I’ve been faffing about with Huel for a while now with a view to it’s potential for weight loss, and decided yesterday now’s the time to make a proper commitment!
I lost 5st once upon a time with slimming world, 7 years later here I am with just over 2st of it gone back on again and I don’t want it to get any worse!! Slimming world just doesn’t seem to be clicking for me this time so it was time to find something new.
A colleague at work was extolling the virtues of Huel, and although sceptical (having been scarred from a foray into Slimfast a few years back (yuk)), seeing her weight go down I decided it was worth a try, ordered my first batch a couple of months back, and loved it. I’ve been using it as an easy lunch replacement in a hectic lifestyle since then, but now want to see if it can help me with weight loss.
So here I am, working to 1200 calories a day and replacing breakfast and lunch, using MFP to help me track. I drink between 2-3 ltrs of water a day.
I get bored easily and if I’m too restrictive it inevitably leads to a binge, and I also like to ‘save up’ for special occasions, weekends etc, so occasionally I’ll mix it up with a 5:2 week (which I’ve also done with some success) and fast for 2 days, using Huel for 4 small 150cal meals, and if I know I’ve got an event that means I’m going to struggle with calorie counting I’ll follow my (ingrained) slimming world principles for my non huel meals.
So a bit of a mish mash but fingers crossed! one thing I do know is that using Huel as a stable in this organised chaos is making the whole thing aLOT easier.
well 3 days in and a 5am start for a London meeting this morning, and while I’m tired at the same time I feel so much more awake and alert. 1200 cals a day with 2 Huel meals, I have felt hungry at times but not ridiculously so and I have to say that I’ve been less hungry than when I was doing 1200 cals without Huel. Looking forward to seeing what my weight loss might be on Monday
It sounds like you’re off to a great start! I find Huel pretty filling too; if I want a snack, I’ve now become that person who actually enjoys celery (yikes). Definitely ditto about generally having more energy, which is like a revelation! You could try splitting one of them into two smaller portions if that helps with the hunger pangs?
Just back from a bridesmaids weekend, for which I had prepared with 2 fasting (600cal) days in the week.
Proud of myself for being super good at lunch yesterday and doing half an hour of swimming in the afternoon, to give me some calorie wriggle room for what promised to be a calorific evening.
I was good for my starter but it all went downhill from there! There was a lot of prosecco. And white wine. And a cocktail. And a big roast dinner with cauli cheese. And there was… dessert
My body however clearly thought this was thoroughly overindulgent, because when it came to the huge amazing buffet breakfast this morning, which I thought was going to be a challenge and I’d end up writing off Sunday as well, it was as easy as pie to stick to plan because I just didn’t want anything. I wasn’t hungry at all, still full I guess from dinner. I ended up eating a pear and half an orange! To the disgust of the rest of the girls! I truly just didn’t want anything, and that surprised me.
Now home for my usual 2 scoop Huel lunch. Fingers crossed for the scales tomorrow morning x
Feeling pretty tired today. I had a good nights sleep of 7.5 hours the last 2 nights but still feel utterly shattered. Alert and less sluggish definitely, but tired. I don’t think I’m coming down with anything, and I’m sure I read something somewhere about possibly feeling tired to start with on Huel, has anyone else found this? In a high pressure job and single Mum lifestyle it’s not ideal to feel like I want to sleep all the time
1200 kcal seems really low, wondering how’d you decide on that as well.
Do you have a way of figuring out how much calories you need everyday ?
I found out I need a lot more than expected, hence it was difficult for me to maintain weight.
It might be an idea to compare to another site, maybe https://tdeecalculator.net/ or something similar (I’ve used another TDEE calculator linked to elsewhere here but can’t remember which).
It says to maintain I need 2016 calories per day, and the guidance seems to be for a 1lb a week weight loss I should be working to a calorie deficit of 500 per day and for 2lbs a week loss a deficit of 1000 a day. so that would seem to fit with the MFP given target of 1200 per day? I get little exercise at the moment and have a sedentary office job
That sounds about right @clairabelle_xox
The recommended weight loss target is usually 1lb a week which for most people is a 500 calorie deficit. This is do-able long term and doesn’t impact upon your daily energy levels too significantly (altho personally I struggle to maintain a 500 cal deficit because I like to have energy to be physically active).
1000 calorie deficit is possible and some people do achieve a faster weight loss, but it’s much more stressful on the body and does impact on your energy a lot, especially after the first couple of weeks.
For your busy stressful life I would suggest you halve your calorie deficit to 500. I know it is tempting to try to lose all the weight quickly but if it impacts on your ability to concentrate and perform at work, and impacts on your energy at home, it will be a pretty miserable and stressful experience and you might end up giving up.
Any calorie deficit that is achievable and maintainable will get you to your goal, even if it’s only 200 at a time.
You’ve got to find what works for you personally and it sounds like 1000 is too much for you to be able to function in your life. So try 500 and see how you feel maybe?
Currently I’m on an 800 calorie per day deficit if I’m working to 1200 calories. I’m definitely in this for the long term (although I did want to start off with a boost!) so I think I’ll finish this week at 1200 cals and if I’m still tired on Monday up it to 1500 cals per day. The last thing I want is to give up
While my job is high pressure I’m a desk-jockey and not that physically active, I struggle to find exercise time between work and mum duties, something else I need to look at really but it feels like just another thing to squeeze into the day (even while I know I will benefit)
