The story so far - Huel and I

Experiences
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I’ve mentioned some of this in another post, but it was worth repeating here for an overall view I think.

Firstly, a little about me - Hi! I’m Matt, a 45 year old, 6’3” 16 and a bit stone ex soldier, lawyer, investor. A few years back I had the crappest accident ever (drunk, on six months garden leave waiting to start a new job, I fell off a bench outside a bar in Essex and managed to give myself brain damage. Yay).

Anyway, as a result of a whole plethora of mental health issues which have arisen from that genius little episode I am now retired and moved to Cornwall. Unfit to work, like ever again, due to psychosis so I spend much of my time bumming around, seeing mates, fishing, yada yada.

A couple of months ago I noticed I was having to go to the final notch on my belt and when I took the time to actually check myself out in the mirror, realised that whoa. I’m like… fat. New one on me tbh, but just no denying it.

A friend recommended huel on another forum. I tried it once and was unimpressed. She gave me some advice on flavours, temperature and blending, and yeah, so that got me hooked and started.

I think I can sum up my initial reactions (first couple of weeks) with one word:
Energy.

Energy. Lots of it. At this stage I’m not weighing or measuring, it’s too soon for that. Right now I’ve swapped out my lunches (usually a sandwich, a bag or two of crisps, a choc bar or two and an apple) for a 2-scoop huel. I’m drinking this at 12 and then reminding myself at 7:30pm that I really do need to eat again even if it doesn’t feel like it. Huel is managing to sate my appetite extremely well.

The plan is that I’m going to continue with this system for another week, then I’m going to start moving a few days per week to having 2 shakes, replacing my dinner. Nothing, not even the almighty himself is going to stop me having my steak and baked potato every Saturday mind you, so even if every other meal becomes Huel, that one shall not!

Energy. Seriously though, this actually happened today. I was sat down on the sofa, I’d done my exercise, tidied the flat, written more shopping list, sent a couple of emails, played on the Xbox and I was still brim full of energy when five melodious beeps came from my dishwasher.

It takes a special kind of deranged mind to stand up excitedly and think “excellent! I can go put a full dishwasher worth of stuff away into the cupboards, that’ll give me something to do!”

Sadly, that deranged mind was mine. I may need to increase my workouts or something because whatever nutrients were missing from my food previously are definitely being fulfilled via Huel - I’ve not had this much excess energy in decades.

I’ll gradually update this over time I think, I’ve got a lot of weight to lose to hit the midpoint of a healthy weight for my age and height so it’s going to be a steady and gentle process. Hope you enjoyed my essay!

M.

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I can really feel that energy Matt! Thanks for sharing some round and keep it up, I could do with some to motivate me to unload the dishwasher!! :laughing:

I can’t imagine what you’ve been through with your brain injury, thanks for helping us try to understand. It’s really great to hear of the positive impact some good nutrition has done and hope that it propels you further. Let us know if you want any tips on managing your weight, there’s a ton of people here going through a weight loss journey with Huel and I’m certain they’d love to help!

Keep going!

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Great story!

Can’t wait for the energy benefits to kick in for me!

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Thanks guys, yeah it’s slightly ironic that I made it through three wars without so much as a sprained ankle but one night out in Essex… there’s a life lesson right there :wink:

The issue I’m having is actually taking in enough calories according to what the calculators say. As a result I’m quite short of where I need to be so am going to add in a bar as a mid morning snack from next week to try and salvage some extra numbers to ensure I don’t plateau too early. Also adding in a minor press-up and sit-up challenge on alternating days - aim is to be able to do 5 sets of 20 reps by the end, so hopefully that will both drain some energy as well as hasten the fat loss!

Absolutely loving the chocolate black with mint choc booster, it’s like a mint choc cornetto in my eyes now! :joy:

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Hi Matt I was a CMT myself -I’m a little bit younger than yourself so I don’t think it was ever me in the Med Centre listening patiently to you explain how the black eye/broken nose definitely didn’t come from scrapping in town on a Friday night… :man_facepalming:t3:

I remember a young guy who had a really similar sounding incident to yours - just slipped over and knocked his head on a curb and it turned out to be life changing. Sound’s like you’re making the best of it though!

