Hi Daxter22. Thanks for your reply. I am really glad to hear about your weight loss journey. You are right, our stats are very identical and wish you the very best in your journey and I can’t wait to hear all about your success.
Apologies for the long reply but I can’t resist giving my 100% when replying to someone. 
As you know I started with full HUEL (3 shakes of black edition). I did this for 6-8 weeks and managed to lose around 8kg (some of that must be water weight). I always knew that I won’t be able to stay on HUEL only diet for too long as it can get boring after a while and you start to miss normal food. So I replaced one of my meals with home cooked food.
Even at the start of my journey, I had doubts about the sustainability of the traditional calorie deficit approach and knew it was not a long term solution. What most people don’t tell you is that the failure rate of this diet is over 99% (Dr. Jason Fung who is a world expert in IF gives references to these studies in his talks). I had already seen so many examples in friends and family who managed to initially lose weight by calorie deficit, replaced their whole wardrobes but they couldn’t maintain this in the long term and put all the weight back. Some people got even bigger than they were before they started calorie deficit.
I was scared to see these stories + I knew the reason calorie deficit fails is because it slows your metabolism down which is irreversible and actually becomes a curse. I know people who lost weight with calorie deficit but now even if they stay in a deficit, they still put on weight which is very counterproductive.
I had heard about Intermittent Fasting but didn’t know exactly how to adopt it. Then I came across Dr. Jason Fung and some other experts on YouTube who explained how this works.
I started my weight loss journey on 5th Jan 2021 and I started Intermittent Fasting on 25th Feb. I am really happy that I made this decision and I didn’t stay on calorie deficit for too long. Since 25th Feb, my weight loss journey has been more fun than before. I could eat more without having to worry about counting calories and I slowly started eating 2 normal meals. For the last few months, I have only been taking HUEL for breakfast and I like to stick to this routine in the long run.
I have a desk job and I haven’t been able to do much exercise but the results with IF have still been magical. I think I reached my goal weight of 75kg around June 2021. I know exercise has endless benefits but when it comes to weight loss, IF has played 95% of the role in my case.
What I really love about Intermittent Fasting is that it is so effortless and becomes a lifestyle. Also you don’t have to sacrifice your favourite foods. I eat fast food on the weekends (KFC, Pizza etc) and sometimes during the week and have still managed to lose and maintain the weight with IF.
I started with 16/8 of Intermittent Fasting and when I was at the peak of my weight loss journey, the max I did was 18 hours of fasting and 6 hours of eating window. Intermittent Fasting is so powerful that I kept on losing weight after I reached 75kg and I had to increase my calories and eating window to adjust it.
For the last 2-3 months, I have roughly been taking 2,300 calories and have managed to stay between 74-75 kgs. I do 16/8 Mon to Friday and my fasting window is slightly smaller on weekends (around 12-13 hours).
The only reason I have seen Intermittent Fasting not working in people is not staying consistent. Like anything else in the world, consistency is the key. As you know, it takes months to train your body and brain for it and to start seeing the results.
I can’t remember where I read it on the internet, but one of the Intermittent Fasting experts said if you are looking to do IF for a few months, then don’t even bother. What he meant is that it is not a short term solution but a lifestyle and has to stay with you for the rest of your life.
HUEL is a very nutritious food and is the reason which got me into weight loss. But as you know, it’s not a weight loss product and people have actually gained weight by taking too much HUEL. To be honest if I knew about Intermittent Fasting, I would have either not even started with HUEL or would have stayed at 1 HUEL a day as it’s not HUEL which helps you to lose weight but actually the Intermittent Fasting. But I don’t mind HUEL for breakfast and quite enjoy the taste of Vanilla flavour. I have tried both approaches (calorie deficit and IF) and I have found 16/8 or 18/6 fasting a lot easier and sustainable compared to taking 3 HUELS and living on 1,600 calories a day. IF is much more fun and enjoyable and makes losing weight and then maintaining it very effortless.
I hope I didn’t bore you too much with my life story. 
