Run my numbers please

Hi folks,

I have ordered Huel to see if it will help me lose some weight. I am a little bit lost in all the calculations of what to take.

I am male, 52 years old and currently weight 136kg. My height is about six foot one inches.

Throughout my life I have gone up and down in weight. I have always had to work hard to keep weight off. I took 20kg off in one year some time back by pounding the gym and being super careful about what I ate. It all came back. I’ve had some success on the 5:2 diet before but have not been able to sustain it long enough for the kind of weight i need to shift. I have gone through periods of running and taking lots of exercise but then got laid out a few years ago by asthma and various joint problems. Asthma not thankfully under control. I hope to incorporate exercise into my forthcoming regime but am at present doing very little other than a bit of walking.

What i hope to do is use Huel for breakfast and for my evening meal - and have a normal meal at lunchtime. This is likely to be a fairly low calorie veggie curry or sometimes soup.

My question is - how much Huel should I be having for breakfast and in the evening? Steady sustainable loss is what I am after.

All thougths welcome.

You need to work out how many calories your body needs. Google BMR calculator and run through one of those. This will tell you the level of calories you body uses to maintain and survive.
From there aim for a calorie deficit - 500-750 calories per day. Then track what you eat and be consistent. Use an app like MyFitnessPal to log your calories.
The amount of Huel you need will then be easy to work out. Each gram of Huel is 4 calories. So if you had 100g of Huel, it would make a 400 calorie meal.

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OK, let me help you out quickly.

If we run down your numbers by a calorie calculator (just the first one on Google), the estimations are:

  • 2,717kcal to maintain/ ~2,394kcal to lose/2,218kcal to lose .5kg a week (I believe for you it will be more).

So if you are planning on having 3 meals only (and nothing more); each meal should be around 700kcal. That is honestly a fairly large Huel (will not fit on your Huel shaker).

I think a 500kcal Huel with a banana or some similar additive could work as your breakfast and something similar during the evening.

However, I think for starters you could go for 500 Huels plus two 500kcal meals and see where you go from there.

There are multiple threads around if you are looking for motivation.

E.g. Answer to a similar thread:

Now how to do it short version:
1- calculate amount of calories you need (MFP).
2- Reduce calories by 100kcal ( you can put lose 0.5kg or 1lb in MFP). This is important since you might need to gradually increase.
3- Weight yourself (take picture, trust it helps).
4- Weight yourself next week. See how you progress. You didn’t lose any weight? If it is week one be honest with yourself and think about what you did wrong. Keep going.
5- Increase deficit by another 100kcal whenever you hit a plateau)
6- Achieve your Goal.
Important remarks.
a) This is a Marathon, not a sprint. You had a bad day? You cheated? This week it wasn’t so good? IT DOES NOT MATTER, KEEP GOING. Think what a day means in one year. Don’t throw away you efforts and keep going.
b) Sports ALWAYS help. Cardio, weights, walking, cycling. Is there anything you like then do it.
c) Being active overall helps.
d) Be honest to yourself

Also, I would strongly recommend downloading something like myfitnesspal to help you track your calories. This has been of huge help in my weight loss journeys.

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Are you as good with Lotto numbers? I could do with a cash injection. PM me the ones for tonight.

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No one won last night’s and it’s £154 million on Tuesday.

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Ah, ok perhaps @latestfuels can PM me those ones instead then.

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Sorry, I was going to but then greed got me. Currently on my way to the Maldives…

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It’s pretty big to start with, but I have 4 of those shakes a day.
Using a 1L shaker though, as the Huel shaker isn’t big enough.

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Thanks Tom

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