I’ve also taken up press ups and sit ups during lockdown - 12 years since Phase 1 and I’m wondering if I’ll ever get back to that level :joy:

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I have a friend who works in a brain injury unit. He has some horrifically sad stories to tell of people who’s lives are altered drastically following what are often just accidents which cause brain injury.

Good luck.

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Yes thanks for sharing. I hear what your saying about the energy. I am getting serious with Huel again now after slacking for a few months and putting weight on!! I know from previous experience with being strict with Huel I have lost weight, gained energy and felt absolutely great. After a few months of scoffing bread and other rubbish food I have to get strict again with Huel.
I know what you mean about the energy thing I had an accident as a child and sustained a brain injury. It does change your life and for me one of the things was energy loss after the accident and couldn’t do the things I did before. But being strict on Huel I did find I got a nice boost of energy. Good luck to you on your Huel journey and hope things get better.

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Oh, things are great in general Guys, thanks for all your kind thoughts. It was a shock initially but after a couple of years I started to get used to my “new normal (not working is just weird!) and sorting out a new place to live etc.

I just need to lose weight and only noticed this recently. I mean I was conscious that I was a bit bigger around the tum but just figured it wouldn’t get so bad as to be where I am (considered overweight by BMI results, not quite stage 1 obesity but I was heading that way).

From what I can tell from the macros, using my limited and probably outdated knowledge of nutrition - I used to do triathlons and iron man a long time ago - you could use Huel to either lose fat or gain bulk quite comfortably I reckon. It’s a very clever product, I was explaining it to someone earlier today and she is going to nick a few of my drinks because she struggles with food in general - recovering anorexic - so it could be a good shortcut for her. Lots of uses it seems.

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Just made an account on this fourm specfically to say thanks for sharing your story with us. Glad you are able to try and give us a glimpse into your life. Cheers. Nice to meet you

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Wow, well I’m humbled. Thank you for that. Stick around a bit! :slightly_smiling_face:

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Ye cheers, I will stick around.

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Quick update. Hunger started to hit me really hard yesterday, so I did some calorie counting and well, no wonder. I was miles away from where I need to be for even extreme weight loss.

I couldn’t figure out why I was so hungry as I was eating more calories over the course of a week using 2 huel & solid food than before.

Welcome to reality. A few weeks before I started Huel I was put into a new tablet regime - I now take over thirty tablets a day, hurrah! - and my consultant made it clear in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t allowed any alcohol while taking six centrally acting sedatives and tranquillisers or I stood a very good chance of dying in my sleep.

Not a problem, I have stopped booze before plenty of times. However, guess where the weekly 9,000 missing kcalories had been coming from.

It took a few weeks for my body to realise and adjust, but the amount of empty calories I had been unwittingly pouring down my neck finally came back to bite me.

Today I had two 2-scoop shake huels, four slices of toast, a chocolate bar, a sirloin steak, a baked potato, spinach, asparagus, broccoli and a full bowl of pasta with carbonara sauce.

Bloody calories in cider are an absolute shocker. I need to up my intake considerably to make it up to even a respectable deficit. This has managed to throw all my original numbers and plans in the bin so will spend tomorrow morning on the spreadsheet. And tomorrow afternoon ordering a lorry load of chocolate black edition, mocha flavour boost and huel bars!

Argh!

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Ok not quite a lorry load but should be good for a month. I’ve had to over order on bars because I’ve raves about them to so many mates everyone seems to want to try them now haha.

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Got all my stuff, bit pissed off with the delivery guy who basically dumped everything on my doorstep. Like dude, there is a bell ffs.

Concsoled myself with an orange bar. Proper lush.

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Anyone with a head injury should research Dave Siever’s work on audiovisual entrainment: https://mindalive.com/collections/concussion-and-brain-injury