I have been using Huel for about ten days. My primary purposes are a) weight loss and b) removal of food from the equation since I can’t not give in to temptation. Currently I have replaced 2 meals. As a theory Huel is perfect and I love the taste but my problem is I’m absolutely ravenously hungry. Dizzy, shaking hungry. A 3-scoop huel only satiates me for two hours and then I have to eat again.
I am female, in my 40s and around 300lbs. I have increased my Huel intake from 2 scoops per meal to 3 because I just couldn’t cope on 2 but 3 isn’t much better. What am I doing wrong? I don’t want to take in any more because I am fairly inactive due to a physical disability so I must keep my calorie intake low to lose.
Yesterday I had two scoops for breakfast. I then had to have some toast mid morning because I was so ravenous. I had two scoops for lunch at about 12.30, and by 3pm I had to cook my dinner because I was so hungry I thought I would pass out (chicken/veg/rice stir fry) then I had to have a 3-scoop Huel meal at about 7pm. This kept me going until I fell asleep at about 10, but I woke up in the night so hungry I had to have some toast.
Because I am sedentary and have no option to change this because of disability my calorie calulator says I must have 1600 calories a day to lose 2lbs a week. But after 2 hours, I’m ravenous. I simply can’t be taking in 400+ calories of Huel every two hours, I’ll put on even more weight.
Please help - I thought Huel was going to be my solution but I’m so so hungry I don’t see how I can manage this. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong when I see grown men who can cope on a 3 scoop meal and go to the gym and everything.
I’m having this exact issue too. I’m only 111 lbs and 5’5 so 3 I was planning to replace breakfast and lunch and have a meal at night, but it’s almost as if it kick starts my hunger and then I spend the entire day feeling hungry but not wanting to eat because I’m trying to reset my digestion.
I’m not surprised. 3 scoops is not a full sized meal. That’s really more like a mini meal or a large snack. I tend to have 4 scoops for breakfast, and I still have some more a few hours later.
My main suggestions are:
Have more Huel (more scoops, therefore more calories).
Make it to a thicker consistency (I find this satiates me better).
I agree with Marcus! Also try and up your water intake. Whenever you feel hungry, you may actually be dehydrated. Sip some water and wait about twenty minutes and if you’re genuinely still hungry, eat!
TheWhitePariah - I never normally intervene like this (and you can tell me to butt out!) but it sounds like you do not need to lose any weight as you’re already pretty small. There really is no need to ‘reset’ your digestion; just nourish your body with enough calories and all the macronutrients it needs and it will take care of the rest! I would also recommend resistance training to help you look strong and lean!
Well yes, but 3 scoops is over 400 calories already. I can’t add any more or I’ll be consuming too many calories over the course of the meals to lose weight. Again, I’m very inactive due to disability hence why the weight went on in the first place and the calculator says I must take 1600 calories a day to lose (and I know from past experience that I simply don’t lose on much more than that). If I added much more Huel, I’d start to gain.
This isn’t dehydration type hunger although I do know that this can be an issue. It’s “If I don’t eat, I’m going to pass out” hunger. Dizzy, shaky, hunger pains.
I’m making each meal with about 500mls of water, I thought that having more water was supposed to keep you fuller.
What I dont understand is how grown men are saying that a 3 scoop meal will keep them going from breakfast till lunch, these are people far more active than me too.
Maybe I’ll try that, Julian. It’s just 500 calories for each serving sounds like an awful lot when you think that I’d have had, for example, two bits of toast for breakfast and that would total about 200. If I needed to take 500 calories every two hours (although actually I lasted about 2.5 this morning on three scoops), that would be an insane amount of calories for me.
Height - 5 foot 6, weight, a little over 300 (I don’t want to post the exact figure publicly), age mid 40s, female. I am extremely sedentary due to a medical condition; I do my physiotherapy in the mornings and try to do 10-15 minutes on the exercise pedals but I don’t go to the gym or walk or anything due to chronic pain.
I really really like the product; I’ve often said that if there was a pill I could take that would take care of all my nutritional needs I would do it in a heartbeat so I can remove food from my life. Like when you give up smoking and use NRT. This is pretty close (also, it’s delicious!), and I think it could be a great solution for me, but the amount of calories I would seem to need to consume to stop being so physically hungry that I feel like passing out just seems like too much for me to lose on. That said, I really really want to make this work so all suggestions are welcome.
I’ll give it a try and see what happens. I do know that when I was doing WW, I wasn’t losing on about 1800 a day (however many equivalent WW points that is), so going above 2k is a massive worry but perhaps I could try and re-evaluate after a week.
