I have tried just about everything to lose weight. It is not happening. Not for want of determination! So I thought I’d try Huel. 100% Huel for a week now. 9 scoops over the day, mixed with at least 2 litres water. Exercise 20 mins walk daily minimum. Up to an hour to 2 hrs at weekends. One dance class a week. Not lost anything at all. What could the problem be? 9 scoops daily too much? I cannot up the exercise at the moment. Should I have less than 9 scoops?
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The ONLY way to lose weight is to use up more calories than you consume; this either means eating less or exercising more or both. If you can’t exercise more then you will need to eat less.
9 scoops in water is around 1500 calories, without knowing anything about you weight/height etc. I don’t know how many calories you need. Most people would see some loss on 1500 calories…
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Thanks for your reaction ! I don’t seem to lose whatever amount of calories I consume. One weekend e.g. I was helping a friend to move house. Did not have time to eat. Moving and lugging all day. I ate 2 eggs scrambled for breakfast. Dinner was a bowl of natural joghurt with a handful fresh strawberries. next day 2 eggs fried and same joghurt/strawberries for dinner. lots of movement and exercise moving house, did not sit down. consumed very little calories. expected the scales to see a small difference at least come monday… result? nothing ! If I eat a full meal (like veg rice and fish e.g.) I immediately put on weight! even if the fish is grilled, rice is brown and veg not overcooked.
Hmm, I know helping move house can be strenuous…I helped someone a few weeks ago 3 full days of lugging boxes etc., as well as several trips to the recycling centre; scrapyard etc. I didn’t weigh myself but just a couple of days may not have shown much difference…About 10 years agoI quit my job, and went to work in a warehouse for a year while I set about launching my own business. worked 4pm to midnight 5 days a week, was on my feet most of the time, and carrying heavy stuff…lost quite a lot of weight without trying.
Have a read of this: https://www.quora.com/Why-cant-I-lose-weight-even-though-I-run-every-day/answer/Wilfred-Paul
It must be disappointing if you can’t shift weight you want to lose, but you may need to stick at it a little longer to see results.
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Thank you for that link ! very interesting ! with light activity level of 1.375 and BMR of 1494.75 the calculation of my daily recommended calorie intake comes to 2055.28 Which would mean I should really lose on 1500 cals… I will stick at it till I get there !! But started november 2016… so I have been trying seriously (and calorie counting too…) for a while. I was just thinking it might just be a vitamin or mineral shortage… where I was hoping Huel would fill in the gaps.
That must be really annoying then…if you have tried for a whole year…maybe someone else can input…
I’m thankful for your input ! So nice of you to answer, I appreciate it. It is very frustrating yes. maybe I should go on the 800 calories and see what happens… but then again if I don’t lose on 2 eggs and a bowl of joghurt a day… do I have hope ! we will see. where there is life, there is hope…
Don’t go too low…that could be catastrophic…
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Have you spoken to your GP or nurse practitioner about this? If you have been trying for a while you are right there could be another reason why you aren’t losing weight and a simple blood test might give you some more clarity. Additionally if you were looking at more drastic calorie reduction or fasting it should only be done with the support and monitoring of an appropriate health care practitioner.
The 800 calorie diet was originally used by patients about to undergo weight loss surgery. More recently evidence has shown that some type 2 diabetics can reverse their diabetes with this sort of extreme calorie restriction. In both these instances close monitoring is key to safety so please don’t try that on your own.
Best of luck and I hope you find something that works/some insight into why you aren’t losing weight. And good on you for persevering!
Thanks Rosie. Yes, I have been to my GP numerous times. He says all the bloodtests have come back ok. I think he has done iron, kidney, liver, thyroid and the usual standard ones. I still think there must be something wrong… otherwise you do not put on weight eating a normal meal. I have to avoid that or will put on. It is hard enough maintaining my current weight not to go up even more leave alone losing… Thanks for your good wishes !
I struggle with similar, most of my life. I suspect my metabolism adapts quickly to reduced calories, but that’s not an expert opinion. Currently trying to increase metabolism longer term by lifting weights, to see if that helps.
It seems it is a long journey esspeegee. If I asked people around me who lose a lot of weight how they have done it, mostly they say “cut out the cakes and no sugar in the coffee”. If only it were that easy! Good luck, hope the weight lifting helps.
Hello Marguerite!
As you know, a journey of 1000 miles starts with 1 step so congratulations for deciding and committing to begin your journey!
Beyond that, let’s get down to business! 
I have been using huel myself for the last nine weeks for every meal (eight scoops per day) and I have dropped from 78.4kgs to 73.2kgs (w/ high-intensity cardio 2 hours a week + three weight training sessions per week + supplements) Remember that just because something works for someone it doesn’t mean that it will work for everyone so feel free to tweak things accordingly. I don’t know your age, height, current and desirable weight, so I hope that you will find my ideas relatable.
