Without starch, even if I load up 2000 calories worth of powder, it will not fill my stomach.

Similarly, if I eat a small sandwich with a thick butter chunk (2000 calories in total), it has no chance of filling my stomach.

This is a challenge to the calorie theory.

Meal replacement powder (MRP) usually comes in 200-400 calories per serving, designed to replace the smallest meal of the day and offer slightly fewer calories than a regular meal. My GNC Meal replacement powder is rich in protein + fiber and also contains 3.5g of fat and 8g of starch in a 52g serving. In contrast to pure protein, this shake should be more filling. I asked the GNC salesman “Can I take another serving if still hungry?”. He said “Give it a day. Next day you may try two servings.” I could follow that and start 2nd day with 2 shakes each time. One bottle has 16 shakes, about 8 meals.

Don’t expose to temptations like cakes, biscuits, nuts etc. If you are unprotected from the temptation, then don’t expect this meal replacement to work. If no temptation, i think one “MRP meal” can last 4 hours. With temptation, it is 20 minutes!

A guy at Downtown Pharmacy (Marin Blvd) shared his experience that MRP can’t really replace a meal.

Overall, I feel powder (or any liquid) can’t provide satiety. I feel the meal-replacement feature simply doesn’t work for me. I get hungry faster than other people. Consider a 2000-cal peanut butter shake with ice cream float. I feel such a heavy drink may have a chance to work only with some solid foods like raw veg.

Consider mixing one scoop MRP + one scoop of whey + teaspoon of chia
🙂 cheaper than MRP alone
🙂 precise calorie budgeting and tracking
🙂 more filling
🙁 2 open bottles to manage

— 25 Jan I tried my first MRP exactly as prescribed — 2 level scoops mixed with cold water not milk. Should provide 210 calories. It looks like 10->20-25% of a regular meal. Indeed, to some testers, it might feel like 10% of regular meal. It’s unthinkable that this small shake is designed to replace a breakfast or a lunch.

Finished this meal around 4.15pm NY time. At 2.5 hour mark I still felt full. At 4hr mark, i felt a tolerable hunger, thanks to absence of temptation.

— 1 Feb I took 2 level scoops after 8pm 1 Feb. I felt slightly hungry within an hour but didn’t eat anything substantial until 10.30pm when wife offered me the left-over noodles

— 7 Feb after LIRR, in b@a lobby I had 2 scoops around 6.30am. Soon I felt hungry without obvious temptations. By 8am  in office, I felt very hungry, but I decided to /tough it out/. I only had some almond milk + steamed pepper around 10am.