Losing weight or not losing weight

1

Hello huel friends. I feel so desperate because I don’t know what I am doing with my huel. My goal is to lose weight. I weigh 79 kg, I dont do any exercises, I have a new born and toddler. I hardly sit and on average do 4-6 hours housework a day.

I calculated that I need 1200 calories a day. So I have 3 scoops x 3 times a day, so 90% huel.

I have snacks in between like cashews and pistachios around 5pm and in every 3 days have one meal of chicken or rice or something.

In my huel I mix berrys, banana, strawberrys, chocolate flavouring. It turns out thick consistency and around 550ml.

I weighed myself today and am shocked that I weigh 82 kg. I think my weight is increasing not decreasing!!!

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

2

You don’t mention gender (I make the sexist assumption that “housework” and “new born” implies female) or your height, but assuming 5’4" – and assuming that 4-6 hours of housework can be translated to the menu choice of “5-6 hours strenuous exercise per week” (or more!) – than my favorite calculator says your maintenance intake is around 2500 kcal.

if so, 1200/day is an extreme diet for you. Even if you added 1000 calories in bananas and choco syrup and cashews, you still shouldn’t be gaining. Something is not right in your story.

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3

Is it possible your maths is off? 9 scoops of Huel is approx 1368 calories using http://howmuchhuel.com/

BTW that is still not a lot of calories. Some people on the forum try calorie deficits that seem extreme to me. It will always be hard to figure out a base rate accurately so I’d always say tend on the safe side and do it slowly.

4

I am 5 foot 3, female, scales say 82 kg today but 3 weeks ago when I started huel I was 79kg. It’s so confusing because I feel tighter and feel more compact if that makes sense. I was shocked when I saw the scales. I would say I am having around 1600 calories per day.

5

I’m sorry that you are distressed over this, it is always discouraging when you don’t see what you hope for on the scales. However, it’s important not to be discouraged, especially when this could be an increase related to gaining something other than fat. For example, it’s possible you have gained muscle or are retaining water, both of which could make you heavier. Retaining water is especially common at certain stages of the menstrual cycle, so it’s possible it’s that. You could try measuring on a weekly basis and see if you notice regular fluctuations. Also, remember to measure at the same time each day, preferably first thing in the morning, as your weight can vary a lot throughout the day!

If you feel your body is slimmer then why not try taking some measurements with a tape measure, continuing with your current eating regimen and then measuring again in a month or so? That way if you are getting smaller, the measurements will show it even if the scale doesn’t.

Good luck with your weight loss! :slight_smile:

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6

Assuming you aren’t gaining muscle, look at the portion sizes of the non Huel parts of your diet.

Don’t forget the nuts and bananas have calories.

Unless you really can’t stomach it, just try Huel with water. The berries and bananas are effectively a smoothie,.and that maybe affecting your desire to snack. Might be worth adding more water, 3 scoops at 550ml with a banana blended in seems very dense. Adding 100ml of water wouldn’t hurt.

The normal meal you’re eating, make sure it’s a sensible size.

Weighing yourself after 3 weeks doesn’t seem to be working for you, maybe weigh every few days.

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7

Nuts are fatty and I would have them as a treat and not every day. Also watch how much fruit you are putting in, I would just mix in 1 fruit and not all of them at the same time, Huel contains everything so you don’t need to mix fruit in, I would try and have seperate fruit as a snack.
Lastly I would get some decent scales but it doesn’t really matter what you weight as long as you are feeling better as weight loss doesn’t always come straight away so stick with it.

8

Hi Seema. You’ve had some great responses already, but I’ll chip in.

It sounds simplistic, I know, but if you’ve gained weight, it’s due to intake of more calories than your body is burning. Nothing more and nothing less than that.

3 x three-scoop meals is 1368kcal, assuming these are level scoops and not compacted, and you make your shakes with water and nothing else added in.

