Do you all count the water that you use to make your shakes, in your water intake for the day?
Day 3. Struggling. I cheated quite a bit on Days 1 and 2. Nothing as bad as my typical bad day, but still disappointed in myself. The only “cheat” I’ve had today is a Reign energy drink (only 10 calories, but artificial sweeteners and 300mg of caffeine). I’m really, really hungry. I’ve had 1 1/2 shakes (2 scoops each), and i’m waiting a bit longer to have the other half. I’m worried that my willpower will cause me to fall tonight!
No - you mustn’t do that - like any high fibre diet - you must compensate by drinking additional water. This is also covered in the guide article here. Keeping well hydrated will also help curb hunger pangs and lessen the desire to ‘cheat’ 
Of course you’re struggling if you’ve only had 3 scoops in one day! Eating too little will make it impossible to stay away from temptations, fast food and snacking.
For a slow and steady weight loss you should be eating five shakes a day (calculated on no exercise), four if you want a more rapid loss but I don’t recommend eating less since hunger will trigger overeating. If you eat regular food as well you should eat less huel compared to the food kcal. But don’t save up all you kcal during the day to be able to have a big meal at night - usually at night we are more weak-willed and if you’ve been starving all day you’ll have no impulse control left.
Personally I have to make sure to get to my huel before the hunger even setting in because I will get terrible cravings for anything but huel when I get hungry. So stay on top of your hunger, and make sure you eat enough during the day to not lose control when evening comes.
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Hi buddy,
How’s it going? Are you sticking with it? I thought I’d add a couple thoughts.
I decided I’d have Huel for lunch and dinner rather than breakfast and lunch. I find a hearty breakfast keeps me going for about 7 hours. I get up late so my breakfast is at 1pm! Lol
Lunch Huel is about 7pm. I’m not usually that hungry so it really just feels like a top up for breakfast. I definitely don’t feel hungry.
Finally, I have my last Huel at about 12.30 am. This feels more like a proper meal as I’m quite hungry by then. The last Huel keeps me going for a couple more hours and then I go to bed about 4 am, so my last Huel is more like an evening meal for ‘normal’ people who work regular hours.
I really think my big breakfast helps me throughout the day and I am absolutely sure that if I was huelling like you, I would struggle a lot more.
The other thing I really love is not having a big meal before bed, which always made me feel bloated, especially as I would go to bed still feeling full.
I know that everyone does Huel differently so the way I do things may not be right for you. Also, my life is pretty sedentary as I work on computers both for my job and hobby making puzzle books for Amazon. If I lived a more vigorous lifestyle, my Huel habits may be more challenging. Oh and I have lost 1 kilo without even trying, which is another bonus.
Anyhoo, I hope you’re still sticking with it.
All the best
Giles
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Well. Failed so far. I’ve used about 1/4 of the Huel, and I like it ok. But the hunger pangs in the evening were just too much and I ended up binging every day. Trying again today. Weighed exactly 250 pounds this morning, before my shower. Let’s see if I can stick to this more than 12 hours.
Which kind of foods are you eating when binging? Maybe you should cut that in the first place
Anything. Everything. Same as before Huel. I’m not blaming Huel, but I was hoping the proper nutrition during the day would help with the cravings. I suppose I just need some more willpower, and patience. I can’t expect anything to work instantly. I’m just tired of being fat and tired. Lol.
When you start eating healthy you will start have a rush of energy in a week or so, you can feel it and viceversa, its worth the effort.
There is a millions of reasons to eat healthy, but eating junk food is also part of enjoying life and technology, you just have to choose better which snacks and when are you going to eat them.
For example, when I have cravings for salty foods or snacks I lick my finger tip and put my finger in the salt to reduce my cravings for cheese, crisps or anything.
When I have cravings for sugar I normally tend to cook something or have a huel, but if after that I still want sugar I make myself a homemade brownie/cake in a mug (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdzNeEKdCBE&list=PLuP_OYItvkYNjyAw-T5elTB6YuEpBGUW7&index=10&t=0s)
If I am just hungry and I shouldnt be eating I normally prepare myself a coffee (solo or latte), if I am really hungry I have a Huel or a cook something
Another trick, dont buy any junk food or snacks when grocering, so if you have the need, go out for it by walk.
