I have just made my first Huel order and have enjoyed reading the different articles, advice and debates. I’m on the pre Xmas fitness wagon… not smoked for 2 months, don’t drink mon-Thursday, exercise x 6 days a week and following a low carb diet mon-Friday whist drinking Alof of water.
I’m 6ft 2, 14st 8 and 38yr, relatively fit but enjoy my weekends! I want to slowly lose weight (when I say slowly, Ofcourse the quicker the better but I mean I’m not really over weight, just want to tone and don’t need to do any thing drastic for over night results).
Huel looks great for fat loss, balanced nutrition and ease of use but I guess as a going concern what’s the best way to take it? Once a day? Or replace all food? I am doing the 16/8 fasting so don’t eat anything from 7pm till 11am and just drink water. Would you recommend I have a Huel at 11am? Basically guys I would be interested in how frequently/regularly I should use Huel vs eating meals. Also I presume there are massive nutrition benefits with Huel as it’s so well balanced?
Huel is absolutely a brilliant choice in my slightly biased opinion… I’m a teeny bit taller than you but was far more overweight when I started using this food.
Since I got down to a much healthier weight, I’ve actually switched it around a bit and put in extra protein powders because I do a bit of bodybuilding now.
I guess the answer, as with anything, is “whatever works best for you”.
Worth having a chat with a dietician locally, someone qualified though, I found it helpful to take a picture of the back of a Huel Black Edition powder because she didn’t know what I was talking about at first
I do intermittent fasting like you although mine is from 12:30 until 7:30pm I break my fast at 12:30 precisely because I’m bloody famished at that point haha!
Personally I use a mix of the powders in shake form (pro tip - use a blender and ice cold water or leave in fridge overnight) as well as the bars to top up my first meal by 200 calories.
The hot and savory range has been incredible for me. Even on my non Huel days I find myself longing for a Thai Green Curry. Seriously I know that I sound like a walking advertisement for that product but I make no apologies for that fact. It really is that good, you gotta try it!
Anyway, in terms of dealing with IF - whatever works for you dude, I have to eat right away but not sure everyone does. Eat whenever you’re hungry but just keep it within that window of time and you’ll be good.
Oh and very well done on not smoking for two months.
That is the single biggest thing you can do for your body and your health. I’m 11 years without a cig now and loving it.
What really stood out for me was a few years ago, opening up a suit carrier from when I smoked to grab a dinner jacket and the stench, even many years later, made me gag.
Yes you are right, there is nothing good about smoking- smells, anti social, kills you, expensive and divorce material for me! It also makes you very sneaky if you are trying to hide it, and you always get caught eventually. Good advice thanks. I get ‘eat when you are hungry’ and I need to as I train most days, but keeping within calorie deficit what would recommend roughly (we are all different I know) would be a sensible daily calorie in take for someone my height and weight? 1500-2000 calories max? Cheers
No way really to calculate it mate. I mean I consume about 2600 calories a day now, but I got to this point via trial and error.
There are are TDEE calculators out there, like https://tdeecalculator.net/ but they’re really designed for weight loss really.
I used that one too run at a calorie deficit of 500 but I didn’t include my exercise so I assume it was actually a lot less.
I am at a maintenance now, deliberately gaining a little weight but, again, should specify about how it’s different for everyone and you have to find a comfortable balance.
I do maybe 20 minutes high intensity interval training every day and then very other day I do about an hour of weights within different muscle groups.
Am now at the point where I’m working on body symmetry rather than just trying to build the muscles, but I want to put more muscle on as well.
Totally up to you how you do it, we all end up as bloody experts on nutrition
By the way, the look of total bewilderment on the face of the delivery guy yesterday when he took 120 steaks out for me was brilliant.
I have a niece staying with me for a a few days and she was in fits of laughter.
Fortunately because of where I live, I am also able to eat a lot of fish, assuming I can catch it! Brilliant protein, I love the concept of being vegan but I can’t really do it. But I try to have as low a carbon footprint as possible.
I do eat vegan a few times each week tho and thoroughly encourage others to do the same.