All extras that you add to your shakes, or have as snacks, will add to the calories you’re consuming. A large banana has 121kcal, for instance. Cashews and pistachio nuts are all too easy to consume in quantity when snacking, and a small 1oz portion has just over 150kcal. Milk in tea and coffee also adds calories - 25kcal per cup if using semi-skimmed (four of those a day and you’ve added 100kcal to your total). If you add sugar, then of course the calories increase.

All these extras quickly add up. My guess is that this is where your calorie intake is stacking up. It’s easily done.

The best advice I can give would be to check the calories on everything you eat and drink before you consume it, and keep a running total daily. Electronic scales are very convenient for weighing portion sizes - I use mine all the time.

I’m a fairly big bloke, 5’11" and with a sedentary life-style, partly due to inflammatory arthritis. Currently, I’m having 3 x two-scoop Huel shakes per day, made with water and around 100ml of unsweetened almond milk (that’s about 950kcal with the almond milk). I add various low calorie flavours to my shakes - a heaped teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa, a tea-spoon of coffee granules, a tea-spoon of smooth peanut butter, salted caramel or almond oil baking flavouring, powdered cinnamon and ginger. I estimate that I consume around 1000kcal from shakes because of those additions. Throughout the day, I have a few snacks (I check the calories on everything first!) - a small bag of Snack a Jacks (89kcal) or Twiglets (about 100kcal), a half-coated chocolate rice cake (80kcal), a satsuma, some grapes or half a banana (60kcal), or maybe even a heaped teaspoon of peanut butter to lick off the spoon (disgusting, I know - but only 40kcal and very satisfying! :stuck_out_tongue: ). Plus, I have a few coffees with 1% fat milk in the morning (maybe 50kcal), and a low-calorie, alcohol-free beer in the evening (26kcal). So, on top of the shakes, I’m probably consuming another 300kcal, give or take, bringing my daily total to around 1300kcal (sometimes a bit more than that). On a Friday evening, I have an Indian take-away - but I always pick something sensible with chicken or king prawns and only ever have plain boiled rice. Assuming the take-away has 1000kcal, that’s averaging out at 142kcal per day.

With this routine, I’m losing weight at a decent rate. I was 17st 5lbs a few weeks ago, and now I’m at 16st 5lbs. My target is 15st, at which point I’ll see how I feel and might try to drop another half stone or more.

One last bit of advice, re weighing yourself. Do it at the same time each day (in the morning is best, after your loo visit!). And don’t worry if your weight stays the same or even goes up by a lb or so on occasional days. Look at your weight change over a week or two weeks, and don’t stress over little fluctuations. If you keep strict control of your calories, the weight will come off.

Good luck, don’t give up hope, and let us know how you get on? :slight_smile:

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9

Also being a mum to a new born means you won’t be getting more than 3 hrs unbroken sleep with feedings. Lack of sleep can really affect your metabolism and weight loss. However if you’re breast feeding, you should ask your doctor about whether or not it’s wise to go on a restricted calorie diet.

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Am no expert, but just picking some of the comments above which struck a chord with me:

  • “Weigh more regularly and at the same time” = absolutely key, your weight varies wildly through the day. Also (obviously) be sure your scales are accurate.

  • Weight change = I think this is a very personal thing:

For me my weight dropped rapidly over 4 weeks, but then rose back to within a kg of my starting weight (!) However it then started dropping again much slower and has kept this trend ever since.

I think this was my body reacting to eating a very different (healthier and more watery) food source in weird ways (poss water retention, pose greater muscle build from the exercise I was already doing).

Again I stress I am no expert, but personally if it were me I’d take your own statement “odd as I feel tighter and more compact” as a positive sign and give it a little longer to see if the scales start to follow how your body feels.

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11

Came here to say this :slight_smile:

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12

As others say, your weight can vary wildly for many reasons: for example I can lose 2kg in two hours just by going for a run — that’s all just dehydration though. Are you weighing now on the same scales as you saw the 79kg figure? Do they have a manual adjustment knob that might have been knocked? Unless your 79kg starting point was confirmed by several weighings, and on the same scales you’re seeing 82kg now, I’d treat it as an inaccurate measure: you might even have just not let the scales settle for long enough. Also if the newborn is really recent (congratulations!) your body may well still be adjusting to things.

