Should I stop taking Multivitamins?

I have taken a multivitamin everyday for years, should I continue to do so or will Huel give me everything I need? Have just completed my first week of 125g Huel a day and two ‘normal’ meals, am going to try 250g for the next week. Does the amount of Huel you have make a big difference on the amount of vitamins you get?

Of course. Do you get as much vitamin C in one orange as you get in 4? Do you get as much much vitamin D from 15 minutes in the sun as you get in an hour?

250g Huel doesn’t give you your RDAs.

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Depends how healthy and nutritional your other two meals are. If they are full of plenty fresh veg and whole foods, then you probably don’t need the multivitamin, especially if the Huel has replaced the one nutritionless meal of the day eg toast or a sandwich.

As @hunzas says: no the one meal of Huel will only give you roughly a quarter of your RDAs.
But whether you need to top up on vitamins or not really depends on what else you are eating. Take into account omegas, minerals, and phytonutrients, not just vitamins. Are you getting enough of all of this? If not, you could top up on just what you feel you might be short on. Or continue with your usual multivitamin

@hunzas it seems so obvious now you’ve said it :sweat_smile: @ChristinaT from what you’ve said I think I will keep taking my multivitamins for now, if I start having only huel I will stop though. I will have to do some research on omegas, minerals and phytonutrients, don’t know enough about them to make any decisions on those. Thank you for replies! I don’t know much about nutrition but am trying to eat healthier :slightly_smiling_face:

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If I was you I’d continue to take a multivitamin. Or at least take a B12 and Vitamin D supplement. Those are the vitamins that are easy to become deficient in in the UK.

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Most days I eat 100% Huel, however I still take a multivitamin every other day because I’m on a low calorie diet. When I’m done losing weight and eat enough to cover my RDAs I’ll stop taking the vitamins.

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If you’re on 100% (500g) then no you’re getting everything you need.
But if your having less then that and any other maels your having are quite unhealthy then yes.

Edit: maels? Damn you dyslexia

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I have a question similar to this!
I’ve made this account just to ask this:
If I’m a overweight male, and need 2000 calories per day, I need 1500 calories per day to LOSE weight. I’m trying to do a 100% Huel diet for (hopefully) MAYBE a full year.
Now here’s my question (I haven’t seen this one being answered anywhere before):

If I consume 1500 calories per day (375g of Huel Glutenfree mixed with water, according to my calculations), and do some cardio every day, I will lose weight. good.
BUT!
I will be missing some much needed vitamins and fats that way, right?
1500 is 25% LESS calories than 2000, and 25% LESS Huel…
that can’t be healthy, right?
Is there any reason to be worried and shall I buy any supplements to add to my 100% Huel (1500cal/day) diet?
(I’ve been using expensive Iron, Omega 3, Vitamin C, B and D supplements for years, so money is not a factor here)

Thanks for your help in advance!

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Hi @hattorihanzo93 :blush: welcome!

My personal opinion on this is that 1500 calories of Huel would probably give you a pretty healthy diet full of all the nutrition you need, including sufficient levels of vitamins.

If you take a high quality multivitamin and mineral, there is the risk you may be having too high levels of certain vitamins.

My own personal approach has to been to have Huel plus fresh vegetables, which I feel tops up my nutrient levels a lot but without adding many calories. I also top up with certain vitamins and supplements that I have found help me personally (for me these are D3, C, evening primrose, probiotics (no longer needed with v3 Huel!), K2, milk thistle, and at my time of the month folic acid and iron).

I think it’s important to tailor your vitamin levels to your own personal needs. You could do this by sticking to your Huel diet for 3 months then go get a full blood analysis from your GP (they will often do this if you are on a calorie deficit diet to check for any deficiencies). 3 months is enough time for any deficiencies to start showing up, but not long enough for any detrimental effects or major symptoms. So you can be sure you’re not doing yourself any long term damage. Bear in mind - 500 calories is a very sensible (and ideal) deficit - you are unlikely to develop any problems and should find it relatively easy to maintain this deficit long term.
Another option is to go see a nutritionist at the beginning of your weight loss journey. They can sit down and analyse your vitamin intake (nice and easy with Huel!) and compare this to your age, height, weight, activity level, medical history etc and also take into account any symptoms / indications that you may already be deficient in certain nutrients, and then make recommendations on what you should be supplementing. If you go down this route, be sure to find a highly recommended and well qualified nutritionist - there are many ‘rubbish’ ones out there for want of a better word!

Good luck!
Keep us posted on your progress :+1:t2:

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Just wanted to add…
These are excellent vitamins to supplement anyway and are safe (and beneficial) to take at higher levels.
You may want to continue with these particular ones anyway, especially if cost isn’t a factor to you.

