This x10000.
Snacking revs up your metabolism and makes your body say “Phwoar, more of that please geez”.
This is why people find intermittent fasting so useful. The fast eventually makes your body and brain realise you’re doing just fine without food and that there’s some on the way in a few hours.
when my hubbie took the kids out, I kind of accidentally napped for 2 hours!! Which is completely unlike me, normally kid free I’d be trying to desperately finish some work or tidy up. When I woke up I felt like I was on another planet, so I had a big glass of home made elderflower cordial and slowly felt better.
So total calories in 1399 and out 2530 and I’m off to bed!
I wonder if these two are related? If you’re constantly running 1100 kcal deficits then no wonder you feel a bit spaced out! Although if this is just a one-off, then I doubt it would be a problem…
Also, kitkats are my weakness too - if they only came in four finger packs I’d be in big trouble…!
There are lots of reasons people snack…
Firstly, there have been studies that show regularly smaller meals boost your metabolism and keep energy levels more consistent.
Secondly, I find small low calories snacks (so today I had 1 oat cracker, a carrot and half a red pepper with a cup of nettle tea) tide me over a bit longer between meals.
Thirdly, as much as I like the nutritional balance of Huel I’ve generally found throughout my life that I need to eat raw, fresh veg and fruit to maintain clear skin, so I figure there’s some good stuff to be had in that!
Fourthly - crunch and chewing!
Fifthly - pandering to a ‘reward’ mentality - that Kit Kat was only a little over 100 cals, but I enjoyed it and it was a nice ‘reward’ for a day of doing well. And yes, I know that food/reward relationship is not the best, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and this is firmly entrenched in my psyche from childhood. I know from previous attempts that going cold turkey on treat food sends me into a downward spiral. I need to have balance in my life, the ability to lose weight and stay healthy, whilst also enjoying some chocolate or a cream tea on occasion 
I don’t know much about intermittent fasting, but I generally don’t eat for 12 hours of the day anyway (say 8-8 or 9-9) and I get what you mean, I might feel hungry at 10pm, but then wake up not feeling hungry at all!
Oh totally! Plus the walk into town and back was with a bit of a nightmare as I forgot the buggy and my toddler wouldn’t walk on the way back as she was tired, so I carried her the whole way (I woke up with very sore arms, who needs the gym, eh!)
I had planned to eat a couple of slices of toast about 8pm since I had calories left, but when it came down to it, I didn’t feel that hungry, hence the kitkat - only 109cals as opposed to the 400-500 cals my toast with PB and a bit of nutella was gonna cost me.
Don’t plan to keep this deficit up for long, just trying to kick start a bit of weight loss and self-discipline as I’ve been meandering for too many months now!
Weigh in this morning - 11 stone 5.8 (72.5kg) - down a bit from yesterday!
Calories today - In - 1594; Out - 2400 (and counting )
High/low light - Ate a couple of falafel when the kids had tea (134 calories), so saved my Huel for the evening, but then swapped it for 2 slices of toast with PB and nutella - oops, but yum and still under calorie goal, so I’ll call it a win
Yay great to see you back and posting regularly! It’s amazing following others’ Huel weight loss journeys like mine, and that it’s helped you for so long 
(And, I too am an overweight sugar addict trying Huel for the first time 
)
Thanks!
I’m not going to pretend that I don’t still really enjoy the sweet stuff, but I’d like to think it’s not longer an addiction anymore - I can do entire days with little or no sugar if I’m on track and most importantly not feel side effects like headaches - which tells me I’ve broken out of the real ‘addiction’ territory hopefully!
Weight this morning 11 stone 5.6 - a little smidge down…
Calories today - In 1683; Out 2309 (and counting…)
Ok, so I may have eaten 1 sausage and a nectarine with the kids for tea and then gone for evening toast again - but at least I’m pulling a calorie deficit… also eating a diet that is majority Huel and fresh raw food, so I’m not going to beat myself up
I’ve been thinking about it, and the main thing Huel has done for me is given me a tool I can use to lose weight or manage my weight. I think without out it it could be years more until I found the time and motivation to lose weight and by that time who knows how much insidious weight would have crept on?! Huel keeps things simple, gives me nutrition, stops me having to think about healthy meals (and importantly portion control…) and gives me the tools to take back control when I want to, whilst also not preventing me from eating things I enjoy, just not all of it, all the time!
Off to bed now, bit later than planned… nn!
This morning’s weigh in was 11 stone 4.6 - very happy to see a 4 again, it’s been a while!
Yesterday’s calories were good - I did some exercise for the first time in a few weeks - a 4 mile dog walk, so even with calories in at 1708 calories out was 2567, so a good deficit.
Today is another story! An unexpected visitor from overseas had me putting on a big lunch spread, including a cream tea, then a chinese takeout for dinner, plus a bit of good old English Cadburys - got to share the love of good chocolate
I did try and compensate by fasting until lunch, but I’m under no illusion that my calories today were anything but high! Expecting to see a big jump tomorrow, mainly (hopefully!) from the weight of the food, but tomorrow I will try to get back on track (despite all the leftovers now in my fridge! 
)
Aaaargh! I’m in plateau hell!