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Wow thank you so so much for all the replies. The fact that people are so kind to take out time to write lengthy replies is amazing and I really appreciate it.

  1. gosh never thought of measuring myself. So I should measure hips, weight, arms?

  2. yes my shakes are very dense, in fact sometimes hard to stomach.

  3. I didn’t know nuts were fatty, around 5pm I am starving I would eat anything in site, so thought nuts would be ideal. From today I will cut them out or limit them!! Same with banana will reduce to half every few days.

  4. mixing fruit; that must also be where my calories are bulking up. I have 3 handfuls of strawberries, berries, blueberries in one shake, then second shake of day is one big banana and third usually huel chocolate powder. I can’t stand the taste of plain vanilla huel. But now wondering if I need to cut that out or at least reduce it all. I mix stuff purely for the taste only and nothing more.

  5. I haven’t weighed myself up until now only a few weeks ago and then yesterday. I will take the advice to weigh mornings, same time, every few days. Thank you.

  6. yes my scoops have been levelled and completely compact. Is that incorrect?

  7. bigM thanks so much. Along with other people’s replies it’s made me realise how quick my calories have added up!! Some great ideas for adding flavours never thought of that.

  8. yes absolutely the most uninterrupted sleep I have in the night is 2-3 hours if I am lucky.

  9. I wonder if I need to increase my water intake re: water retention? But then surely I am getting enough by drinking the shakes. 1500ml per day.

  10. I have a suspicion that my scales are not great so will certainly be ordering a new pair.

Thanks so much certainly food for thought :slight_smile:

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14

I am not breastfeeding but thank you for the concerns.

Should I be adding more water to make then less dense

Also I make them at night time, three shakes for the next day which I think in terms of weight loss doesn’t make a difference but would fresh on the spot be better thanks

15

Approx 3 scoops for 500ml water, I refrigerate for a few hours and then it is milkshake thick, it shouldn’t be too dense with 500ml. 3 scoops is around 100g which is correct for 500ml water.
The Huel flavours are great and you only add a tiny bit so doesn’t add hardly any calories.
A banana a day is no problem, just hold back on the nuts, maybe a weekend treat.
You should still drink extra water, had a glass every few hours and if you’re feeling peckish have a pint of water to delay until the next meal or even try the Huel bars which are great for a snack or lunch (I have with fruit) but drink plenty with them as they are quite dry, you could even crumble one up in some fat free natural yogurt as a healthy lunch snack.

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So there’s no huge need to buy new scales — so long as you keep using the same set consistently, even if they’re not great and the absolute number may not be exact, the direction of travel will be apparent, and that’s what’s important, from the sound of things. So always put them on the same patch of floor, and if they’re digital I tend to weigh myself twice — and if those two readings are different I’ll weigh myself a third time and take the majority vote.

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Another tip if you’re getting varying readings is to replace the battery. I’ve seen mine do funky things with a depleted battery inside.

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If you want to be more accurate about how many calories you’re eating, don’t use the scoop to measure Huel, use kitchen scales.

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Dave what is the difference thanks

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Just to throw my two cents in, as it’s already been mentioned a few times, but your weight will vary quite substantially at different times. I’m male, and therefore immune to both the menstrual cycle and pregnancy, and the hormonal storms they create, yet I still wake up weighing 73/74kg and go to bed weighing a little over 80kg.

The key is to weigh yourself every morning when you wake up, and look at those measurements in graph form. The more data, the more accurate the picture. If in the last seven days you’re seeing a consistent increase, you might want to change something, and see what happens in seven days time.

Also, just to (over) emphasise the weight change thing, I go to a lot of taekwondo tournaments, and you’d be amazed how much weight competitors can shift through water alone. I think the most extreme I’ve seen was 4.3kg in about 4 hours, through the liberal application of bin bags, skipping and saunas…