Yes maybe! Glad that I’m healthy though that’s the main thing!
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Hi
I would really like to join your weight loss, I am trying to loose a stone also. I have really enjoyed following your thread. I started Huel yesterday and so far so good. My starting weight is 11st which is a bit on the heavy side for me. Any tips and advice would be great
K 
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Ooo I’m joining this uk post tomorrow my start weight was 80kgs
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I am really struggling - I’ve been trying to lose some weight for nearly a month now with calorie counting and Huel and it’s not going well.
I started at 63kg with one 400cal Huel a day and two small meals, dropped to a low of 59.8kg after about a week and was really pleased, but then it started to climb and plateau and I have been on more than I started with for well over a week. I just don’t understand what is going on.
I eat 1,400 cals a day or less, and I am pretty active, my week’s activity looks like this:
Mon - Fri - 20 min run, c. 1 hr mix of HIIT/aerobics videos and exercise bike, 60-90 min walk, 20-25 mins yoga
Sat & Sun - 20-25 mins yoga, make sure I hit 15,000 steps on pedometer (c. 90-120 min walk)
MFP is estimating my deficit calories to be 1,280, and I take the Fitbit’s estimate of calories burned to be way off, but it is usually around 750-800 calories. I have had to pull back on the amount of running I am doing because of fatigue which I think is caused by the cut back in calories so I am loathe to bring that down further. Less than 1,400 seems quite restrictive for someone working out as well.
I’ve been on two 400 cal Huels and one small meal a day this week, but no change.
Hey, sorry, that doesn’t sound like a fun month.
Not an expert, but could you try eating more for a bit?
You mention calculating calorie deficit, so let’s try to actually apply Calories In – Calories Out (CICO) logic to what’s happening.
Firstly, a daily total energy deficit of 2000 calories is huge. Per week that’s 1.8 kg, and the recommended safe upper limit for weight loss is 1 kg/week. The actual recommended value is 0.5 kg/week. Slightly higher is possible at first if you’re obese, but even if you’re 5’0", your starting weight isn’t even in the middle of overweight BMI. Strongly recommend not shooting for more than 0.5 kg/week loss.
You then lost 3.2 kg in one week. So CICO logic is clear: that wasn’t all fat. A chunk of that was water weight. Some might be muscle, which stores less energy than fat (so you can lose more faster), and will drop off easily without strength training and maintaining good protein intake. Losing muscle will also reduce your base Calories Out as muscle takes more energy to maintain than fat.
What happened next? Your weight went up. But you’re running a 1.8 kg fat/week deficit, so that’s mathematically impossible under CICO, right? Well… no. Because:
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You got tired. Your Calories Out got reduced by your body switching on energy saving mode. You aren’t exercising as hard, and are probably making energy savings throughout the day you aren’t noticing.
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You’ll have put back on that water weight, and potentially more. If your food restriction reduced your potassium and B6 intake, you’ll retain more water. And your exercise is diminishing electrolytes like potassium further.
Potentially, you’re making bad trades between fat, muscle and water, and kinda’ torturing yourself. I’d at least try out a 500 calorie total deficit for a while. Make sure to keep protein intake high, and possibly incorporate a bit of strength training – you don’t want to lose muscle.
Thanks so much for your reply @Simon!
It has been really dispiriting.
Just to be clear (I probably fumbled my phrasing) - I’m not on a 2,000 cal deficit - I’d be dead! MFP has said that I should eat 1,280 cals to be at a steady deficit. I calculated my RMR at 1,332 and a sedentary TDEE at about 1,600, so that seems fair. (I am a 5’5 woman, for reference!)
I am trying to override my emotions and remember that as you said - a lot of this just has to be water weight because these changes and gains are not possible. I am being honest and diligent with my tracking (even weighing teaspoons and tablespoons of things like oils to make sure I don’t underestimate them!) and I only had one “off day” when I had dinner at a friend’s house, and even that couldn’t cause me to gain like this.
It is possible that eating less and being more fatigued is reducing my TDEE even more. It is tough when you don’t have a huge amount to lose as the margins of error are super small. My resting heart rate is also really low and I wonder if I don’t get up into a fat burning zone as easily/often as I would otherwise.
