Huel just doesn’t seem to be satisfying me like regular food. I’ve just started it this week, and for now, I’m just using to replace my lunchtime meals. I work in an office and usually just eat a sandwich, bagel or something, or occasionally a ramen pot or something less healthy like a pasty. I thought Huel would be a good way to replace these junky meals with something a bit more nutritious. I looked at what I eat normally, and it’s generally about 500 calories. Not much, but I have an office job, so I’m sat down all day, and that generally keeps me going through to me evening meal. I figured a 3-scoop Huel meal would be a fine substitute at 500 calories.
I’m only two days into this routine, and it’s the only thing about my diet I’ve changed. However, both days so far, although I’ve felt initially full, about an hour later my stomach felt a bit empty. I figured it’s probably not ‘real’ hunger and tried to ignore it, but both days so far, by around 16.30 it’s progressed to being pretty hungry and feeling like I need to eat.
Both days I’ve caved and eaten something else. Yesterday it was a flapjack, after which I felt fine again. Today it was a chocolate chip muffin (I know neither of these are ideal ,but I had no other food with me, they came from the office snack box), after which I STILL feel hungry!
Both of these snacks were around 500 calories and I wouldn’t normally have eaten them. So as a result of Huel, I’ve eaten around 500 calories over what I’d normally eat, and today I’m still hungry! Considering I was hoping to use Huel to drop a little weight once I’m used to it, this is less than ideal for me.
Does anyone know what I might be doing wrong, or have any suggestions?
Do you drink it fast or slow? You could try changing that, or adding more or less water, or substituting all or some of the water for a low fat milk. Or add a banana to your Huel, or take a banana to work as a healthy low cal afternoon snack. Try a few things and see what works for you. Good luck.
Feeling hungry doesn’t mean you’re hungry. Just willpower your way through. If you’re used to eating generic office crap your body will probably be craving if when you give it Huel instead.
Pint of water normally resets my hunger for a while.
Thanks all. I was definitely actually hungry - I was starting to feel a little shaky and my concentration was failing. I tried pints of water, tea, stuff like that, and it didn’t help.
Today I’ve made up 4-scoops worth and I’ll try splitting it in two and drinking it slower.
Honestly though between that and the awful taste, I’m not sure this is going to be the simple drop-in replacement for lunch that I thought it was, so maybe it’s not for me
I had to power through the shaky hunger phase, more so as I reduced my calorie intake by around 400kcals per day as well to shift some weight.
It does get easier, it’s just willpower but you should get used to it. The beauty of Huel is also that there is no reason why you can’t sip it over several hours to keep hunger at bay. My 400kcal Huel breakfast is now spread over about 4 hours.
In terms of taste, prep it the night before and leave it in the fridge if possible. I then put mine in an aluminium bottle, which easily keeps it pretty much ice cold all day long. I hate the artificial flavour of the boosts or the flavoured powders, way too much sweetener for me. However adding real fruit or coffee works wonders. I mix it up and add either a banana one day or a teaspoon of coffee the next (combining the two is also really nice). Use a blender if possible.
