Hello! - my Huel experiment :)

Hi there, nice to meet you all! :slight_smile: I’m Szura.

I’m very new to Huel, my first shakes are chilling in the fridge, waiting for tomorrow. :wink: I’m creating this thread for accountability and to document my Huel journey. I want to include quick CW for eating disorder before I’ll start.

So in the past I was binging and purging due to body dysmorphia which now is mostly gone, but I still struggle to rebuild a healthy relationship with food (I’m 28 and my problems started when I was 13). I’m 100% purge free (yay!), but I still have mini-binges and tend to restrict myself. I can’t stop subconsciously treating food as punish/reward when my mood is low.

I would like to loose some weight, but in a healthy way, and I just worry that my tendencies will get in the way. I’m also worried that at the moment I’m not getting all nutrients that I need. But my number one goal is to stop binging completely, as I believe it is my main trigger for restricting (and then cycle repeats). And I hope Huel can help me with that!

It’s easy, super fast, nutritious and not stressful or triggering at all, and it can help me manage my calorie intake in a super easy way. And most importantly, it’s vegan as well! :herb:

I’ve already lost some weight, from approx 63 kg to 57.5. I don’t have any goal as I also want to gain some muscles at some point. :slight_smile: I only know I don’t want to go below 50kg as with my history it may not end up well. I was thinking about 53kg, but all in all it’s just a number! I’ll be measuring myself as well and I’ll check by body fat percentage (I must admit I’m really scared to do it lol).

Sorry for such a long post! Greeting from Poland! :poland:

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Have a read of @jeffy89 posts - she’s doing really well on Huel :+1:

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Good luck @Szura !
Huel definitely seems to help most people with cravings. I don’t have an ED but do like food and do tend to binge sometimes! Huel has pretty much stopped this completely and has taken no will power whatsoever. My body seems to be a lot more tuned in to what it needs now and I very rarely get cravings for sweets, or fatty foods now, and tend to crave fruit or fresh vegetables when I do get cravings!

Have a good read through the forum and you’ll get some sound advice on how to mix Huel to your liking.
Best advice I can give you when first starting out is to build it into your diet slowly: start with 2 scoops or 80g per day and build up to your ideal amount over a number of weeks. This will avoid any digestive issues.

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Good luck!

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Good luck :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hi Szura, hope all goes well! I’m only a bit over a week in myself, but I’ve found Huel has massively helped with cravings. (As in, I’d often eat my sandwich at my desk by about 10am and then have to go out and get a second lunch…!) The effect Huel has had in keeping me full has been absolutely amazing. I’ve also found it really encouraging reading others peoples stories on here, so keep us updated!

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Welcome!!! Thought I’d pop by to say I’m sorry to hear you’ve struggled too and I’m here if you ever want support! :slight_smile: My inbox is always open :slight_smile: It’s so damn difficult to lose weight already, let alone with a history of disordered eating…it’s not going to be a smooth journey but you can be proud of yourself for already being determined to lose weight healthily!! It IS possible (most of my stable weight loss is from consistent moderate caloric deficit in periods of not b/ping haha) and Huel has helped me incredibly with that.

How I view Huel re: this—2 main reasons for bingeing

  1. Nutrient deficiency
  2. Habit

IMO since Huel gives you all nutrients you need if you consume the amount your body requires, it’s easy to realise any binge urges that occur are literally just out of habit, so it helps me focus on tackling the habitual pathways instead

Hope you have a good experience with it too, keep us updated :slight_smile:

(thanks @DunsfordMage for the shoutout, too kind :stuck_out_tongue: )

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Good luck from me too @Szura. I have nothing but praise for Huel :grinning:

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Thank you all for such a warm welcome. :slight_smile:

So yesterday I made 2 shakes, mint choc and vanilla, 50/50% water and oat milk. They were chilling in the fridge all night and I really enjoyed them both. In the beginning I thought that mint choc is tad to blunt, but the more I’m drinking it, the more it’s growing on me! Vanilla is delicious. :yum: I can’t wait to experiment with flavor boosters, I wonder if it’s worth to order Original flavor just for this purpose as I read it’s better for this than Vanilla.

I was worried that it would not feel full for long enough or in the contrary, that my stomach would feel heavy, but as for now I’m very positively surprised with Huel. Now I have high hopes that it can be a long term addition to my diet.

Thank you for all this kind words and advices, it means a lot. :slight_smile:

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If you really love the vanilla flavour, you will probably enjoy the flavour boosts in vanilla powder - lots of people do!
Some of us find the vanilla flavour too strong and sweet, and prefer to mix the flavours with original (which has a neutral but sweet taste) or unflavoured (which tastes like raw oats!) for us wierdos who really don’t like sweetness.

