Day 0
Hi all! I’m starting this journal because I’ve convinced myself that if I’m putting all my goals on the internet for other people to scrutinise I will (maybe, hopefully) be less likely to give up after approximately three hours.
For context, I have just finished my first year at university in London and gained 9kg/20lb over said year.
I’m hoping, therefore, to be a bit better this year and sort out my approach to my weight and document it here. I’m aiming to just be able to fit in all my old clothes but will quantify it with a target of 55kg (I am 59kg currently) by October.
To make at least a decent effort before everything goes a bit tits up in freshers, I’m starting Huel now; a week before I go to Iceland for ten days, followed by six days at Reading festival, and two weeks worth of trips to four European countries.
In case it wasn’t obvious, these things are my excuse for my inevitable failure.
So far, I’ve got myself a Fitbit Charge 2 for £79.99 (and it came with a duffel bag and protein bars! Amazon Treasure Truck, I love you), signed up for the London Marathon next April, and ordered myself three sacks of U&U Huel along with the starter shaker, t-shirt, and selection of flavour samples to make it taste less like flour (this being the impression I’ve gotten from other forums so far!).
I hope to be writing on here as much as possible to maintain the motivation I am already beginning to lose, as well as on my blog https://eastendorphins.blogspot.com/ where I’ll be sharing my attempts at improving myself in a bit more detail, as well as photographs and recipes hopefully!
Once I’m back in London (I popped home for a few days to steal all the fruit my parents grow in our garden in Devon) I’ll be uploading my starting weights and measurements to this post too!
Any advice for a first time user of Huel would be much appreciated!
(Has anyone else with multiple food intolerances found Huel to be helpful? I have had to stop eating dairy and have been advised to cut my food back to basics before adding in things slowly to identify what other things my body is reacting to)
My first Huel order should arrive tomorrow and I’ll let you all know how that goes!
Oh man welcome!!! 
Will be following your posts with interests (no excuses now 
)
I have the exact same one hahaha what colour? Mine’s teal.
Also what is this glorious Amazon treasure box you speak of? I’d like me some free protein bars
All the best!
My fitbit is black tragically because that was the one on the truck (which, to answer your question, is a giant truck laoded with one specific product which has had its price cut that drives round england and you sign up for text alerts and if there’s something on the truck you want you basically whack out the GPS and go get your stuff off the truck haha).
Around amazon prime day they had the fitbit and protein bars etc as the treasure truck thing and I just went for it!
Day 1
Weight: 59kg
Waist: 71cm
Hips: 92cm
Steps: 12,479
Honestly too tired to write anything proper after 12 hours working on my feet (so many steps done though!) plus 5 commuting…
But I got my Huel! Honestly my first thought is that it tastes a little like the colour grey but hopefully will get better! Blended it with some raspberries and banana and left in the fridge overnight and will try that for breakfast!
Will try and write a bit more tomorrow as the day is a little shorter (thank god!)
Day 3
After the longest and most horrendous day working yesterday I managed to get the day off today and basically spent it sleeping whoooops.
Still 59kg, and 15,862 steps today so at least I’m keeping my weight constant and makng sure I’m doing some(ish) exercise…
Huel is still tasting a little like mud so I’m diluting it a LOT and adding frozen fruit to thin and flavour it. Hoping it’s an acquired taste because everything at work contains dariy and leaves me bloated and in pain, so would love to replace it with Huel
Why UU??? I’ve heard this tastes the WORST lol why not either original or New Vanilla? 
(Back from Iceland! Literally no wifi good lord)
I really really hate artificial sweeteners but I think just going in without adding anything was a baaaaad plan :’)
I might add actual sugar to it which is obviously more calorific but will taste a whole load better. I’m thinking brown sugar and cinnamon maybe? I think I need a strong spice taste in there and a bit less huel to start off with which I get used to the taste
Day 15
Soooo back from iceland and I just weighed in at 60kg which is kind of gutting… I’ve been walking about 15000 steps a day and we’ve been eating really really healthily so I have no idea where that came from… (hoping it’s just water weight and that it’ll drop off soon?)
Now it’s got me all worried about my other holidays which I have coming up… I feel like if I’m not weighing myself daily I’ll just return to like 62kg when I’m back. I know that sounds ridiculous but it’s what’s happened before when I tried the ‘don’t weigh yourself!’ thing and now I’m still trying to fit into my old clothes…
AND now I’m home for five days and considering how new I am to Huel I just don’t want to be dealing with that in front of my family 
I think I approached the U&U a bit poorly so I’ll be going in with weighed measurements of sugar to hopefully sweeten that up whilst keeping the calorie count quantifiable and therefore controllable 
How’s your running going? Have you run any marathons previous to this? If you’re a runner already then you’ll have no probs training for London. In fact, you’ve got ages, so even if you’re not you could definitely still do it!
Running is the only thing that seems to be going well! I used to do a lot of running (middle distance) so for now I’m just working up to a half or so I’ve been running from the east end to the west end, having a swim, and then walking back which is about 25km there and back plus the swimming which seems reasonable while I regain my stamina and fitness.
Any tips for marathons? This is my first full.
Sorry about the delay! Tips for marathons… keep going! Train hard race easy etc etc etc aaallll the platitudes! There’s a great podcast called “Running Rogue” that you should have a go at - when discussing marathons they cite Mike Tyson - “everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face” (not perhaps the most admirable individual, but a good quotation!).