Hi everybody who is interested in Huel experiences
At first I have to apologize for my English (it’s not my mother tongue).
I’m 61, 164cm tall and weigh at the moment 67kg. I’d like to shed some kilos as so many other people do but actually I’m more interested in healthy and sustainable food. A few years ago I managed to be on a more or less plant and fungus based diet for almost a year (I don’t call it vegan in order to not raise a discussion about that term - even so I also used vegan soap and stuff). I must say I never felt better back than healthwise than during that year. I did a lot of research because I wanted to know what I did. I had checked my blood in advance (vitamins, minerals, hormones etc.) and after 10 months and the results were just great. But life’s sometimes a bitch … sorry for my language… and I ended up eating as before (too much sugar, red meat, alcohol… but also good stuff as a lot of fruit, veggies, nuts). But I always felt sad that I wasn’t strong enough to avoid animal suffering. I love nature. It plays an important role in my life. So I’ve learned to accept that it is eating and being eaten. From a human point of view nature is cruel and relentless and its number of horrible tricks to take prey or make sure your brood survives are countless. Though I don’t have to be part of that cruelty I can accept it. It’s just as nature works. But when I saw the movie “Earthlings” I couldn’t stop crying. And then I knew: For me it wasn’t about eating meat or not to, it was about stopping to facilitate how humans treat animals. But humans are weak, me too. At some point it just got too complicated to stay “vegan”. I had to prepare 2 different meals because my husband has difficulties with a lot of the healthy stuff you have to eat when you go vegan and want to get all the necessary macro- and micronutrients ( he hates tofu, beans etc.). But he’s not the only one to blame. It was my own weakness.
And then I stumbled over Huel. I can’t remember where I first read about it. But the idea of eating a plant based diet again, not to have worries about the right amount of nutrients AND the amount of calories: I was sold! It seemed almost too perfect to be true.
Now I’m a week on Huel with around 1000 kcal of my momentarily 1500 kcal intake a day. Because of social reasons I try to join (that means I cook it ) the dinner but leave out the carbs as noodles or rice.
My experience so far:
My digestion is perfect! The first few days I had some faint stomach pains and had to use the bathroom more often. But nothing really bad.
The really amazing part is that I have no cravings at all! And usually I’m “able” to eat a lot of chocolate or biscuits or whatever snacks.Although the Huel shakes aren’t sweet at all (I actually expected that well), they satisfy my hunger for sweets and my normal hunger. Actually because I’m on a calorie deficit (- 500) I feel some kind of hunger but it’s far away from craving and easily to manage. And when it’s about what I really would like to have then it’s another Huel shake. And I’m not on a mission here !!
And last but not least: I’m just happy and motivated and I sleep very well.
I’m not naïve. So I know that pleasant feeling will probably last not for ever. Humans are strange beings and also adjust very fast to positive things… so I’m aware that there are other days coming and I will feel worse. But so be it. I will see. At the moment I’m very happy.
Sorry that my post ended up to be so long. I intend to keep you informed but don’t be afraid - it won’t be too often. But maybe my English is too bad and my words didn’t make any sense to you - just let me know. I won’t be offended .
Hey kassandra, your post chimes with me, the vegan issue is absolutely no. 1 and I was finding it tricky to eat a strictly vegan and vaguely balanced diet with enough protein - and keeping more or less calorie controlled. Huel has fixed all that.
Enjoyed reading your post (& your English is excellent!).
Thanks so much for this post, it’s really made my day and I feel so positive after reading it - your optimism and realistic outlook. Thank you!
We are all weak at times but it’s important to focus on our intentions. You can either believe your impact is all or nothing (if you can’t do it perfectly then why bother at all), or you can take positive steps in the right direction and have far more impact for a longer time. The latter, your outlook, is surely the best and most realistic.
Roll with the punches, it sounds like you’ve got this one together. Great to have you here and can’t wait to hear how it goes!
@epicure@ooboo@Tim_Huel: Thanks so much to all of you for your kind response. It really makes me happy and motivated to keep going - with Huel of course and posting my experiences if / when they are worth telling. In the meanwhile I like to browse through the forum (I’m btw very impressed by the decency and high-quality discussions in this forum).
Because there’ll be no dinner with other people this evening I’m going 100% Huel today - curious whether it will change anything. One small detail maybe: I almost never have funny or joyful dreams - but yes it happened in the last 2 nights .
@epicure Exactly . But I wouldn’t count on that .
