Hi all. Nice to meet you. I received my first 2 bags of Huel (vanilla), a Medium shirt that’s super tight on me, and the shaker.
I’ve never done one of these kind of drinks before so I’ve already made a total mess of my work desk shaking it without securing the lid 100%.
I’ve decided now I’ve hit 30 to do something about my energy levels and weight. I’ve tried the gym (get embarassed easily and it’s very intimidating).
I’ve headed over to the calorie counter and am aiming for these goals:
You need 1,565 Calories/day to lose 1 lb per week.
You need 1,065 Calories/day to lose 2 lb per week.
First Meal Thoughts
I’ve started with the 3 scoops and 600ml of water for my first drink. Even though I shook it a lot it still has clumps and tastes grainy. The taste is like uncooked but very sweet cold porridge. I’ve taken me over and hour to drink it alongside my morning green tea as I reply to emails. I’m not sure that’s normal or not? But I’m finding it hard to drink.
I’m planning on having a normal lunch of a sandwich or salad and some rice and tuna for dinner. After a week or two of Huel breakfasts I’ll then move onto my 2x Huel a day until I get used to that.
Did anyone else have trouble drinking their first batch? Does it get easier? I’m half way past and I feel super full already
You’ll find lots of tips on the forum for improving the taste and consistency (e.g. refrigerate over-night makes it smoother and less sweet; using a blender or a blender ball to remove lumps; mixing the Vanilla version and the Unsweetened to lower the sweetness etc).
I’ve gone through phases of drinking it quickly and drinking it slowly. Sometimes I’ll slowly sip my 4-scoop 800ml Huel for over 3-4 hours and finish it around noon - just before lunch! And that’s actually fine: steady blood sugar level, no hunger pangs, constant feeling of moderate satiety. All of which will be useful for you if you’re attempting to lose weight.
Welcome Lauren!
Firstly good luck, once your on breakfast and lunch with Huel you energy levels will be great!
It is absolutely normal to sip Huel over an hour…I make two bottles to consume from morning and I normally sip each one over a few hours.
Totally normal to feel full after half a shake, remember each shake depending on your serving size can be more less 500cals which is a meal.
scooping Huel is fine…I am anal so I weigh it out, there can be a difference of up to 8g between whats in the scoop and weighing it out properly. Not a massive concern but if you are tracking your calories tight then it helps to weigh.
4.Some brave souls here shake the Huel in the shaker manual style…I am not one of those people, for Huel to be a sustainable part of my daily diet I blend it in my beast of a blender! I also add fruit, chia seeds, MCT oil etc but that is a personal choice as I dislike the vanilla on its own.
Top tip would be blend it, and use a few cubes of ice it just helps pick up the unblended bits and smooth it all out. If you can blend it the night before and store in the fridge overnight, it tastes even smoother.
I wish you the best of luck Lauren with your huel experience
I always weigh my huel out on digital scales in a jug and then use hand blender to make it smooth with water. I tend to just drink mine down in couple of minutes. I have been having my midday meal as main food meal and having Huel in morning and evening. After first few days my appetite dropped away and that made it much easier. I bought loads of the christmas pudding flavour huel when it was on offer in new year. I will be working my way through that for couple more months. I quite like it. I had tried 1 vanilla pack before that and found it very sweet so will probably mix up the vanilla with the plain when I run out of christmas pudding packs.
I have always tended to over eat in the evenings so decided to have my main meal midday in order to try and break that association between evenings and endless munching. I enjoy my huel drinks and find they are filling which is good because if I was hungry all the time this would be much harder. For my meal I have mostly been having a salad with either baked potato and beans, vegetable and bean cottage pie or rice & veg with chickpea stir fry.
Lauren, great to hear from you and awesome to see you have had such a warm welcome on the forum these folks are great aren’t they?
Sorry you aren’t too keen on your vanilla Huel straight off the bat but it seems you are quickly adapting it to suit you. It’s completely normal to have your Huel over a longer period. I like to break my meals into two separate meals - I’m a ‘grazer’.
The added benefit of this is that you feel like a hobbit having ‘first-’ and ‘second-breakfast’
My evening meals usually consist of anything cooked from a Jamie Oliver cookbook, of which my collection is building at an alarming rate.
If you have any other queries, don’t hesitate to get in touch here or on team@huel.com.
The gym can be a very intimidating place for several reasons, 1) you lack knowledge in the use of gym equipment, 2) you fear being judged/mocked by others who are in better shape, 3) Fear of the pain associated with hard exercise and the way it will make you look in a public place, which brings us back to the second point.
From my years of gym experience i’ll run over these things specifically;
You lack knowledge in the use of gym equipment - There are many free resources online which can help you with this. There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ gym routine, simply pick any beginners gym routine and stick to it, consistency is the key. You will find that over time, as your confidence in performing this routine increases, you will start altering it to fit your specific needs. Also, if you have the money to invest into it, get a personal trainer to show you the ropes.
The gym is the place people go in order to improve their fitness levels. Not a single person walked into the gym for the first time looking like Brad Pitt in Troy. 9/10 people are to focused on themselves to spend sufficient time looking at others, just remember that when you think that people might be judging you. People who do judge you are often overcompensating for an insecurity within themselves and it is them that is the problem, not you.
This point shares a lot of the things mentioned above. No one who runs flat out on a treadmill for 30 minutes comes off looking better than they did beforehand. The pain associated with the exercise is good because it tells you that your body is stretching past its comfort zone and will build itself up better and stronger than before ( which is what you want! ).
I wish you all the best in your journey to become a fitter healthier and happier you!
I started reading that around 2 years ago and in turn lost around 4 stone, started eating correctly and am at the strongest I’ve ever been. My physical shape has improved no end and my fitness is at an all time high.
these folks are great aren’t they?