Not getting the gym results - what should I be consuming?

Weight loss
1

Hello!

I’ve been using Huel for around a year now. I initially signed up because I hate cooking (been in my flat almost a year and still not used the oven!) and found myself spending a lot of money on convenience food - so I wanted to save time and money.

However, after a year off, I’m back into my gym routine and am doing this with Huel for the first time. I’m around 34" waist and want to go back to my normal 30". Normally, I’d go all out with the weighed chicken and veg and see results fairly quickly.

Using Huel, I’ve not seen results as fast and I’m guessing it’s because I just bung scoops into a NutriBullet and blend it up without much thought. I’ve tried reading up the ideal consumption but find it a minefield of acronyms and terms that I don’t really understand.

I’m 26, 6ft, 81kg. Do 3-4 gym sessions per week. 25 mins cardio and 40-50 mins weights. I generally take 3-4 shakes per day, not sure how many scoops as I blend them and transfer into bigger containers but I’d say 10-12 scoops do my breakfast/lunch. I also use diet whey after the gym.

Depending on my day, if I’m fancying solid food, I’ll swing by Morrison’s salad bar for a lil pasta/salad combo or Tesco for a meal deal. Three days a week (when I go to work) I have porridge, melon and grapes for breaky. Of a weekend I generally consume like 1 or 2 shakes per day due to lack of routine - I just don’t get hungry when I’m not at work/uni.

Typing this out I realise I should be changing the solid food options as they’re just processed carbs. I’m just not sure if I’m consuming enough/too much Huel (of a weekday - I know I need to up my weekend intake).

I’ve had it before (as a teen) where I had the notion of just cutting calories right back and lived off salad and fruit, went to the gym 6 nights a week and found results to be very slow. I’m guessing because my body retained fat to function. Around 21, a PT put me on a meal plan with lots of nutritious whole foods and the inches dropped off me.

With Huel, I just don’t know what direction to go in. How many scoops? Do I do these ‘hacks’ and mix it half with protein? What kind of foods should I consume to complement them?

I’m ideally looking for simple advice of how to consume the right amount to power me through work, uni, the gym and get this tummy flat for summer! I want to make sure I’m utilising Huel properly before thinking about the worst eventuality - going back to food and MEAL PREP (ughhh)

2

You’re missing quite a simple and fundamental step in all of this - Calories.

Use a TDEE calculator to find your TDEE.

Depending on goal, eat an appropriate number of calories. Record everything you eat in an app like MyFitnessPal.

To gain muscle mass, eat at a caloric surplus, typically recommended at 250kcal.

To maintain body weight, eat at your TDEE.

To lose body fat, eat between 250 and 750 under your TDEE (depending on experience and tolerance).

You cannot do both, however. You cannot (in most scenarios) gain muscle mass while in a caloric deficit. In the same regard, it’s highly unlikely to lose body fat while in a caloric surplus.

Once you’ve decided on a caloric intake to suit your goals, weigh yourself once a day and track it either in a spreadsheet or MyFitnessPal. Weigh at the exact same time every day, namely once you wake up and after you use the toilet but before eating or drinking.

If your weight increases when you expected it to decrease, lower your calories again or verify you’re measuring/weighing food correctly.

If your weight falls when you’re trying to gain, increase your calories or again, verify you’re eating the correct amount and not measuring incorrectly.

Also - It’s worth mentioning that you’ll never end up with your goal body unless your training program is on point. For this, I’d recommend /r/Fitness: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/intro

The primary reason for doing cardio is to increase caloric expenditure and therefore a caloric deficit.
The primary reason for lifting weights is to gain muscle mass.

Ensure these goals are not conflicting and overlapping one another.

6 Likes
3

Amazing thanks, I’ve had a look at my TDEE and it’s saying I need to take in approx 2800 calories, 2300 if cutting - way below what I’m currently doing around 1500 per day.

Main goal is to lose weight so I’ll focus on that, been trying to do both.

Oh wow, a lot of info on the Reddit page - gonna be a late one trawling through ha. Thanks very much :slight_smile:

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It’s a good idea to weigh your Huel for a better idea of how many calories you’re consuming. You can get cheap digital scales at Lidl sometimes but probably easier to find one online. It’s 4 calories per gram, so a 36 g scoop is 144 calories. I have two scoops to a Huel meal so it tends to be just under 300 calories.

5

Good luck on your journey.

I agree with GTIuG, look at your calories and keep monitoring. You seem to be a guy that can handle consistency, which is they key to success in this area.

You’ve got this

1 Like
6

Once you get into it, sticking to a calorie controlled diet is easy with Huel and MyFitnessPal @Leeum93. I am almost at my goal weight now after eating at a 500 calorie deficit for the past 18 weeks. I have achieved a steady loss of 1lb per week, give or take. Good luck with yours! :+1:

4 Likes
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Are you training hard?

Are you sure?

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8

If you’re not a vegan, mix Casein or Whey with the Huel. Also, besure you’re training properly, getting plenty of sleep, and eating a surplus of calories. You may need 5 servings of huel to reach over 2000 calories.

2000 calories is a recommendation by the FDA, and usually it will maintain weight. To grow muscle, you’re going to need more than 2000 calories, otherwise you’ll lose weight and muscle since weightlifting will cut into that.

Example: eat 2000 calories, lose 300 in the gym. You end the day with 1700 calories. See how bad that is?

Someone correct me if I’m wrong