I personally much prefer original for adding flavours to, as I find the vanilla tastes like toffee and I don’t like it. But if you like the vanilla taste, you probably will also like it as a base for the other flavours. Maybe buy a flavour that you fancy and try it with vanilla, and if doesn’t work, then trial original.
Original is sweeter but with no real flavour, if that makes sense

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I love Vanilla on its own and also love it flavoured. You will find, through experimentation, what suits or does not suit you. It’s great trying new things :yum:

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I will experiment for sure. :slight_smile:

I finished my day with small burrito which ended up not so small! I feel to full for my taste, but well, at least it wasn’t a binge and vegan Burrito is still pretty healthy option.

For tomorrow I think I’ll prepare berry (kinda scared!) and two flavor boosters with vanilla, so 3 shakes in total. 100g each, but this time maybe 500ml of fluid? 100ml oat milk/400 water. If too thick, I can always add water later. :slight_smile:

After day 1 I feel really good and fortunately I really enjoy the taste so far. And no digestive issues, hopefully it’ll stay that way! I always say I have a stomach like a goat, can eat almost anything. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Sooo day 2&3. :slight_smile:

Berry - ugh, I dunno… As my vanilla-banana one was to sweet, I mixed part of it with Berry which was blunt and meh for me. I’ll give it another try, but first I’ll check 70g of vanilla + 30g of Berry, maybe it’ll better this way. :stuck_out_tongue:

Vanilla + choc mint flavor booster is AMAZING, much better than premixed choc kind! I’ll be buying this flavor booster, I must be super good to mix it witch choc mint premixed. <3

I’m still finishing my shakes from yesterday, as my period just started and for some reason I had almost non apettite (opposite to usual on that days, haha). I wanted to actually chew something for my dinner, so I made this super easy vegan ‘omelette’ and it was perfect, filling and full of protein, but not heavy on my stomach.

Today I’m gonna mix two shakes probably, I’m thinking vanilla+toffee and vanilla+caramel to compare those two, as for sure I’ll be ordering one of this flavor booster. I’m obsessed with toffee and you don’t have much good toffee flavored vegan options.

What are your thoughts on rhubarb custard? Sounds great but a bit afraid to buy it without trying.

Vanilla already tastes fairly similar to the toffee boost so if you really like that flavour you might like it (I thought it was way too intense). Caramel is delicious :yum:.
I’ll be interested to hear your verdict.
Rhubarb and custard is really sweet. I found it nice but not enough to try again. If you like rhubarb and custard sweets and fancy your entire shaker of Huel tasting like this, id say its worth giving a go!

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As @ChristinaT says, toffee flavour boost is very similar to Huel Vanilla. I still like it though. Really love cararamel fb and also enjoy rhubarb and custard in 50/50 Original/UU so it tones down the sweetness :yum:

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Oooh, just mix them and they are both so yummy! Toffee reminds me of melted ice cream (looove it!), but caramel has this deeper undertones in it. I’ll check them out once chilled, but probably I’ll be getting both. :laughing:

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MOCHA


omg

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Day 4&5

Omg I love love love caramel. :heart_eyes: toffee is fine but the taste is not as rich, I think caramel is my absolute favorite for now!

Today I’m testing mocha - it’s nice, but for me 2g is not enough for a shake. I think it can work nicely with mint choc premix tho!
My second shake today is pineapple & coconut… No. It’s not as terrible once chilled, but when I tasted it right after mixing… Yuck. I was very worried about future me drinking it for breakfast lol. :laughing:

I tried to blend it and I can feel the difference, but both ways it’s great.

Guys, I think I’m gonna stick with huel. I had one almost-binge episode, but I was able to stop myself in the middle (!!!). I don’t have as many cravings anymore. And most importantly - during this 5 days food was never a stressor for me. Not even once! Not even with me almost binging! It’s insane. <3 I’m much calmer around food, maybe because I don’t have to make decisions all the time and when shopping, I can ignore food totally if I don’t feel like dealing with that at the moment.

Wow. :slight_smile:

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Amazing! Good for you! Did you try the matcha flavour boost yet? I think it’s a flavour that divides opinion but it’s my favourite

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Matcha is good. I seemed to love all the flavours I thought i’d hate and vice versa! I mean Pineapple and Coconut sounds vile but I think its in my top 3 haha!!

I’m having Mocha for lunch today! :yum:

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