After a cheat day last Wednesday I weighed in at 11 stone 6.6 the following morning, but I stayed positive and got straight back on the Huel, keeping my calories around 750 below each day (which included about 400-500 calories of walking exercise each day), however despite daily exercise and calorie deficits I have been sitting at 11 stone 5.8 4 days in a row and it’s killing my motivation!
Today at work we had a buffet lunch on, I had already brought a Huel with me and planned to just have a nibble from the buffet, maybe 1-200 calories, but in the end I skipped the Huel and ate from the buffet. I chose mainly protein and vegetable options, but there was a lot of carbs on offer and desserts, so I estimate I ate about 600 calories, perhaps 700. Don’t think I’ll be getting lower than 11 stone 5.8 tomorrow either… 
Anybody got any plateau breaker/motivation tips?!
As always, in the least nasty and rude way possible, you’ve answered your own question ma’am… Stop doing this:
Build the willpower to say no, I guess. Without it, you’ll plateau forever. 
I see what you’re saying, I do, but my point was that I plateaued for 4 days in a row whilst rigorously following my plan, including exercise and it was this plateau that blew my motivation, rather than the other way round. I know what you will say, ‘just keep going’, the thing is there’s a human element to all of this and a lack of results for considerable effort is demotivating, plain and simple!
stick to your plan and dont SNACK!
Snacks are part of my plan
As I said to @jeffy89 at one point (again, please don’t take this as patronising or anything, I’m not a mean person honest! 
) you cannot defy the laws of physics and the concept of energy in < energy out = weight loss.
If you plateau for 4 days and are 1000% sure you’ve accurately tracked your calories, the TDEE you’re working off is too high and needs to be lowered. Drop another 300 from it and start with a fresh head.
As they said above also, snacking is no good for all this, if I’m cutting I can’t snack at all or I just blow through my calories on nibbles haha.
I’ve given a ‘why snacking can be good’ spiel on another thread, so I’ll try not to repeat myself!
For me it comes down to my personal needs re maintaining steady blood sugar, maintaining my metabolism and personal preference. My ‘plan’ includes snacking on raw vegetables and sometimes fruit to help space the Huel meals out a bit and to ensure I get some fresh food, which I personally find important for my skin health, among other things. Other times I might include a chosen snack around the 100 cal mark, like some raw vegetables and some slices of ham. It’s all worked in to my calories for the day and, like you say, it’s just physics - doesn’t matter when you eat the calories, whether in 3 bigger meals, 6 smaller meals, 3 meal medium meals and 2 snacks… as long as the overall calories in is less than out
My TDEE is depressingly low as it is, by my calculations. My scales also estimate my metabolic rate as being rather low too. Without exercise to burn off some calories, eating to a good calorie deficit can be pretty tough and can make me tired, hungry and cranky.
I’ll get back on track… soon
Maybe more exercise may help to get off the level field. Still think you should knock the snacks on the head
So 9 days ago I was 11 stone 5.8 and feeling grumpy because I’d been plateauing for days despite sticking to a good calorie deficit (500+) and exercising (walking for around an hour a day).
I was also on a course for work, where they were providing a delicious buffet lunch each day. So I decided to eat a modest lunch from the buffet (sticking to mainly protein and veg options), but watch overall calories in during the day, to ensure they were no more than calories out and preferably a deficit.
I found that I continued to plateau during this time, but that didn’t bother me because I expected to with my calorie intake/outtake being equal.
However, once the course was over I went straight back to using Huel and healthy food together to make up a daily calorie deficit of at least 500 calories (often 750). Although I haven’t been exercising as much due to being super busy with work!
Aaaand, today I weighed in at 11 stone 2.6!
If I look at my weight since I (re)began Huelling in ernest, I’ve lost 7lbs in 20 days, which is really awesome (and yes includes loss of water retention, loss of food weight, etc).
So despite not exercising as much, just maintaining the deficit (including some buffet lunches, a birthday party for my son including a cream tea and eating some other ‘treats’) has worked out. I am writing this to hopefully help others, but also as a reminder to future me, the next time I enter plateau hell, to stick with it!
Something that has really helped me these last few days, is some of the things I read in a study on intermittent fasting. Now, IF is definitely not for me (I get on better with small and often to maintain steady blood sugar).
That being said, one part of the study talked about hunger and the fact that it is just a feeling - when you feel hungry, even really hungry, it’s not a cause for panic, it’s just a message from the body. Also, if you leave it a bit, the hunger does subside even if you don’t eat anything. This has been a game-changer for me.
Purely by accident and because I’ve been so busy, I’ve ended up doing my own version of IF, where I’m eating around 4 scoops of Huel in 2 shakes between 9am and 5pm, drunk in small ‘meals’ throughout the day, followed by a small portion of dinner (probably less than my 2 year old 
) and an evening snack of toast (for my mental well-being ) and it’s working! It’s not rocket science, it’s just a calorie deficit, but doing it this way seems to support my will-power best - I don’t feel guilty about my evening toast and TV, because it’s all worked in to the plan, plus I’m still getting to eat with my kids, and generally feeling great 
Happy Hueling campers! xxx