I’ve been using Huel for some time now and I’m currently having 2 shakes a day. For the past 6 months I’ve been using it to lose weight, which I have now completed - it has worked a treat, by mixing in 4 days of cycling a week.
I’m now turning my attention to build some muscle so obviously need to increase my calorie intake and get a proper balance of protein, carbs and fats, whilst reducing cardio and beginning weight training.
My issue has always been eating food - I’m incredibly fussy and have been since I got ill as an infant. No matter how much I’ve tried to fix this, I struggle massively and it is incredibly stressful. Huel is great for me because it is easy and I really like the taste.
Would it be possible or even advised to increase my intake of Huel from 2 shakes a day to maybe 3 or 4 to compliment my aim of gaining muscle? Could I have nothing but Huel throughout the day to keep me going and provide everything I need?
I was also wondering if some of the shakes should be the Black Edition of Huel for the increase in Protein.
You could definitely add extra shakes. I use both black vanilla and chocolate and sometimes vanilla RTDs for convenience. A week ago I started on intermittent fasting in the hope to bring my weight down from 95kg to 85kg. This was my weight last September when I was training lots before I ran the Berlin marathon so would like to get back to that. I’m 6’3 so I’m not vastly overweight but at 41 it all seems to all collect around the middle so want to lose this. Sounds similar to you in that when I reach my target weight I would like to incorporate more weights to increase muscle mass.
I eat between 11:00 and 19:00 eating 2000 calories per day. Sometimes at weekends I may eat a sensible dinner for a little variety but try to stick to the calories and fasting.
My day looks like this:
11:00 Twenny bar
13:00 Huel shake
15:00 Huel shake
17:00 Twenny bar
19:00 Huel shake
Also plenty of water
The reason I use Twenny bars is each one is nearly 400 calories so fits in well with the 8 hour window and I prefer not to just have shakes all day every day. I would love Huel to do a bigger bar for this purpose but I know I’m in the minority so unlikely to happen. I’m not a huge fan of the new ones either but I loved the old 3.0 so if these were still available I would have incorporated those for sure.
So far so good, feeling fine and not lacking in energy. Did 30k on my Peloton in 45 minutes this morning and felt strong in a fasted state so I’m enthusiastic about getting back down to my target weight.
I will only do IF for a while then I will stop the fasting and probably just add in a healthy, nutritious evening meal once I’m nearer my target weight.
Just regarding Huel vs Black Edition: a good marker for the amount of protein you need to build muscle is about 1.5x your weight in kilos.
Obviously it will depend on your weight but it’s likely that the extra 12g in BE will help you hit this without going over your calories. If you’re going ‘full Huel’ a combination of the two is probably going to be the best solution.
It depends on your weight and level of activity. A calorie calculator or the myfitnesspal app can be a helpful guide to determine how many calories you need to consume to put on weight.
The reason I say this is gaining muscle is much much easier if you’re gaining weight. As you gain weight and consume enough protein, strength training acts as the stimulus to turn those nutrients into muscle - that’s the real basics anyway.
You can see by other Hueligans one way to do this is to eat several meals throughout the day. Using a guide of 1.6g of protein per kg is a good way to go and upto around 2.2g/kg still appears to stimulate muscle growth.
Both Huel Powders are high in protein and could certainly help your goals but it’s going to come down to your individual needs and what else your eating and how much.
This isn’t true but I can see where you’re coming from. You’d probably find this article really interesting Matt.
PER measures the ability of a protein to support the growth of a weanling rat. It represents the ratio of weight gain to the amount of protein consumed[2]. The main limitation is obvious: it’s based on rats, but also that PER measures growth and not maintenance and exercise requirements[3].
the problem with scientific evidence being based on the effects on a rat, is that im not a rat.
interesting article read so far…
added to reading list.
its definitely true that there are many factors to muscle growth but as a general rule plant based protein - you need more than meat based proteins.
I’ve been starting to think about this topic a bit myself, as I want to start building strength soon.
The only group online that really emphasises the importance of eating different types of food at different times of day are those trying to build muscle. Pre and post workout particularly. I’ve never really read into it before but might have a look. But does anyone (Dan?) have a view about that concept and how it relates to “100% Huel for Muscle Growth”?
Thanks Dan. : ) I’m going to be adding 200 or 300 calories/day soon, and ramping up activity, so I’m trying to figure out the best things to increase it with. Adding more Huel is one option. I’m also looking at perhaps focusing on mostly adding protein, but it’s a pain as a flexitarian… I don’t want any more fibre (I average 50-60g/day) and I don’t want huge expense. Mostly thinking seitan right now.
Really weirdly I’m also low in Omega-6 so maybe I’m going to be frying a lot of seitan in sunflower oil. Weird times.
yeah your right, i know for me personally i am also more ‘pumped up’ on meat. which is also a contributary factor. at the end of the day i know how the two (basic) types of meat or plant work for me. always interested in learning more so wil read into the diff types of plant p.