My results so far:
I’m on day 9: 65,8kg, absolutely no problem with my stomach or digestion (yesterday I was on 100% Huel). I still sleep well and less than before ( I wake up quite early and I’m just full of energy and in a good mood - my husband gets curious and a bit jealous ). To be honest I WAS hungry yesterday but not craving anything unhealthy. Because I’m still on a calorie deficit (planned -500, according to my health-app it was yesterday -650 because I did an additional indoor-rowing-workout) I understood and didn’t get frustrated. I know myself very well. When I’m planning to lose some weight (still 6kg to go) I need a fast success in the beginning before I can slow down a bit. But I realize that I now have to be reasonable in order to not push myself too hard. And my goal regarding Huel is not just to lose weight but to live on it as a proper food source. According to my app I need about 1700-2200 calories depending on my activity of course (on the average it was 1900 cal in the last 12 months; could be a bit more in the future because I feel more energetic…?). That would result in about 5 shakes or 4 shakes and 1-2 bars.
I didn’t try the h&s yet. Just didn’t feel like. Don’t know why. Maybe the pictures don’t appeal to me… But I can imagine to use some creativity there by adding some veggies, hot chili’s etc. And if I went 100% Huel I would like some hot and savoury meal for sure. At the moment I’m happy with my shakes and now and then a bar and mostly a “normal” small dinner.
My favorite flavours so far are banana BE and chocolate WE or chocolate and coffee combined (1 scoop each). I’m not a huge fan of the berry flavour, so I’ve added 300g of frozen raspberries into the blender (500ml water, 2 scoops of strawberries & cream BE and the raspberries): that was quite yummy although I find the taste still a bit artificial. Of the bars my absolute favorite is salted caramel ! I’ve also tried some of the flavour boosters but seem not to need them. Maybe I try later a shake of u&u and add there some flavour booster.
That was it for today. A nice day to everyone!
That’s totally fine then! You don’t need to like all the Huel stuff, sounds like you’ve got a good routine here! They are really tasty, but in your own time, if at all
Same! So so good! Banoffee Complete Protein Bar might be edging its way up the rankings though for me!
Just a short follow up: It’s now been 13 days since I’ve started with Huel. ”Unfortunately” I only managed 1 100-%-Huel-day out of social reasons, but it’s always 1 shake for breakfast and 1 for lunch and sometimes a bar in the afternoon. I still feel good and full of energy. I alternate between WE and BE, got the idea that BE keeps me longer satisfied, but tbh I don’t feel a huge difference. Luckily no stomach issues, no insomnia etc. Yesterday I tried for the first time h&s “tomato and herb” and was really surprised how much I liked it. But for my taste it needs longer than 5’ to avoid “hard” pieces and I also had to add more water (“complaining” on a high level I know ). Now I’m curious how the other h&s meals taste. But I don’t want to open too much different bags (expiry date).
Weight wise I’m on track: with a deficit of 500kcals I lost 1 kg in 2 weeks. Since week 2 I feel my hunger regularly but it’s manageable and there are at least no cravings. Giving up sugar was absolutely no problem. But a glass of wine now and then I kind of miss.
I’m really looking forward to the time I’ll have reached my weight loss goal and I can eat/drink one shake more + a self cooked dinner (or h&s).
I was thinking about the people who just gulp their shakes down. In Switzerland we have the expression “den Wein beißen”, to chew the wine in order to express that you should drink it slowly and enjoy every bit of it. Maybe that applies also to Huel . It’s called food anyway .
I made my mac and cheese the other day and while waiting on it softening I carried on with other things and completely forgot all about it. It was then stone cold. I popped it in the microwave to warm through and it was the best I have ever tasted.
Tried yesterday the Mexican chilli, could become my favorite. Because I’m mostly in a good mood since I started Huel my husband got curious and asked if he could try some of the h@s. So he had some green curry which he quite liked . Nevertheless I don’t think he’ll gonna be a hueligan in the near future. But still nice that he showed some interest and supports me.
Would just like to give a thank you to the Huel-Team .
Thank you for being back of the community! And you got your husband involved too, I’m sure in a short while he will be a Hueligan. It takes some people a while to come around!
Just like to share my experience regarding hunger feelings and cravings in the last few days. It’s really interesting to realize how in the past years I always was kind of worried that I didn’t get enough macro- and micronutrients into my diet. I tried to eat healthy and at the same time not to much. But my “brain” knew so many ways to trick me into eating more than I actually needed: Oh, only a few nuts… they are so healthy. A bit more of that or that vitamin cannot harm… and I need probably more protein….and popcorn hasn’t that much calories and has a filling effect and it’s vegan….and dark chocolate is kind of recommended, isn’t it? I’m sure you know more of that sort of tricks. I also realized recently how I was afraid of feeling hungry. But now I know it wasn’t hunger, it was craving where in the end I lost control and not only ate the healthy piece of dark chocolate but the whole thing.
