Should I replace a meal with a protein shake?

Hi Samantha

Generally, if you are presently losing weight, then your exercise program plus your calorie intake is correct.

If you're not losing weight (or more accurately, fat), then you have to adjust. Since you are doing 2 hours of cardio and weights, 5 days per week, unless you aren't training intelligently or intensely, it is your diet that needs adjustment.

First off, mix your shakes with water and not milk. Whey shakes already have a nice dose of protein and calcium but without the excess carbs. This will save you 200 calories per day. So you could either skip a small meal and replace with a shake or you could just take about 150 calories (ideally mostly of carbs) out of two other meals - thus saving you another 300 calories. This 500 calorie deficit should nudge you into weight loss.

Weigh yourself weekly first thing in the morning on the same day of the week to keep track of progress and make adjustments to your diet accordingly.