I’m not looking to gain or lose weight, but I am consuming lots of calories (3817kcal) and am thinking if it is possible that my body isn’t absorbing all the Huel I consume, since I’ve been on this “regimen” for about 6 months. I’ve been 182cm high (6’0’’) and 75kg (165lbs) for as long as I remember.
Here is how my day goes (rarely I deviate from this, maybe 3 days per month, tops):
Caloric intake
200g muesli = 634kcal
250ml rice milk = 135kcal
4 slices of bread = 468kcal
50g peanut butter = 300kcal
15 scoops of Huel = 2280kcal
Total = 3817kcal
As for exercise, I workout a lot from Monday to Friday. I start the day with one hour of calisthenics training and in the evening do a CrossFit workout. I also do Strength training twice a week to complement.
So I put all this info in 3 different calorie calculators and I found that I’m consuming the amount of calories that a guy weighing 125kg (275lbs) should consume to maintain his weight. And at 75kg (165lbs) I should be consuming around 3000kcal for the amount of exercise I usually do.
Like I said, I’m just a hungry guy, am not looking to build muscle or lose fat; I’m just curious to know if those 2280kcal of Huel (or calories from other foods) that I’m consuming are actually being absorbed by my body.
Taking the opportunity to send a massive thank you to Huel for the amazing product that keeps a lazy guy like me away from the kitchen, saves me a heck of time and money, and gives an excellent customer service!!
If you’re healthy, then your digestive system will be absorbing the ingredients of Huel as it would other food. but I have a few questions to be able to help you.
If you’re not looking to gain or lose weight, are you consuming just to maintain? And are you saying that you’re losing weight?
They must be large slices of bread as that’s a lot of calories for 4 slices.
Calorie counters, whilst they may be useful, only give an indication. It certainly seems like you do workout a lot; which may mean you actually need more calories.
Also, are you super-strict with that plan? is that what you’ve been having every single day for the past few months?
What are your bowel movements like? How often? solid? colour?
Like I said, I’m usually just hungry. I don’t have any goals of gaining or losing weight, I’m happy with my 75kg, it was just out of curiosity that I measured my calorie intake and put it on the calculators. And I am not losing weight, I just found odd that with so many calories I am not gaining weight.
According to the label in the bread I usually eat, that’s 260kcal per 100g. Double checked and the 468kcal is the correct value according to the label.
Like I mentioned, this is my usual diet since June 2017, and I may differ a little maybe 3 days per month, but it doesn’t differ much.
Ever since I began with Huel I’ve been having more gases. At the beginning, my feces were very liquid but now are more solid, although not as solid as before, I guess that’s expected since Huel it’s not a hard food.
Thanks for getting back. if your weight is fine, then you’re defintiely absorbing Huel.
It might be that, with all your activity, you’re stimulating your hunger. Not wholly aimed at people like you, but there are some point in my video here that may be relevent: is it ‘mouth’ or ‘physiological’ hunger you’re experiencing?
During August - November last year I went on a diet of around 4000cal per day (which included 475 grams of Huel a day). I was ravenous while on the stuff and found myself taking on much more calories than I would with regular food. The strange thing is that I actually lost weight. I’m 5’11", naturally slim but went from 140lb to 130lb (I should also point out that I run 60-80 miles per week).
Between the middle of November and earlier this month I went back on to ‘regular’ food, eating ~1000cal less per day and I’ve put the weight back on! The reason for shifting back to regular food was due to my girlfriend being able to smell ketones on my breath, meaning I’d unintentionally gone ‘keto’ despite having over 300g of carbs a day! Long story short, to echo your situation - I’ve got a feeling that my body doesn’t process Huel fully as well. Strange one!
Thanks for your input. It’s bizarre, because the we have people really full on Huel, we have people gaining weight on Huel and it’s physiologically impossible to be in ketosis with that much carbs (and protein) as I’m sure you know.
Out of interest, both of you, what time(s) of days were you consuming your other foods and when do you exercise?
Hi @JamesCollier, thanks for your reply! During this time, a typical day would be:
07:00, 09:30, 12:00 and 14:30: Huel (3 scoops)
2 hours before training: Porridge pot with added raisins + lucozade sport
1 hour before: banana
Post-session: Huel (2 scoops)
20:30: Generally carbs, veg and fish (IE whole grain rice, salmon etc). If still hungry, a bowl of fruit + Greek yoghurt
I’d snack on malt loaf, pretzels and popcorn through the day if peckish.
I generally run on my lunch break (11:30) and after work.
Thanks. Did you have the ‘stomach rumbles’ and feel light-headed when you felt hungry? or did you just really fancy solid food? Did eating soldi food satisfy your hunger?
@JamesCollier - During the day I just remember feeling weak unless I ate some carbs. I also had cravings for salty foods (hence the pretzels and popcorn!) and simple carbs. The strange thing is that my resting heart rate dropped (41 down from 49) and my athletic performance improved. Unfortunately this was short lived and towards the end of November I started getting very fatigued.
Maybe some of my hunger may actually be “mouth hunger”, I admit. The thing that made me write this post is not so much about hunger itself, it was just out of curiosity on how is it possible that I have a diet of 3800kcal for over 6 months and am not gaining any weight. Once again, I don’t mind having the weight I currently have, I just wrote out of curiosity.
My day is usually like this:
06.30 - 1hour bodyweight training
08.00 - Muesli with rice milk
10.00 - Peanut butter sandwich
12.00 - 5 scoops of Huel
15.00 - 5 scoops of Huel
17.00 - 2 hours of workout (strength training and CrossFit)
20.00 - 5 scoops of Huel
As you’re working out for 3 hours per day, I would say the exercise has a big impact on your calorie requirements. Remember it’s not just what you burn during the workouts, exercise gives your metabolism a boost whilst resting.
BMR calculators usually have generalised levels of activity, so it could be that your activity level is higher than the available ‘high’ option. The calculators are usually based on average body composition too. So mathematically you’d be a bit weird, but in a good way haha! There’s a small chance of some kind of worm causing you to need more calories but that’s very unlikely if you’re otherwise in good health. If you start losing weight on 3800/day then see a doc!
Obviously James has already confirmed that it seems fine and he’s the expert but I thought I’d add a bit of clarification to how the calculations work.
If you’re not gaining weight, then it must be your expenditure. If you are doing that much exercise, then I’m not actually surprised that you do need 3800kcal per day