I’m not sure these calculators take into account how sedentary I am - I mean, the furthest I walk is to my car and that’s on crutches. I think they assume some level of activity, ie, walking to the station, going to work, etc.
The problem (well, not a problem as such, but something to be aware of) with WW is that a lot of foods (fruit & veg) are free under their system. If you’re eating a lot of fruit and veg, then it’s easy to imagine your actual daily intake could be a couple of hundred calories above what you think it is under that system.
I’m also finding it strange that you’re struggling with hunger, especially if a couple of bits of toast keeps you going. I’m the opposite - a couple of bits of toast would leave me hungry again by mid-morning (6ft male, 85kg), whereas a 3 scoop huel meal not only fills me up, but leaves me almost bloated. I’ve cut down to 2 scoops for breakfast and that often sees me through to mid afternoon.
Have you tried drinking the huel over a couple of hours, rather than all at once? That might spread things out for you.
@tinkerbell based on 5’ 6’’, 44, 310 pounds, female, you basel metabolic rate is 2073 cals. That is what you body needs if you don’t move at all.
Try 2187 and see what happens.
Just remember that I allowed 785 cal for evening meal but you will need to be accurate so weigh all your food and calculate as accurately as possible. Give it two weeks and if you haven’t lost 2 pounds you can reassess.
Well, toast might not keep me going, but then it’s only a couple of hundred calories. So I was struggling with why 400+ of Huel doesn’t either, since it’s double the amount surely it should stave off the hunger for far longer? This is why I thought I was doing something wrong; everyone says that Huel fills you up and there’s no hunger and hearing that 2 scoops sees people through for hours just depresses me! I mean, on Saturday I came in from being out and I honestly thought I was going to pass out I was so hungry, and that was with having 2 scoops for lunch on the go at 12.30 too - I had to cook my dinner at 3pm.
(I do love that you can use this on-the-go, though; it saves buying rubbish when you’re out).
Hi @tinkerbell - I’m not on Huel yet (waiting for a supply of another product to run out, but then I intend to make the switch)
As somebody who also has a significant amount of fat to lose, has also been a member of Weight Watchers (actually with some degree of success, but ultimately I don’t think it’s right for me at my place of my life), I did want to give you a few comments from somebody in a similar place to you.
Firstly… there’s a difference between craving food and hunger - which sounds weird. Food is addictive. Sugar is particularly addictive. When I start eating nutritious food that gives my body the energy I crave, it does not necessarily feed the addiction in my body (that I know WILL go with time)… I start obsessing about food, feeling a hollowness in my body, my mind thinks “food, I need food, I need to have it”
Toast contains sugar, as well as being chewable - it makes sense the craving would be sated for a little while.
That’s the first thing I wanted to say. The second thing I wanted to say is that aiming for 1lb per week rather than 2 sounds good - in practice, that’s actually a huge amount. 1lb of fat is as big as a fist - it’s actually crazy how we’re taught to think of a pound as practically nothing, but it’s a LOT. To have that come off our body is phenomenal.
I would increase the amount you’re having a bit alongside Julian’s recommendations, talk to the community here and be confident that actually, ultimately getting the right sort of nutrition in you is actually fundamentally more important than simply losing weight. (When you’re bigger, the latter is important, but it will come alongside all the benefits of feeling stronger and calmer - especially when an increase of protein and decrease of carbohydrate starts giving you the chance of muscle)
Wishing you, myself, and all others in the quest of improving our health all the best!
Thanks for the advice James, but this really isn’t just food cravings or needing to work out some psychological reason why I’m hungry. It’s physical hunger. Stomach growling, dizzy, faint, shaky hunger. I do know the difference. I’m not sure how many times I need to say that it’s “I’m going to pass out”-type hunger. I’m not just craving food and honestly those types of comments are really starting to depress me
I’d really rather not say what my disability is on the public forum as it would make me identifiable and having just given my weight, I don’t want to be.
Thanks Sunflower. I’m increasing the amounts a bit today and we’ll see how it goes.
What I notice is that yes, it’s very “filling” - I’ve just had a 3 scoop meal for lunch and I’m fairly stuffed now - but it doesn’t last. The satiation wears off very quickly and them I’m starving hungry again within 2 hours - the type of hunger described above, not just “i’m craving food” sensations - whereas I wouldn’t necessarily be with actual food, and that’s causing me problems, because if I take in enough Huel to stop that, then I’ll undoubtedly gain weight.
