I just received my first package of Huel yesterday!! I dived in with 1 months supply and I intend on using it 100% to see how goes. Pretty excited to try it out!!
Currently I use IF, my daily eating window is usually 20/4. This is on a generally Low Carb / Paleo style diet and has been working well so far for maintaining muscle and cutting body fat.
I suppose my question is around if anyone else has experience eating only Huel (a full days worth) during a 4 - 6 hour window? I’ve worked out my macros and would be needing about 12 scoops a day. Does eating a large amount of Huel in a short time leave you particularly bloated? I don’t really want to go back to “grazing”, eating 3 times a day.
If anyone has had any experience with this I would love some feedback.
I’ve not tried it, but I would say it would be doable, yes. 6 scoops of Huel would be a large meal. If you made it thick, you could consume that in one, then have it again 4 or 5 hours later. Huel is just powdered food, so it should be fine. It would be probably be like if you had a huge bowl of porridge in one sitting.
I eat between 11am and 7pm. Probably 2 or 3 days of the week I am 100% Huel the rest I will eat one regular meal, usually my last meal. I have 3 scoops of U/U Huel in around 500ml of water 4 times a day, not to bothered when I eat during the day but obviously all meals are consumed between 11am and 7pm. Never feel bloated because its not far off water even when mixed. I let it stand for 5 or 10 mins at room temperature because it seems to digest better once the Huel has fully absorbed the water. I drink a 50cl bottle of water from waking up at 7am until my first meal at 11am and at night l drink water if need be till I go to bed. Morning Huel I mix in 1 scoop of organic Cacao powder.
Works a treat, never hungry, feel great!
Just hope they don’t add more Arabic gum like they did for v1.2 as I prefer it running so I don’t feel full, if people want it thicker surly they can just use less water rather than adding something unnecessary to the product?!
I don’t recommend starting on 100% from day 1. I’ve read a lot of people (myself included) will get terrible flatulence and feel hungry throughout the day and the reason for that is because the microbiome of your gut isn’t tuned for Huel.
Huel is very different to most people’s normal diet, so the bacteria which does all the digesting for you won’t know what to do with it. There are different kinds of bacteria for different kinds of food. The bacteria which digests Huel most effectively needs time to grow and replace the other bacteria in your gut.
In order to allow that to happen, you should probably start by replacing one meal a day with Huel, and gradually transition to 100%. That’s what I did and I feel great - but I had my doubts at first, so don’t give up! It’s totally worth it in the end
I thought i’d give an update after the first day of trying this out.
I decided to jump in with 100% Huel, even after reading a number of threads on here about possible digestion issues and to take it slowly. The main reason I started this on a Saturday was that I would be at home all day and any potential issues regarding digestion or feeling of hunger or light-headedness would be easier to manage.
So to get all my calories into my 4 hour eating window, I ended up taking the following amounts…
14:00 - 3 Scoops
15:30 - 4 Scoops
17:30 - 4 Scoops
Huel is certainly a lot more filling than I was expecting. I am used to eating large amounts of dense foods in a short time, but after the first two lots of Huel, I certainly wasn’t hungry for the last one. I could have happily not had it and felt fine. As I wanted to hit my macros for the day I took it anyway and felt nicely full all the way up until the time I went to sleep.
This morning I woke up and have absolutely no feeling of hunger, just a black coffee and ready to start the day. I am extremely surprised (and pleased) that I have had absolutely zero digestive issues and zero flatulence. I don’t feel like i’ll have any problems waiting until 14:00 before drinking the next shake, I have good energy levels.
Yes, i’m still pretty much eating 100% Huel, and as much as possible within a small (4 hour) window each evening. I have to admit that Huel for me is extremely filling, and after the first half, I certainly don’t feel hungry for many hours later. Drinking the second half within the 4 hours is certainly harder to get down and not feel bloated after.
Even with very dense / filling normal food such as meat / nuts etc I didn’t have as much problem eating the same amount of calories in the same time period. I suppose it’s good that Huel leaves you feeling fuller for longer.
I suppose it depends on what period of time you are planning to eat your daily allowance in, and how large your stomach is It might take a little while to experiment and adjust.
I’m glad to hear that it’s going well for you. I’m not sure I could handle the 4 hour period myself. Between 10.00-17.00 seems manageable though, at least for a start.
Was there a reason you started eating within a four hour time window? I’ve heard interesting things about fasting between meals such as this. Works for some, not for others. I definitely think my body could do with longer breaks between meals, but could never manage to find the right foods to eat to keep me full and energised. Like you said, because Huel is quite filling I think I could give it a go.
For quite a while I had been doing Intermittent Fasting, which was working out well for me and after the initial adjustment period I had no trouble eating all my food for the day in around 4 hours in the evening. After deciding to try Huel I wanted to combine both just to see how much I could simplify my eating habits
With Huel I’ve found, for me, it’s better to take half first thing in the morning at 6:00 when I get to work, and the other half later in the evening at 18:00. This way I don’t get any of the bloating and don’t really get hungry during the day either. If so, I just grab a small hand-full of nuts. The only downside is having to remember to prepare it the night before and carry it to work each day.
Let us know how it goes if you decide to try it out
So for updates, I’m still doing IF, I found OMAD (One meal a day) mixed in occasionally with OMEOD (One meal every other day). This has had the most significant benefit for me as a way of eating for both cutting body fat and maintaining muscle.
Unfortunately I’ve stopped using Huel. I found that eating a full days worth of calories of Huel in one go (around 2000 calories over the course of 1 hour or so) left me feeling exceptionally bloated, and incredibly thirsty for many many hours after (regardless of how much water I drank). Eating the same amount of calories from traditional foods would never give me the same problem. Maybe i’ll feel full for an hour or two after, but never uncomfortably so. I suppose Huel was designed to keep you feeling full for as long as possible but with IF you get used to the feeling of not being always full for long periods so it didn’t fit well with me.
I also prefer a lowish carb diet. Not exceptionally strict, but certainly less than Huel. I’ve tried a Keto Powder alternative here in the UK but I wasn’t too keen on it. I prefer the taste and texture of Huel but in the end I was having to use less and less powder (to prevent feeling bloated) that it seemed a bit pointless as I would still have to prepare other food anyway to get the calorie count up.
From what i’ve studied and through personal experience, the most powerful way to lose / keep fat off and maintain muscle mass is through IF, keeping insulin levels at virtually zero for 20+ hours. You can almost see the benefits in the mirror day by day, something that i’ve never been able to see with any other diet, exercise or way of eating that i’ve trying in the past 20+ years.
Thanks for your reply! I have seen a lot of positive results with IF and wanted to supplement my lunch at work with Huel. I would in no way get all my calories from Huel, I don’t think that would work for me. However, I’m interested to see if it works for me to use as a replacement at work. I use the 16:8 routine for IF. Usually from 12-8 is my eating window. Plan to have Huel for lunch, then my normal dinner with the family at night.
Thanks