Routine needed!

Weight loss
1

Hi all!

I have just purchased my first two HUEL meal replacement packs.

Do any of you guys have any experience with this product and if so I would like to hear your routines. I am looking to lose some weight in the process.

I am thinking I will be using HUEL for breakfast 7am lunch 1pm then try change my 7pm evening meal to something healthier.

Appreciate any help guys!

2

Ok,

First of all good luck.

Now few quick tips:

  • I would start by swapping 1 meal a day. Why? Because you do not know how your body will react to Huel. 95% of people will have no problems, some will experience abnormal bowel movement and the minority will have some issue. Do this for 3-5 days and then you will be able to swap.

  • This is also good to psychologically getting used to it. You do not want to go full on and get tired of it. Although, there are ways to avoid that.

-As such, I would pick the meal you struggle the most with, or you are most likely to have a bad alternative.

  • For the mornings, you could add coffee to your huel or some fruits (banana, blueberries) for the extra nutrients, or some honey or peanut butter (but this will add calories considerably. There are plenty of good recipies and tricks out there.

-A blender will increase your possibilities considerably.

  • I do not know if you work at home or you have lunch away. Lunch tends to be where people cannot fully customize their Huel (because they are at work). You could use the flavourings from Huel (mixed reviews) or prepare your second Huel in the morning (I used to do this) and take it to work. It will last fine.

  • Things you can add to your Huel: banana, strawberry, mango, blueberries, honey, cacao powder, nutella, peanut butter, nuts, ice, coffee, milk (almond milk), ice cream, biscuits, cereal, protein powder, flavourings, yogurt (I guess), and many more things that more creative people than I have tried.

-I used to add protein powder to mine (because the powder was flavoured) or oats if I wanted to charge it in calories. I also had some MyProtein flav drops that I would use from time to time to change.

Regarding the weight loss part, the standard recommendations (for more you can look here):

  • This is a lifestyle change. Thus is a slow process, take it with patient.
  • Track your calories, it is the most important thing at the beginning.
  • Build your other meals around the MR calories.
  • Sport is not necessary but helps.

For me when I am trying to lose weight 2 things help particularly:
-Drinking a lot of water.

  • Being busy so I do not think about food.
    Bonus: go to bed earlish so I do not eat more during the night (when I am the weakest)

Good luck and enjoy your Huel

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3

Thank you for talking the time to reply in such detail!

I will do a bit of research on calories and what I should be doing. My job is physical and outdoors so I think I will start with swapping my lunch.

Thanks again!

4

I would also endorse drinking plenty of water. This will help avoid constipation (which some people have had a problem with due to the extra fibre in Huel). I’ve had to up my liquid intake quite a lot, which took a bit of getting used to, but now it is second nature.

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Have a look at my diary here as I’m doing almost exactly the same (replacing breakfast and lunch and eating a proper/healthy evening meal). I’ve been following my regime for a month today and have lost a stone.

@Latestfuels has given some really good tips, and as it turns out we are doing many of the same things but just to expand based on my experiences;

  • I started replacing both meals with 3 scoops of Huel, I’d read about the side effects some people had suffered, and it did make me nervous as my bowel is quite sensitive (probably due to the toxins I was pushing through it with the crap food I was eating) but I had no such side effects. At the risk of being slightly too open, my bowel movements have improved considerably - I think I have an intolerance to dairy and wheat so I used to have explosive morning movements but since I stopped eating cereals for breakfast - my bowel movements are much more healthy now; less (so obviously eating less rubbish which comes straight out the other end) and also healthier (in consistency). Sorry about talking poo at this time of day :smiley:

  • Try different things with your Huel - my absolute favourite is 2 scoops of Berry Huel a chopped banana and a handful of frozen berries - mixed up the night before and left in the fridge. The overnight chill helps to make the Huel smoother and reduce the grittiness some people speak of (some people like it, I don’t really).

  • Use something like MyFitnessPal to track your progress, as well as tracking calorie intake and weight movement, it becomes part of your routine and has a load of tools to help you along the way. I log all my calories and my Nokia scales are connected to it so jumping on the scales automatically syncs with the app - it’s also linked to my Apple Watch so I get a pretty accurate view of calorie burn through the day.

  • Don’t weigh yourself too much (or rather, don’t pay too much attention to interim weights) - my scales are in the hall and that means I jump on them every 1-2 days but I only take notice of my end of week weight - I noticed my interim weights are up and down pretty frequently but my “weigh-in” weight is the one I take notice of.

  • Be honest with yourself - if you cheat, log the calories regardless. I’ve been to a few football matches this month, and I’ve not avoided a hotdog - I just try to ensure I have calories in the bank to offset anything “naughty”

Best of luck, keep us updated with your progress.

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