I used to do weights 3 x a week before lockdown at the gym and I wonder if a lot of my muscle mass is turning to fat, free weights and a barbell being the exercise kit I can’t really replicate at home. I don’t know how easy it will be to get back into a distanced gym at the end of the month but perhaps I will go back and the weight will fall off. I honestly don’t know, but this is really tough.
I weighed in at 64.2kg today. It’s just ridiculous. I’ve even started taking probiotics in case it helped with my digestion/water retention but no dice. I know fluctuations happen but it’s been nearly two weeks since I hit my starting weight (or higher) again and it hasn’t gone back down since. It it’s water I must be sloshing with the stuff.
I know you are aiming for a different weight but is literally give my right arm for the scale to read below 60kgs (actually that’s an idea) I just wanted to say to remember to be kind to yourself. You are doing great.
So first week in and I’ve lost 2.5kgs. I can honestly say I did not expect that.
5ft 7in 77.5 still a long way to go and don’t expect to continue to lose like this but definitely a positive week for me
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@Mojojojo Bless you, thank you so much, and sorry if the numbers were upsetting or triggering in any way - I know everyone is on their own journey. Sounds like you’ve totally smashed it this week though so well done!! 
Exactly! 1lb is nothing, it’s about looking at those changes over months. So when you look back at your graph it will trend downwards!
I would reiterate what @Simon has said too. The recommended amount to lose weight each week is not about being tough enough to handle it big deficits, it’s about sustaining the weight loss for long periods. 1 week isn’t enough to make an assessment, go for long term, slow reduction because that will mean you get the weight off and keep it off.
You’ve got this! It’s about the months not the weeks!
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Thanks for the encouragement @Tim_Huel, it has been tough to be trying hard and not seeing results but I will stick at it.
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hi ! just looked at your insta, did you really loose 40kg using Huel? Im having 2 huel and 1 meal a day. only been doing it for a week but hoping for a similar weightloss. ive followed you on insta too. cheers
yes in about a year, it started with veganism for four months, then huel, lots of exercise…
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Great to see this thread is still going. I really not stuck to it at all I’m afraid. Juggling working from home and child care has felt slightly stressful and I’ve realised that my response to mild stress it to eat (and drink a bit more booze too)! Working in the kitchen most days doesn’t really help and I no longer get exercise from walking to and from work.
I have a few days off work now so going to use that as an opportunity to reset and get back on it. Won’t be able to weigh in this Friday as I won’t be near a pair of scales but hopefully will have something to report next week. Just received my delivery of Huel bars including the new raspberry ones so looking forward to trying one of those later.
Oh no. Dead thread. Where did everybody go?!? Anyway … i weighed in yesterday and down one pound.
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2 more lb down
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Well done pip that’s a great weight loss.
I got really sick for 10 days after my first week on huel and then it took me about the same to get back to trying it again. I HATE the flavour god help me but I’m trying. Not stood on scales really bad dysmorphia and ex bulimic so sometimes the scales set me off a bit. Will update soon.
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For me it’s been A combination of heading towards the end of my weight loss journey, starting a very physical new job and also starting to do a lot more strength training - all in all I just got upset that my weight wasn’t coming down as quickly on the scales anymore 
Thread’s dead, I see - and it’s much longer since I last posted than I thought. I’ve maintained in lockdown rather than lose weight despite a fairly rigorous low-calorie diet. Was fluctuating up and down by about 1.5 lbs - but never going below my lowest recorded weight. Then, I started with new scales four weeks ago and they actually added 2 lbs. Yes - I know this is an anomaly but the annoyance with this was sufficient motivation to start exercising more diligently.
Four weeks on - I’ve lost 3 lbs and heading down. Keep going.
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Ive not been good at tracking my weight in terms of how many lbs ive lost in a week. I was 14st 10 last fri. Yesterday i was 14st 8. I was 15st 1 at end of july. I only have one huel a day for my lunch and low cal breakfast and dinners. I need to loose 2 stone ideally.
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