One half cup of rolled oats has about 150 calories; if you are consuming that instead of a higher calorie breakfast – an egg and sausage sandwich on a biscuit can have more than 500 calories for instance – you will probably lose weight, she said. It’s similar to replacing a meal with something like a weight-loss shake or a bar, which can be effective for weight loss, at least in the short term, she said.
But oats blended with water and lime juice “is not a balanced meal,” Haller said. A bowl of oatmeal, perhaps served with milk, nut butter, fruit and seeds, “would be a more well-balanced, satiating breakfast,” she said.
Consuming enough protein is particularly important if you’re losing weight, Dr Jay said, to help you avoid losing too much muscle. A half cup of oats has about four grams.
Using the “Oatzempic” shake to lose weight is also likely unsustainable, Dr Jay said. “If you go back to what you were eating before, you’ll gain the weight back,” she said.
Many of Dr Jay’s patients with obesity “have lost hundreds of pounds in their lifetime” through fad diets and methods similar to “Oatzempic,” she said. But the weight often returns because their bodies respond with a slowed metabolism and more hunger, she said.
The “up and down, up and down” that can come with trying trendy weight loss hacks can be discouraging, she added.
And for some people, fad diets can lead to an “unhealthy obsession” with unrealistic weight loss and a negative relationship with food, Haller said.
