Hi! I'm new here.

I'm Olivia, and I'm on my early 30's, I'm a little fat, and do feel heavier for my age.

I'm considering going on a diet, does anyone have some idea whether protein shakes can safely replace one carb meal per day?

What do you mean by "safely"? If you are asking if that will create a safe calorie deficit, yes, it will-- in fact, you are really only talking about cutting out 300-400 calories a day.

It also may not be very effective: you'll be more hungry, later, and it would not take much at the other two meals to cancel out the deficit--a slightly larger scoop of pasta, a slightly more generous hand with the peanut butter knife. It will take careful monitoring to avoid this.

Lastly, protein shakes and bars make sense if you are trying to pack in the protein because you are lifting weights and you literally can't eat enough protein from "normal" sources to suffice. If you are trying to lose weight, you want to eat as much food as you can, so I would recommend replacing one carb meal with cottage cheese or baked chicken or baked tilapia or greek yogurt. These are all pretty much pure protein and will feel like you ate a meal. This will make you less likely to overeat your other meals of the day.

I've been enjoying making my own shakes, so that I know they are nutritious. I use spinach, green tea matcha, vanilla protein powder and a bit of milk. It comes out to around 250 calories, maybe more or less depending on the milk. I have it for breakfast, I meal I can often overindulge in. I use the protein as filling, to keep me feeling full longer. I'm typically hungry 3 hours later.

I also try to eat a salad every day with a lean protein. Combined with controlled portion sizes (or trying ) and exercise, I feel like I am creating a calorie deficit without feeling deprived.

Thanks a lot for your responses.

I was really worried about that getting hungry and feeling deprived while on the diet, then eat more afterwards.

I know of one very useful rule in taking meals which I also find helpful in keeping weights down, without me getting hungry, and that is "Take your meals before you get hungry, and stop eating when you are about three quarters full."

Determining the "three quarters" varies from person to person. What I do is cut one-fourth of the meals that I usually take.

That's why you really have to watch the whole thing: every diet that promises big results with "one simple change" tends to not work in the long run because we just compensate elsewhere. But the good news is that watching all your meals doesn't mean you have to be hungry and miserable: you just have to be aware.

Your body burns more calories digesting solid food than liquid, so it's better to eat your protein than to drink it. But - It's better to grab a protein shake than to skip a meal when life gets demanding.