I’ve been using Huel for around 8 months. I work a four week rotation on an oil platform overseas and have been using Huel to supplement the low quality food that gets served up out here. I’ve been vegan for just under a year.
I’ve decided to only consume Huel for my main meals for the duration of my next trip at work. I tend to work out a lot while I am on shift, I usually do a lunch time cardio session for 40mins on 5/7 days and weight train on a one day on, one day off rotation. I usually aim for 350-400 (probably inaccurate) cals for my cardio sessions, I currently have no means of measuring my weight sessions.
I’m planning to have four, four scoop Huels a day (608 cals a shake, 2432 cals a day). Sadly I forgot to purchase scales, so will only have a scoop to measure out my portions. I am going to supplement this with a multivitamin and some snacks (mostly nuts) spread throughout the day.
I have six full bags of Huel with me, which should work out at 4.9 four scoop shakes over 28 days, here’s an general idea of how I am going to space out my shakes:
Shake for breakfast at approximately 0600.
Shake after cardio session at approximately 1230.
Shake at approximately 1500.
Shake after evening Gym session at approximately 2000.
I’ll weigh in tomorrow and continue to monitor my weight throughout the month. I am also hoping to post regular updates.
Weighed in at 87.4kg before yesterday’s cardio session, nice and simple chest and tri session at the end of the day.
Weight wise, I don’t want to lose too much more, just aiming to tone up around the mid section. Before going vegan I was chubby and strong, floating around 98kg.
Don’t recall feeling too hungry throughout the day and I slept well last night.
Felt satisfied for most of the day, had plenty of energy during lunch time cardio session.
Had a bit of a headspace wobble, a couple of people at work are telling me I look gaunt and too thin, however not really sure I value the opinions of these people. Checked up with some close friends and family just to be sure.
Had a good sleep and toilet time is close to normal service.
Feel like I have plenty of energy, but leg day will be the true test. Once I’ve done one round of break-in sessions I am planning on a 10x10 GVT for the rest of the trip, just to make tracking my progress as easy as possible.
The gym at work isn’t properly equipped for a good leg workout, I have to snatch anything I want to squat which is going to limit the amount of weight I can lift. There’s a Smith machine but I really dislike using them to squat.
Quickly settling in to the new routine, felt satisfied most of the day. Mood was generally upbeat, considering I am locked away from the real world. Pushed my afternoon shake back to 1700 with the idea that it would better serve me for my back workout. No cardio yesterday.
Slept well, but could have done with a little more, that’s not unusual. Toilet time is normal, my deposits are shrinking.
Weighed in at 85.7kg last night, I am going to re-weigh myself today…
No concerns to report, had a decent cardio session at lunch. Weighed myself again, came in at 85.4kg. I’m actually starting to think the first weigh-in may have been out, I’ll continue to monitor over the next few days.
Slept well. Toilet time is normal, but it’s sliding from early in the morning to mid morning.
Leg day was 10x10 back squats with 50kg on the olympic bar. Not sure if that’s a reasonable weight or not, as I am the only person on the platform that trains legs. Also completed 4x10 pull ups as it’s always been a weakness of mine and something I’d like to improve.
Slept well, toilet time is normal, and I think I could do with drinking a little more water.
Writing this early as I’ve just finished 2 out of my 6 bags. It would appear that the amount I calculated I would need to do a full month of Huel while offshore was out slightly…
By slightly, I think I mean out by quite a lot. Also had a little panic, I had it in my head that each bag is 14000cal rather than 7000cal, so I freaked out a little when I mistakenly came to the realisation that I’d consumed 28000cals of huel in just under six days… kinda worrying that I’m an engineer, I’m sure I’ll be found out eventually.
Anyway, with the correct numbers, I could go for around 17 days total, but that would leave me without a decent breakfast… So sadly this experiment is going to stop a little sooner than I’d planned, probably at the two week mark.
Toilet time first thing in the morning… that’s probably all I should say.
Definitely seeing a slow change in my mid-section problem area, a vein is starting to pop on my hip. I’ve never been able to effectively cut before, my arms and legs have been looking ripped up for quite some time and I am starting to see some progress on my chest, but I still seem to be storing quite a bit of fat on my belly.
Can anyone weigh-in as to whether this is typical, is it worth trying to target it with specific exercises, or should I just carry on as normal?
Re: Spot reduce—unfortunately, it isn’t possible to reduce fat in one specific area (wouldn’t we all love that!) ((unless you go for liposuction)). We all store fat and distribute fat differently, so the only thing we can do is an overall reduction in body fat. However, exercises targeting specific muscle groups can still build up the lean mass in that area, which would be shown when your body’s overall fat percentage decreases Probably not what you’d want to hear, but you seem to be on the right track so all the best!!
I heard from a trainer recently that men who store their fat mostly on their belly have poor insulin sensitivity. Improving your sensitivity results in fat being stored more evenly over your body so you look better.
Day ten done, I’m quite surprised as to how easy this has been, and I’m a little annoyed that I’m going to have to call it quits in a couple of days because I got my numbers wrong… although saying that, you’d look a little bit weird checking in for a flight with 12 bags of Huel.
No issues with hunger, afternoon shake ended up sliding to around 1800, so I had my last meal of the day around an hour before going to bed. Slept well, made sure I drank some water before hitting the hay, woke up feeling less dehydrated.
Leg day tomorrow.
Toilet time first thing in the morning… not unpleasant, but not exactly consistent. I refer you to the Bristol Stool Chart. A Type 3 start followed by Type 7.
@ElectroDan Thanks Dan, I’ll have a read up about that, I am fairly sure I am being quite critical about my body.
