New to Huel and need advice

Weight loss
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Hi everyone,

Im trying to lose at least a stone before May in line with the motorbike season so I can be more comfortable on the track (move about on the bike easily and not have to shoe horn myself into my leathers), and want to improve my general fitness and health. I’ve gone up and down in weight over the years but am finding as I’m getting older (34), I’m struggling to lose weight. I have had an IUD fitted to help with a condition and worry these extra hormones are making it harder to shift the weight. I’ve tried many diets before but lose motivation quickly and end up snacking on sugary treats (I just can’t help myself!).
I am about to start my Huel experience tomorrow. Does anyone have any particular recommendations especially regarding how many shakes I should be having a day for weight loss combined with gym visits 3-4 times a week?
I have a nutribullet so am looking forward to experimenting with flavours.
Have fellow snack addicts like me been able to steer clear whilst on the Huel programme?
Any feedback from ladies out there with similar hormone issues and their experience on Huel would be most welcome too!
Wish me luck!

2

Hi

First off welcome to Huel!

So a little about myself, I’m 35 (almost 36) Male (sorry, I know you asked for ladies advice) and was looking for a method to control my daily calorie intake, primarily while at work (Not a plug, but try to check out my Youtube videos, search my username)

Now shift work is what killed off my fine figure some years ago, unable to balance my diet around an ever changing shift pattern that changes from days to nights every few days, took its toll on my physique

I have a mild IBS which doesnt lend itself to most diets, however this is where Huel has worked wonders

I origanally started on Huel back in November last year, just replacing my “at work” meals with Huel, the change in the first two months for myself were very impressive, starting at 99.5kg and dropping down to 92kg.

Now i would like to add i have lived a life of sin, eating too much junk food, pizzas, burgers, kebabs etc and for my first two months of huel, i only slightly throttled this back, I was still eating junk on my days off, however replacing my irregular meals with those of Huel kinda got my body into a better rhythm

Now going back 18 days ago, I started a 30 day “nothing but Huel” diet, replacing every meal with Huel, and so far its been going well

Now im not going to lie, the cravings were very strong for junk for the first two weeks, but i attributied this more to the fact I missed chewing hot food that carried aroma in the air, this lack of sense’s was what I was interpreting as cravings, but now I released its more a psychological thing than a physical craving, once i got that into my head I was fine.

Now there are times when im peckish and then i jut turn to a bowl of the Huel Granola, even just a half portion is great as kicking those cravings or munchies to the kerb

My last weight in was mid 88kg, resulting in a 3 month loss of 11kg’s (or 1.75 stone)

I currently have 3 shakes and maybe the odd bowl of the granola a day, however my timings may not suit everyone due to my weird work shift patterns

Shake 1 - On the way to work
Shake 2 - Lunch at work
Shake 3 - 11 hours after shake 1
If feeling snacky - A 1/2 bowl of granola whenever suits

Many say that blending the Huel with a blender is the best way, to make it silky smooth, however I am yet to try it as my personal Huel journey is one that adheres to the back of the packet and only using the included shaker!

On a final note, since starting Huel and getting over the first week (the worst one as your body begins to detox) I’ve yet to have another flare up of my IBS since!

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Hi im too a fellow biker and same as you on huel to loose weight and unfortuantly i drive for living so must go down as one off the unhealthiest jobs ever so ive being on it through the week only and in three weeks ive lost just over half a stone so this can be done im also getting used to it and look forward to drinking this gear lol so good luck fellow biker …whats your ride…

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Thanks for your response Andrew. I’ve just had my first Huel before I head off to the gym and it’s not too bad. I’ve tried shake and smoothie diets before so it’s good to know that I might still be able to have the odd treat and hopefully still lose weight.
Good luck and keep at it! 1.75 stone is incredible! Well done!

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Thanks for the response T29sab. I can imagine how hard it must be driving all day. I used to have a very active job and since moving to Scotland I have started a job where I spend 99% of my time either sat on my arse driving or sat on my arse at a desk! Doesn’t help when colleagues bring in biscuits every day too!
I ride a CBR600RR and have just booked my first foreign track day at Brno for June. What do you ride?

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Lol im same lived on chocolate bars and take aways.
Ive got a rr5 fireblade iys standard with only 3000 miles on it .
Its a brilliant piece of kit and im planning on doing some track days if i can find time .
Not had licence long so still learning

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Welcome to the community! I hope that Huel becomes a sustainable change in your diet. How much Huel you have is entirely up to you, weight loss is down to calorie deficit - eating fewer calories than you are expending. Huel makes it easy to monitor calorie intake as you can be very precise with it.

I would recommend getting a set of scales and weighing your Huel so you can accurately monitor your calorie intake and downloading a useful fitness/calorie tracker like My Fitness Pal. Check out our Guide to Fat Loss here.

Hope this helps and keep us posted on how you get along!

1 Like
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Hi Ejcbr6rr!

I had a similar problem when I had the contraceptive jab, but after 2 of those (and some serious depression they caused through some mysterious hormone action!) I stopped hormonal birth control altogether and went for a copper IUD. That probably doesn’t help you much!

I do 100% huel during my busy days at work (probably 3-5 nights/week) and the rest of the week I do one non-huel meal per day. For me I find 100g shakes work—that’s just over 400 calories, so I’ll have one of those for breakfast, no lunch (I find it easier to work straight through), and then 2 for dinner spaced out through the evening. Sometimes I’ll have other snacks like 30g of almonds, some Skyr yoghurt with fruit, maybe a chicken breast or piece of fish, etc. I’m finding it pretty easy to stick to about 1200-1400 calories per day, so I’ve dropped over a stone in 6 weeks. Prior to this I was doing intermittent fasting—600 calories of huel for 3 days each week, eating healthy the other 4 days—and I dropped about 3/4 of a stone in 5 months, so I decided I needed to keep closer track of how many calories I was having.

Hormone-wise it doesn’t seem to have had an impact. I track my cycle pretty closely and have found it is affected by doing a very low carb diet but everything seems to be ticking along fine in there with huel. I did wonder if weight loss at this rate would cause me not to ovulate but it hasn’t. Maybe you’d find the hormones would settle down if your food keeps your insulin levels under control and you’re not having blood-sugar fluctuations—I’ve had friends who’ve reported that.

I know what you mean about craving the sugary snacks! The only thing that works for me with that is to just not have them around. I make my husband keep his in his car!

2 Likes
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So a bloke, so no help in the hormone dept, but a fellow biker, and I’m trying to get back into my smaller gear as well :slight_smile:

For me, when I’m working from home, I have a 1 scoop brekkie. Followed by another mid morning, 2 scoops at lunch and another 1 scoop afternoon tea.

I’ve found that I’ve never been hungry doing this.

I do fill up the shaker and give it another shake to get the rest out, so I’m also including a lot more water in my diet which is a) probably good, and b) likely helping with the hunger pangs.

What several people have said, and I’ve found it too, is that if you woof down a huel shake, it doesn’t seem to sate you as long as sipping it or making it last a little longer, so that’s something to consider.

Fingers crossed for you.

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Good luck with your journey.

I would say that, personally, I found that when I blended my Huel so it was quite a smooth consistency, I found it filled me up less than when I shook it by hand. If you’re not finding it is filling after your Nutribullet has had a go on it, try it by hand.

I tend to have my Huel with frozen fruit, so what I do is blend the fruit and water, and then mix that with the Huel by hand.

YMMV obviously!