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thanks for the quick reply!
funny thing is, I’ve just BEEN to a doctor/nutritionist and did a full body scan - MRI, blood tests, full body checkup etc. - I’m 100% fine (Just a lil bit chubby, but that’s my own opinion)
I don’t drink, do drugs or smoke. (thought I had cancer for some reason, and while it can never be ruled out 100%, she told me I’m “gonna be fine” (<-the docs words…)

I really want to do a 100% huel diet, no coffee no fruit no vegetables, no alcohol no cake no ANYTHING, I think I can do this (I don’t really miss food when fasting or like the taste of any food at all tbh)
I just need to know how much Huel I’m going to need every month for a full year, and if I will notice any serious deficits (while still taking very high quality Omega 3, Vitamin C, B and D supplements…)
(had low iron/zinc levels and low energy for a while when going vegan, until I started taking supplements)
Of course I will go to the doc after 10 weeks or so and get a complete checkup again since it is 100% free where I live.
I just want to know if anyone else has tried a diet while on Huel, and whether some problems with nutrients arose or not.

(I do not question the fact that Huel contains everything a human needs (sans water), AND is better than it’s competitor’s products in many ways, but I don’t know if anyone thought about the loss of nutrients when reducing the daily intake while dieting with Huel…got me a bit worried if this will end in desaster if I don’t re-calculate)

This is so personal though… I’m not sure anyone else’s experience is going help you.
But yes - loads of people have been on 100% Huel and calorie deficits :slight_smile:
Go to the ‘weight loss‘ category and also try the search function to find some pretty interesting experiences from other people.
I’ve heard plenty success stories!

Not seen too many (if any?) posts on people developing deficiencies whilst on 100% Huel.
But, for example quite a lot of people (myself included) need to supplement with d3 despite Huel having sufficient levels. It’s not just about what you take in, in your diet, but how good your body is at absorbing the nutrients, and other factors such as lifestyle.

I’d say you’re doing exactly the right thing - you’ve had tests done pre-diet, and plan another check at 10weeks.
It will be interesting to see if any deficiencies develop during those 10 weeks of Huel only.
I suspect not though… because 1500 calories is a good amount of Huel. If you were cutting to under 1200 calories then you would have more reason to be concerned about deficiencies

@hattorihanzo93 welcome to the world of Huel and the forum. :smiley:
I mostly do 100% Huel at 1500 calories a day to lose weight and I also wondered about the Vitamin thing as I would be getting less so I just take a basic multi vitamin everyday without crazy high levels in them so I don’t have too much.
However I also thought, hang on a minute I had such a poor diet before I started Huel I was probably hardly getting much Vitamins anyway so even if I just consume 3 Huels a day at 1500 calories without taking any multivitamins I am still getting a decent amount compared to before Huel.

I think continuing to take multivitamins is not a risk to health. It becomes a risk to health when excess metals are consumed. Generally multivitamins bolster the immune system. This especially beneficial when considered in the context of the stress vulnerability model (stress Illness link).

Hi @hattorihanzo93 I like your name

You shouldn’t become deficient in anything if your on 1500. I would just worry about the sustainability of that calorie deficit with men normally needing about 1000 more then that.

What’s your exercise like?

@Berserker makes a good point. Have you actually calculated this 2000 calories? Or just guessed?
2000 is quite low for a man, especially if you’re overweight (the heavier you are, the more calories you burn), and are doing some exercise.
Make sure you calculate your accurate daily calorie expenditure and then subtract 500 from that.

I lost about 4 stone and I worked out through trial and error on the scales I needed a net of 1500 calories to lose weight (fat). Any more and I stayed the same. I did this mainly by eating say 2000 calories and doing 500 calories of exercise or 2500 and 1000 calories of exercise. 1000 calories of exercise is easy if you’re running cycling or rowing.

On days I didn’t exercise I tried to stay close to 1500 calories which to be honest was tough.

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here’s my calculations as well as an example…
using these calculations it says I’d need 6 Bags of Huel Gluten Free per Month,
which is 84 meals, or 375g of Huel per Day (Mixed with Water and daily Vitamin Supplements.)
Comes to a total of 161,10 € per Month, which is roughly half of what I’m spending at the moment.
So you’re telling me to go for it?
Is there anything else I need to consider?
Sorry for all the off-topic replies, I’m kinda derailing OP’s post (sorry Emily)

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Exactly same as what I did, 2000 calories was too much as the scales stayed the same and once I dropped to 1500 calories I started losing weight.

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I don’t know if multivitamins are made evenly but if you could verify that they are and you are still concerned by a shortfall you could buy a tablet cutter and cut the tablet into 4’s and then you can take 25% of a tablet instead.

What I mean by evenly is you need to somehow find out that all of the iron isn’t concentrated together and all of the zinc isn’t concentrated together etc.

IMO though if you’re eating 1500 calories of Huel per day you will be fine.

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