and maybe a green salad and red wine vinegar or lemon juice dressing. I limit dessert to only once or twice per week, but sometimes not even that. Key words are…variety, moderation, and balance. Good luck to all!
What is the best things to put in a meal replacement smoothie to make it really thick and filling.?
When I want a smoothie to be thick and filling, I’ll often add some raw oats to the blender. 🙂