A good question

Today #2 had a karate belt test. After each belt test we treat the boys to ice cream somewhere. So, as my husband and I were sitting in McDonalds, the kids playing in the play area, myself nursing in the corner (hopefully adequately covered so as to stay modest and not offend), he asked how Herbalife had been treating me. He asked me if I was feeling full when taking the shakes.
This really got me thinking. In my last post I made mention of being full but since he asked me this I will go in more depth.
When I have a shake in the morning I find it the most helpful. Usually breakfast consists of a bowl of cereal, a bowl of oatmeal, or maybe pancakes. I find I'm pretty ready for my first snack about an hour after breakfast. With the shake, unless I'm sitting around my house doing nothing, I don't think about food until about 11-11:30am. That's pretty impressive considering I have my shake somewhere between 6:30-7:00am.
But, I told my husband, the same doesn't apply at lunchtime. Having a shake for lunch, I find I need a snack a couple of hours later and really have to work at not having "the munchies" until dinner time.
I'm a big believer that it is good to eat smaller portions more times throughout the day. Snacks are a great way to keep your metabolism going. Well, healthy snacks anyway. So feeling the need for a snack is not a negative: just a fact.
Herbalife has a meal replacement powder with protein powder. They say to take it for one meal if you're trying to maintain a weight and twice if you want to loose weight. They do not say what meals you must replace. I would personally want to take the shake for breakfast and for dinner. I believe the biggest meal of the day should be had at lunch time instead of dinner time.
Alas, being part of this society that places such value at big dinner meals, it's not terribly realistic to have a shake every night. And, being a Mom with a family, family dinners are very important. I don't want to slave over a dinner every night, then sit and watch everyone eat while I have a shake.
So, most of the week I do breakfast and lunch for my shakes, planning to have a small snack (maybe) before lunch, and a larger snack after lunch. Or, I can put a little more UMPH in my lunch shake- like my spoon full of peanut butter I did today- then have a well portioned dinner with my family.
Tah dah!