First, I would like to recommend to you to download a food diary app on your phone to help keep track of your progress. I use myfitnesspal, but there are a few other good ones out there so have a look and pick the one that ticks your boxes. (you can add me if you chose myfitnesspal to compare notes and exchange ideas!) Once you download your app, you need to let the software know your age, gender, current height and weight, your usual activity/exercise and how many kgs you’d like to lose per week or how much you’d like to weight after your journey. This will give you a (more or less) accurate target for your daily calories but more importantly, your protein intake, carbs and fats. Some of these apps will also have the feature of calculating how many calories you’ve burnt during exercise. If the one you pick doesn’t have the feature, then I recommend endomondo. The two apps in combination will give you a clearer image if your actual calory intake and the actual calory burn during your day. This will help you later when you need to decide how much deficit you’d like to have over a day or a week.
Once you have a target number for calories, divide that number by 150 which is roughly the calories per 38g scoop of huel, and this will give you the total number of scoops you should have per day to meet your target. Then I recommend dividing those scoops over four even meals, i.e. breakfast, lunch, teatime (if you’re in the UK or just snack) and dinner. You can also divide them into five meals if you wish but it’s important to make sure that you keep even time in between your meals to allow your digestion process to work efficiently. Indicatively I will say that I have a meal every 3.5 to 4 hours, with the last meal being at least 3 hours before bedtime.
I also suggest to you to research and invest in a good whey protein product and add 25g in the same shaker with your huel meal. Needless to say that you’ll have to deduct an equal amount of calories from huel scoops to keep under your target. This will bring your calories, and protein intake further up but keep your fat and carbs intake at the low and healthy levels that huel guarantees. This way you’ll feel fuller even though you’ve had less but correct food, you’ll have less sodium and therefore feel less thirsty/have less water retention/be less bloated and as a bonus, your huel bag of 28 meals will last a bit longer and make huel seem a lot more affordable, fun and healthy than the supermarket alternative.
Of course, you can add more things in your shaker such as Vitamin C powder twice a day (check your tolerance first) if you need to and I also recommend to have one tablet of multivitamins with some additional water (separate glass) with three of your four meals. Do take a small glass of water after each trip to the toilet. In a similar fashion and if you’re a regular gym goer it would be good to seek help or research on your own about enhancing your gym experience with some other supplements such as pre and post workout powders, creatine, bcaa or even fat metabolizers. These products will not only help you work longer and harder at the gym (thus bring your calory deficit even higher) but also they will help you maintain correct hydration levels and provide an additional checkpoint on your journey.
Avoid tea, coffee, soft drinks and sweets (haha) as much as possible but remember that there’s no point going through all of these if you’re going to be unhappy therefore do allow yourself a “cheat meal”! I go out for a pizza once a week to socialise with my friends, and the idea of it helps me stick to my huel diet without complaints.
Make sure you get enough sleep! It’s recommended to have between 8 to 10 hours of sleep, and if you have trouble sleeping then I recommend playing this near you till you fall asleep.
If you’re not getting enough sunlight where you live do think of the prospect of investing in an S.A.D. lamp which will help you maintain healthy levels of energy and better mood (which in turn will make you less likely to submit to those nasty cravings) Do research the right way of using it so that it doesn’t mess your sleep pattern up!
As huel recommends, try to use a smoothie blender for best results. Since huel recommends to keep a shaker for up to 24 hours in the fridge, it’ll be easy to prepare 2-3 shakers to take to work with you and still be punctual with your diet regime.
As always, you should consult with your doctor about every new supplement you’re thinking of taking, to make sure you’re keeping healthy.
So to summarise, it’s perfectly possible to have a huel based diet and maintain, lose or gain weight, depending on your goals. Beyond that, huel is even more effective when used in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle and proper exercise. There are tools to help you keep track of your actual intake and exercise such as the apps, and there are additional sources of “healthy stuff” you can add to your huel to customise your diet further. If you’re sincerely hitting those targets and you still haven’t lost weight then perhaps the source is something else such as stress, lack of sleep, water retention or depression and again, there are additional tools and professionals to help you with that. Lastly, remember to be happy and enjoy this journey!
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Marguerite, calorie restriction is a dangerous idea. It does produce weight loss but it is not healthy long term. It will keep you hungry and it will slow down your metabolism and your ability to exercise and work.
If you want a long term solution without unwanted side effects, i can recommend two books:
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How not to die is a brilliant book!
Rosie, we’re in agreement! 
Ironically I discover that great book while trying to understand which powder food to buy! Today I think Huel mixed with some fruits and veggies can be a decent choice.
Yes, I’m just on my third week of using Huel and have been adding fruit, veg, nuts and spices to most of my shakes.
Personally I don’t plan on ever going 100% Huel because I think variety is really important for gut flora and overall health and well-being. However, I think it is going to work well for me when I’m at work and have very little time to eat in addition to a predominantly whole foods, plant based diet.
guess it isn’t 100% effective though…it’s one sure thing in life.
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Of course, but being equipped with the knowledge to minimise chances of early death is hugely beneficial, particularly as the most common causes of death are predominantly lifestyle related.
I have been living with cancer for over a year now (hoping for an all clear soon). Unfortunately the treatment I have had has actually increased my chances of developing other types of cancer and being so young at my time of diagnosis (29) I want to do everything within my power to keep myself well.
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I’d like to 2nd the myfitnesspal app, I’ve been using it and Huel since the beginning of July & 2 days ago hit the 3st lost milestone.
The myfitnesspal app has a handy barcode scanner built in so you can add new products as you eat them and as yet It hasn’t failed to find a product, whether that be big brand or supermarket own brand.
Good luck with it.
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