From Weight, to Great!

Don’t get me wrong, I weigh ~350lbs, but I’ve never felt “unhealthy”. I can walk long distances, feel happy, and generally have a good life.

My recent “deep dive” into quantum mechanics and the science of consciousness sparked something in my brain that caused all the bad decisions and problems I’m currently facing to surface, and my inquisitive nature meant that I went in full-force, and began tackling them. It was strange time for a few weeks, and as I re-evaluated my life, it became clear that to lose 140lbs, Huel was really my only option, for a few reasons;

  1. Preparing food isn’t a priority in my life.
  2. I feel guilty about packaging and waste.
  3. I am a slave to my cravings & desires.
  4. I need to refine my time allocation.

I tried Huel back in 2015, however I lacked the mental fortification to be able to make logical decisions about food, and eventually slipped back into my old ways. It was too easy for me to make excuses.

Now, things are much different.

It has been almost two weeks of agony, cravings, and hunger, but I’m happy to say that today, I feel reinvigorated. I’m focused on my goals, my cravings are almost gone, and I’m 18lbs lighter.

For those of you who are also obese and looking to go 100% Huel, I’d like to offer you some advice. Firstly, the most useful thing I’ve learned during the past couple of weeks, is that if you focus on the little things to prevent yourself from being able to make excuses, everything else becomes easier. I’ll bullet point some examples:

  1. Finished your breakfast? Immediately wash your shaker and make your lunch, then stick it in the fridge. The same applies for subsequent meals.
  2. Using the same shaker for home & work? When you finish your evening meal, wash your shaker and put it in your bag. In 2015, I would not wash my shaker, and in the mornings I wouldn’t even think about it. I’d purposely forget it, then would grab a sandwich, which set me up for failure.
  3. Set up a Huel subscription. In 2015 I would manually order each week, which obviously made it easy to not order.
  4. Utilise the Huel flavour packets. They give you variety and choice, something that was necessary for me to overcome my cravings. Instead of choosing between Huel & solid food, make it a choice of Huel or a different flavour of Huel.
  5. Use an app such as MyFitnessPal, and monitor all your intake. Even though you’ll only be eating Huel, I find it satisfying to track progress, and it also prevented me from eating on a few occasions, as any solid food would appear to me as a big black mark on my daily calorie intake, and it would irritate.

I won’t lie, immediately changing my diet to 100% Huel, without any buffer, was extremely difficult. There are good days, and bad days, but when I see the number on my scales decreasing each week, it puts everything in perspective.

We all feel invincible until we’re knocking at death’s door. I feel like it’s human nature to identify a problem, then correct it, rather than take preventative action. I asked myself a lot of difficult questions before I began Huel, and I’d like to finish by sharing a couple of them with you;

  1. Is that taste worth a lifetime of insulin injections?
  2. Do you want children, and do you want to see them grow up?
  3. Is not being able to buy clothes from most stores worth it?
  4. Your friends are all going go-karting, but you can’t go because you can’t fit into the seats. Is that worth it?
  5. Do you want to be able to fit on that big sports bike you want?
  6. You had a motorcycle accident and almost died, yet the paramedics couldn’t lift you into the ambulance without help. Is it worth it?

You see a running trend here. “Is it worth it?” - Ask yourself this whenever you feel like you’re about to trip up, and if you do fail (we all do sometimes), remain true to your goals and get right back up.

Food for me was an addiction, and was holding me back from making a difference in this world. I will not miss it.

Have a great life! I wish you the best on your journey.

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Brilliant write up and so pleased to hear about your progress.

I’m starting 100% from this evening. I understand that any drastic food change delivered in one big hit comes with it’s risks (stomach and bowel) however I just want to get into it and, as I could experience issues by simply introducing it, I’m happy to put up with the initial stage.

That said, you are someone who has been there and come through, would you change your start if you had or could do it again?

Regards

Dave

I agree- great write up. Stick with it.

Hope you dont mind me commenting. I’ve been using Huel for about 2 weeks and I’ve lost 2.5kg’s in that time. I use it breakfast and lunch (3 scoops vanilla + a flavouring) and have a ‘normal’ dinner that isn’t too crazy.

I’m really tempted to go all in with Huel- i enjoy them so much but if I was starting out again I’d order more flavourings. I had one (Mocha) and loved it. Only today have some others arrived. The Strawberry I’ve had is amazing and I’ve got a feeling they are all going to smash it. Having a bit of variety is a great thing that I think will keep you on the wagon. If I was starting out I’d definitely order a few more.

Reallt positive write up and some great checkpoints. Glad you’re doing well.

Sorry for the late reply!

I don’t think I’d change anything necessarily. It helps to have people to motivate you and give you praise while you’re still vulnerable, though. One of the major restricting factors preventing me from being able to stick to change is that I have a distant family, very few friends, and spend most of my life alone, listening to music and working at my desk. It’s a great life and I love what I do, but it’s easy to get into the mindset of “nothing matters” when it comes to looking after yourself, but if you dedicate time to really (and I mean, reeeeeaaally) think about the decisions you’re making, it becomes a lot easier, and you start doing things for yourself, not others.

Hope this helps!

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