With Huel I learned for the first time in my life (shame on me) the huge difference between hunger and craving. I don’t know whether it’s only because I know that Huel is nutritionally complete or whether my body really reacts differently because it gets what it needs. But with Huel all the craving has just vanished. And the feeling of being hungry is easily endurable. Even yesterday when I did some kind of test to get to know more about my hunger feelings (my calorie intake was 1200 and the outtake 2350 kcal) I had absolutely no real wish to eat more. I was expecting difficulties getting asleep or that I would get awake because of a nagging hunger. Nothing. I told my husband and he reminded me that I was complaining 3 days ago that I was pretty hungry. But when I thought about that I realized it was after I had a small portion of the self cooked dinner instead of Huel.
Anyway: I’m only in week 3…continuing with a calorie deficit of 500 and at least 2/3 of Huel… let’s see and wait what happens.
Sounds like you’re going really well kassandra.
Must admit I’ve had a few issues with cravings the last few days, but it’s mostly for more Huel. Too tasty!
3 weeks now since I’ve started with Huel. I’ve lost 2kg (the weight-lost -line is indeed no steady one - weighing once a week or so would be enough but I’m too curious whether “it” works). Because I not only go for a calorie deficit but also do more workouts I’m quite sure it’s a fat loss and not only water.
I’m alternating between 60% and 100% of Huel and still feel amazing - not all the time though but a lot more than in my past. I’ve come to realize (on a deeper level) that seeking comfort in unhealthy food and drinks just doesn’t work on the long run. Sometimes I woke up in the middle of the night feeling guilty and unwell. The feeling of comfort only lasted for a short time. But still - I repeated the same behavior every day. It reminds me when I used to smoke. I can’t remember how often I tried to give up. The same feeling of guilt and “inner uncleanliness”, the awareness of betraying myself in some way. But then there was THAT day - no idea what was different - I just stopped smoking and never started again. That’s now many many years ago.
I don’t know how it is this time regarding my eating habits. The difference to giving up smoking is you cannot give up eating and I really wouldn’t like to do that . But I realize some shifting in my perception: I’m happy with smaller portions, I can more easily stop eating even before I’m totally full and I can say no even when others are eating sweets and drinking alcohol. I’m not going to be a “purist” but my system has to be told new rules and experiences. And for me it works pretty good with Huel. But I also know - should it be a long lasting success - that I have to be careful that I don’t roll into another kind of addiction. Fortunately it never really got out of hands and I would prefer it stays that way.
Follow-up. It’s now almost 4 weeks since I started my Huel-life. Down 3kg, what’s great. It never went that easy to lose weight. I’m mostly on a 500 kcal deficit and 70 % to (sometimes) 100% Huel. I love the Huel shakes the most but also Madras h&s and the Huel bars (actually every flavour). Re the shake flavours I like them as follows:
Banana BE
Chocolate WE
Mix of chocolate and coffee WE
Strawberries & cream BE
Salted caramel BE
So far everything’s good except that I’ve been getting dizzy the last 2,3 days. It actually starts when I go to bed and lie down (feels like I’m drunk). When I have to go to the bathroom at night I really have to be careful not to fall. I’ve checked the forum for similar experiences what made me think about the following:
I’ve always had a low BP (this morning 110 / 76 …. so kind of normal).
It could be a lack of sodium. Hence I try to add a bit salt to my shakes.
Maybe it’s a lack of water. I always drink a glas of water before my shakes. Too short after a shake I can only drink little water otherwise I’m getting a bit nauseous or just don’t feel well. Before my Hueltime drinking enough (water ) was never an issue. But maybe because of the shakes my system miscalculates the intake of fluids. And it’s wintertime so I don’t feel that much like drinking water as when it’s hot outside.
Maybe my weight loss went a bit too fast as well…. According to my calculations it should have been a 500kcal deficit. But because I’ve lost around 3kg instead of 2kg I obviously didn’t count my dinner- calories properly and overestimated them.
I don’t feel bad it’s just not comfortable. Anyway, I’m going to adjust according to the above thoughts and let you know how it goes. Further thoughts or experiences are very welcome.
) the dinner but leave out the carbs as noodles or rice.
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and motivated to keep going - with Huel of course and posting my experiences if / when they are worth telling. In the meanwhile I like to browse through the forum (I’m btw very impressed by the decency and high-quality discussions in this forum).
! I’ve also tried some of the flavour boosters but seem not to need them. Maybe I try later a shake of u&u and add there some flavour booster.
). Now I’m curious how the other h&s meals taste. But I don’t want to open too much different bags (expiry date).
. It’s called food anyway 
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. But I realize some shifting in my perception: I’m happy with smaller portions, I can more easily stop eating even before I’m totally full 
and I can say no even when others are eating sweets and drinking alcohol. I’m not going to be a “purist” but my system has to be told new rules and experiences. And for me it works pretty good with Huel. But I also know - should it be a long lasting success - that I have to be careful that I don’t roll into another kind of addiction. Fortunately it never really got out of hands and I would prefer it stays that way.