Fast weight loss using meal replacements have become a very popular method used by dieters world-wide.

The multi billion dollar weight loss industry uses the most sophisticated advertising and marketing techniques to convince you on a psychological level that their product and method is the only way you can lose weight.

Meal replacements come a number of forms and offer many advantages over other diet products.

Beyond the appetite suppressant/stimulant method and a kissing cousin of the re-education technique is the meal replacement method. You now see a steady stream of sports stars and celebrities sharing how they have lost thirty, forty, fifty or more pounds with these programs and how easy it was.

These programs generally consist of a pre-packaged meal program. Open it, heat it up, eat it. They are simple and easy to use. You don't have to concern yourself with the balance of carbs, proteins, fats and calories because it's all on the label.

If there is a downside it is that they may require refrigeration and they are manufactured with the same preservatives as any other processed frozen food and are not completely care-free. If you are not near a microwave or oven you basically have a three-course popsicle in the case of frozen meals or a vacuum packed meal at room temperature for others.

Realizing the complexity and inconvenience of meal preparation, even the re-education programs like Weight Watchers, have a line of prepared meals. Remember that these types of prepared meals bring with them all the issues associated with packaged/processed foods.

Also in the meal replacement category are nutrition shakes. Often mis-identified as "protein shakes", these are shakes that are complete nutrition in a balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat along with fiber and trace nutrients.

The challenge with nutrition is getting everything you need without exceeding a reasonable calorie count. You can pack a lot of very high quality nutrition into a very small package with balanced nutrition meal replacement shakes.

Meal replacement is an effective method of weight loss and many tens of millions of people around the world have found successful and lasting weight loss with both pre-packaged meals and meal replacement shakes.

The keys to effective and lasting weight loss are complete nutrition and a gradual change in habits through education and coaching. Health, permanent weight loss really is not the place for the "do it yourselfer" because most people they are too close to the problem to really understand what needs to change. Some people have long-standing cultural habits that do not serve them (Like me. I am from Southern Ohio and we fried everything, including our vegetables. When I grew up gravy was a daily condiment).

When you pull a product off the shelf and your local big-box or even a health food chain, you are self coaching. You get one-size-fits-all instructions and then you are on your own. Some people have a reaction when they make a major change in their diet, or they reach a normal plateau and give up. Without someone to coach them through this they mistakenly think the product they chose is the problem.