If your problems come at the evening, have a plan prepared for each evening, like a tea a 15:00, a coffee at 16:00 a healthy snack at 17:00 like a toast with mushrooms and so on… (I am spaniard, so maybe my time recommendations are wrong)
Tell us the kind of food or snacks you are eating because maybe we can recommend you something.
An example of a healthy snack I normally prepare myself:
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A couple of suggestions that you might find helpful.
- If you know you are going to want to snack in the evening then plan a couple of snacks into your 2000 calorie limit. So your day could look like:
Breakfast 400 cal Huel
Lunch 400 cal Huel
Dinner 600 cal meal
3 x 200 cal snacks in the bank for when you feel the urge, either at work or in the evening. - Look into low calorie snacks. If your snacking is habit based, usually because of boredom, it can be helpful to have things like pots of zero sugar 10 calorie jelly in the fridge. Then psychologically you’ve had a sweet snack without the calories. It might be useful to have a list of sub-200 calorie snacks that you can buy and keep in your work bag or at home so you have options when you fancy something savoury or sweet which stops you ordering takeaway. Walkers crisps are only 160ish calories a bag for example. Try and go for pre-portioned snacks. Everyone tells themselves they can just have one slice of toast, but realistically who does? Don’t forget Huel bars
It’s the combination of feeling you want something to eat and not having low calorie snacks which can lead to takeaway orders in my experience. Easy to say just don’t have snacks in the house but unless you live alone that isn’t realistic. Plus a lack of snacks can be easily overcome by ordering takeout. - Trying to change both your eating pattern and what you eat at the same time requires huge discipline which is why people who try to change too many things at once usually crash and burn quite quickly. Maybe try sticking with your meal/snack timings but switch things around in terms of what you eat. So if you normally skip breakfast then don’t try and start eating it because you think you should. Plenty of people aren’t hungry first thing so keep those calories in the bank for a mid afternoon boost after lunch. Also gives you more leeway if you tend to get hungry in the evenings.
- Spend a bit of time trying to figure out your subconscious food habits and beliefs and thinking about what you can do to work around them and still lose weight. Don’t try and change them right now. Ingrained stuff like that is really difficult to change and trying to do so whilst restricting calories is doomed to failure. For example, I was brought up with the mantra of “eat your dinner and you can have pudding”. So now I associate my evening meal with having something sweet as a reward afterwards. I don’t even think about it, but if I haven’t planned a pudding I can guarantee that 20 minutes after finishing my main meal I’ll be thinking “I fancy something sweet”. So for me one of my banked snacks in my calorie allowance is a “pudding” after dinner. That might be fruit (strawberries and low fat creme fraiche is a favourite) or it might be a Salted Caramel Magnum. Doesn’t matter. I’m not trying to fix everything about my diet all at once. I’m focussed on a consistent calorie deficit. Once I get to a healthier weight and I’m used to eating less I’ll work on swapping out some of the unhealthy stuff. One step at a time. Done is better than perfect and if you consistently manage to stay in a calorie deficit, even a small one you will lose weight. You can over complicate things by looking at ideal macro splits, healthy vs. unhealthy foods, keto, paleo, the list is endless. If in doubt, remember if you want to reduce body fat then eat fewer calories than you use. It’s that simple. If you don’t believe me read this. Twinkie Diet
- Drinking water or another zero calorie drink when you fancy a snack and then waiting 20 minutes gets recommended loads, because it works. Especially if you plan to do something in the 20 minutes like call someone, or tidy something, do a crossword or sudoku, whatever floats your boat. As long as it’s absorbing enough to distract you you are likely to forget about snacking.
Hope some of that helps. You can clearly be successful at losing weight - look at what you’ve done so far!
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measuring kcalories isnt really the best way of losing body weight tbh
theres a lot more to it than that.
its a good rough measurement but when its clean vegan food and you exercise then you might need more measurements than uou like to think…
I do realize that. I have type 2 diabetes, and i am a strong believer in limiting carbohydrates. I’ve tried Atkins and other low-carb diets but just can’t stick to anything for very long. I have very weak willpower for food.
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i see…
its interesting
i think soon there will be new measurements of food… it seems outdated
like the ratio thing huel state, i need to learn more about that…