I’m a Huel newbie and I’m loving it so far. I bit of background…
I’m 29 years old, 6ft 1 and roughly around 17.5st. I’ve always struggled with my weight and for as long as I can remember I’ve always been ‘obese’. As many of you, I’ve had weight loss stints and then piled the weight back on
I work in a primary school, and as you can imagine it’s a busy and long working day… everyday. And there’s always a lot of junk food on offer in the staff room which is far to easy to pick up for a ‘quick fix’.
I’ve spent the last 6 months eating relatively healthy and I gave up alcohol completely 3 weeks ago.
I started the Huel journey this week (2 Huels and one healthy meal) and I was sceptical as to whether I would feel full. I’ve been amazed over the last few days how satisfied I’ve felt. So I intend to keep it up.
I’m also massively happy with how convenient and quick it is to prepare and it’s perfect for a working lunch (which happens far to often in a primary school )
I haven’t got a set of scales at home at the moment but I intend to buy a set and I’ll keep you updated with my weight loss progress. I haven’t really got a set weight to hit - I just want the numbers to be smaller
Feel free to reply with your stories. I love reading all your updates!
I was taught by nuns. I think they broke every one of the Ten Commandments but that’s okay because they had permission from God to slam your hands in the desk, whack you with your daps, put a ruler round the back of your head and tell you you would be going to hell because you made a spelling mistake. They were shit at throwing though so the board rubbers pretty much always hit poor little jimmy who sat behind me. Oh the guilt.
I think we all need some therapy to put in our Huel
So a bit of an update as I’m nearly a week in. I went and bought some bathroom scales and today and I went back and checked MyFitnessPal and here are my numbers…
Last weigh-in logged: 17st 9lbs (247lbs)
Today’s weigh-in: 17st 4lbs (242lbs)
I’m super happy with this! All I’ve been doing is having Huel for breakfast and lunch and having a healthy dinner, making sure that I do not exceed a daily calorie limit of 2000 calories.
I was very sceptical as to whether Huel would keep me full between meals and I can hand on my heart say that I’ve not even had the urge to snack. I feel full to the point that even the thought of food after having a Huel meal makes me feel uncomfortable.
I know a 5lb loss in the first week is a bit much but I’m putting that down to going on 3 school trips this week where we have been walking around London all day. The extra exercise has helped. And I might add that having Huel as a packed lunch is extremely convenient!
Other things that I have noticed this week are:
Clearer skin
Nails seem to be growing a lot
Feeling more alert than usual
Less stressed due to not having to be a mathematical genius to work out calories from crappy information on the back of food packets.
All in all, an excellent first week. I’m definitely going to keep it up.
5 lbs in a week is very impressive. It’s worth noting that our weight naturally fluctuates so much that next week your weight loss could be 5 again, or 1, or 0, or you could’ve gained a pound a feel bad. After a few weeks you’ll be able to see more accurately what’s going on.
Nearly at two weeks in and here’s my latest weigh-in details:
First weigh in: 17st 9lbs (247lbs)
Last weigh-in: 17st 4lbs (242lbs)
Today’s weigh-in: 16st 12lbs (236lbs)
I have noticed in the last few days that I’m now getting cravings back for junk food. I’ve managed to resist it but I have to admit that it has put me in a horrible mood at times. It’s important to point out that I’m not hungry, Huel is doing its job at keeping me full, I just want crisps and bread
I feel that I have to justify the rapid weigh loss as I think people may think that I’m not doing this properly. I have an incredibly active job and according to my Fitbit information I’m walking on average 20,000 steps a day, burning roughly 5000 calories a day and roughly 150 minutes of exercise a day.
Good job, Andy! And a belated to welcome to this miscellaneous mix-up of misfits!
I’ve been using Huel daily for just over two years now and it really suits me. Although I didn’t really get into it for weight loss, I did actually lose a stone and a half in the first five months, and I’m now constant at around 11 stone (I’m 5’9" ish). Here’s a couple of tips that have really helped me…
I weigh myself every day, naked, first thing in the morning, and keep a record. Next to the scales I have an A4 pad, one page per month. The columns are Date, Pounds (which is what I record in), Stones (just on the 1st of the month), KGs (likewise), Number of Huel Scoops in the day, IF (tick or a cross, see below) and a space for notes if necessary). When I was losing weight, it was good to see progress (which can go up and down, and that’s fine and natural). Now I’m at my fighting weight, I want to keep a close eye on it to make sure things don’t get away on me which, at nearly 55, is easily done.
That IF column is for Intermittent Fasting. I do the 16:8 pattern - 16 hours a day fasting and and 8 hour window in which I eat. It’s not as extreme as it sounds, and my doctor loves the idea as he knows that a lot of cellular repair and regeneration happens when the body is not having to digest. So, I finish my last meal of the day before 8pm, and I don’t eat again until noon. I’m not super-rigid about this. For example, at the weekend, I was drinking late both Friday and Saturday. There’s calories in beer, so the IF column for a X for both those days. It doesn’t matter - I just want ticks in most days in a month. No point being dogmatic!
My body got used to missing breakfast within a week or so, but I do still get hungry from time to time. I find green tea is great for knocking the edge of it. Apparently black coffee (no sugar)has a similar effect, but I don’t much like coffee. Incidentally, that breakfast-is-the-most-important-meal-of-the-day myth was originally made up by the Victorians when they were exporting our version of civilisation into the Colonies - three square meals a day and all that. There’s very little evidence that breakfast is super-important, whereas there’s a lot of evidence to support fasting as way of allowing the body to focus on processes other than digestion.
Anyway, good to hear of your successes so far - long may they continue!
3 weeks in and here are my weigh-in results. These are the results of me having 2-3 Huel meals a day.
First weigh in: 17st 9lbs (247lbs)
Second weigh in: 17st 4lbs (242lbs)
Third weigh in: 16st 12lbs (236lbs)
Today’s weigh in: 16st 9lbs (233lbs)
So that’s another 3lbs loss! Hit the 1 stone milestone! I wish I found Huel years ago!
The savoury cravings that I mentioned last week have subsided and I’ve barely had any cravings at all. I continue to feel full off of Huel and rarely need any extra healthy snacks. If I do, I just go for an apple usually.
I plan to add more exercise to my life and I have signed up to Cycle Scheme so that I can get a bike to ride to and from work. I should be getting my bike in the next week or so. I’m aware that I may need to add a few extra calories to my diet to help me get through the day. I’ll see how it goes. I always have a pre-portioned Huel powder in my bag just in case I need it.
Hope you guys are all doing well with your Huel-ing!
I cycle a lot of use Huel after the commute to work, it is best to consume within an hour to feed the muscles if you’ve been working hard. I burn around 700 calories cycling to work (19 miles @ 20mph average)
If you get serious then a heart rate monitor can help burn fat as you can stay in that zone which is quite a steady pace (Zone 2).
I also ride to work on an empty stomach which is also good for burning fat reserves.
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