So a bit of background first. I’m a final year University student who eats terribly. I hate eating first thing in the morning so I generally won’t eat breakfast before lectures, then I’ll snack on various unhealthy things all morning, lunch will normally be a cheap mass produced sandwich or something similar, then I’ll snack all afternoon before having a proper dinner (even with my awful diet I do still cook proper food for dinner) although will normally eat far too much of it.
My maintenance intake is 2300 calories per day, I know this from having been pretty gym obsessed a few years ago, but lately I think I’ve been up around 2800 to 3000 most days and had put on a substantial amount of weight without realising it and I decided to give HUEL a try while I get my intake back under control.
Now I couldn’t stand the idea of going down the complete replacement route, I love cooking and eating good food too much, so I decided to keep a proper dinner in my diet but switch out the rest for HUEL.
It arrived a week ago and I decided on having 2 100g meals of HUEL each day, one for breakfast (at about 8am) made with milk and one for lunch (at about 1pm) made with water, to take me up to just over 1000 calories, then having a bit of fruit or a handful of nuts late afternoon and then a reasonable sized dinner to get me up to about 1800 calories for the day.
Well after a week of this I have to say, it’s great! While I hate eating first thing after waking up I find it very easy to get through a bottle of HUEL, and because I’m having a good nutritional intake first thing I’m finding I feel more alert through the morning and I’m not getting to lunch feeling absolutely starving like I’m used to. With a bottle for lunch and a healthy snack late afternoon I’m finding that while I feel hungry by dinner time I’m not feeling the need to eat a massive meal so I’m eating a healthier size dinner and I’m not going to bed feeling uncomfortably full of food like I often used to. I’m also finding that while my calorie intake for lunch is about the same now as it used to be, because I’m no longer eating a lunch that’s full of crap it keeps me feeling full for much longer so the urge to snack is almost entirely gone.
In terms of downsides I’m really struggling to think of any! I’m feeling better, it’s cheaper than the eating habits I’d fallen in to, it’s quick and easy to prepare and consume, and all in all I’m really liking it. Personally I’ve only experienced two negatives. For the first few days I was a bit gassy, and I’ve spent quite a lot of time explaining to people at University what it is that I’m drinking while they’re eating lunch!