The Huligans group on Facebook is the worst place for this, and for people giving out absolutely terrible ‘diet’ advice. I’ve given up saying anything and on the verge of leaving
I know several people on shake diets, but not one of them has lost weight in the long term. All were successfull initially, though. It just does not seem to last, there is always a rebound. Nevertheless most do not learn, always start again, loose weight initially and then regain all of it - at least. Some even more.
Inuitively one would say that liquid calories are never a good idea if you want to loose weight. Just knowing how many calories something has does not make it suitable for weight loss.
1 Like
This is exactly my issue with the Huligans Facebook Group, hardly anyone appears willing to educate themselves on how to actually lose weight sustainably and long term, they see Huel as something that will shift the weight for them quickly, but don’t want to make any habit or lifestyle changes. So the instant they stop their ‘Huel diet’, the weight will likely go back on because of the old habits they’ve reverted back to.
It’s REALLY frustrating, because you want people to have long term results in fat loss, not quick fixes from terrible advice. I actually stopped using Huel to lose weight, and educated myself. I’ve not put that weight back on because I’ve made and learned those necessary habit and lifestyle changes and not been overly restrictive with anything
1 Like
I think this is a really interesting point, thanks for sharing.
I think we make it so much easier for Hueligans to educate themself on our forum here, but we don’t want to intrude on the Facebook group.
Do you have any suggestions as to how we could help Hueligans better in groups not run by us without treading on anyone’s toes?
I’m not sure there’s anything you could do to be honest. People will use products in whichever way they choose. There’s nothing technically wrong with them using it like Slim Fast (It’s obviously a healthier choice than Slim Fast so that’s at least a win)… it’s just infuriating when you see weight loss posts every day where people are obviously not happy, but then don’t care about the long term or wanting to change the things that put them in that position in the first place. It’s ultimately down to the individual to have that change in mindset, and you’d probably just open a big old can of worms!
To be honest there’s a number of people on there that give sound advice and try to help, but it does fall on deaf ears a lot of the time. People want a quick fix and listen more to those that have had fast, substantial fat loss from being on really low calories and restrictive food intake, rather than those who have had longer, long term sustainable fat loss (who doesn’t want to shove pizza in their face and still lose fat??) ‘quick and easy’ is more enticing.
1 Like
This seems to be the root cause of weight loss failures. Even to consider long term lifestyle changes is anathema to many. Like people with diabetes mellitus who juggle insulin dosage so they can eat cakes, sweets and pastries, there is always a penalty to be paid and such actions are ultimately self defeating
2 Likes
I am a member of that FB group and have been for ages, but I agree the emphasis is often on weightless and dieting.
There isn’t much high level or in depth debate but I keep an eye on it for any useful stuff. I know that Huel keep an eye on it too.
+1, everybody that sees my huel pouches asks: Are you on protein powder? Then I try to explain that huel is a balanced meal rather than protein powder but they still are not convinced they think I’m just in denial re protein powder… nooooo siiirrrrr haha
Thanks for the feedback!
It is really hard to help people over the internet especially when you can pick up an article through Google and it says the complete opposite to someone else.
I do check that group from time to time, hopefully our articles get shared and that will help people.
The silver lining to all these is that once they start buying, they can be converted. Then Huel (and other similar companies) have the time to change their minds.
Also I think that if this increases Huel (and other complete food usage) is a good thing overall. The awareness around these products will increase and in the future it could be, “are you consuming Huel?” instead of “are you consuming Slimfast?”.
Lastly, people who might use Huel with that purpose can be converted into regular users, once they see the benefits that complete food can bring into their lives. They might get off the hook once, but when they come back they will already be more familiarized with it.
I think it’s the shape / look of the bags. Too similar to slim or protein based ones.
Why should anyone want to “convert” weight loss people? I think it is perfectly okay if they just use it for that purpose and then do whatever they like. The problem is just that it does not work that way. As I said, everyone I know who wanted to lose weight with shakes first lost some pounds and eventually gained more than they had in the beginning. Maybe some people have a difficult metabolism, wrong gut microbiome or something else that prevents them from having the weight they want, I don’t know. At least they got the weight they have for some reason. And I don’t think that it is necessarily always their “fault”. But just drinking shakes won’t change much, usually - and you have to note that no matter whether something is a complete meal or a weight loss meal replacement, both have the same nutrient density, macro split and composition in general. Or at least they don’t differ more than different complete meal replacement products between each other. It’s just the marketing that’s different.