…and i’ve loved it.
Let me add another success story and i’ll try and and put some extra information that could be helpful to others as well. I decided to do another health kick to drop body fat and get into shape, I seem to do it every two years, get in the best shape of my life, meet a woman and then it all goes down the pan when you start going out for meals…
…I admit i’m guilty of quite unsociable hardcore diets that on my own i’d stick to indefinitely. I have a longer term plan this time, but Huel is set to stay.
Back in early 2007 I found a hardcore “liquid only protein shake diet” on a bodybuilders forum. It involved drinking only protein shakes and adding omega 3, peanut butter and multi-vits. It was ridiculous, it was all non natural, it made you crave normal food and it made me ill - but I knew I could do it - the all liquid thing that was.
…so with Huel I dived right in. I’m not having 2000 cals a day as i’m trying to cut body fat, so i’m only on about 1000 cals of Huel and extra protein powder to make 1250 cals a day (and i’m attempting to hit 1g of protein per 1 pound of body weight, hence the extra protein powder). Occasionally I throw in some Chia seeds i’ve got, or a couple of teaspoons of broccoli powder as I know i’m not getting 100% of everything only having half of Huel a day.
But even on this low amount, i’ve still got lots of energy, i’m still ALWAYS full and I find it very easy. The convenience is perfect. I’m not bothered about food at all, I find it mostly a chore that gets in the way of my productivity. I hate food shopping, I hate preparing food, I rarely do and thus buy the healthiest ready meals you can get. I hate thinking what to have - and I even the best food I do not find “one of lifes great experiences” like many do, there’s many other things I prefer more!
What I do is drink about 200-250ml each time, every two hours. This usually gives me a split of 6-7 drinks a day. The best think is, it takes me about 2 seconds to down 200ml, there is very little taste from Huel (and strangely it tastes better with some unflavoured protein powder in there!). As someone whos tried probably over 20 brands of protein shakes, in 40 or so different flavours, Huel is easily the easiest thing to drink. There’s been many a time i’ve gagged after a protein shake i’ve forced down - and no matter how good they start off tasting I never want to drink them after the 3rd or 4th time. Huel is so inoffensive in comparison. Its got a natural oaty biscuity after-taste which doesn’t last very long - I barely know i’ve had it.
I am stacking a lot of weight loss supplements at the moment, i’m hesitant to think any of them do anything, but I thought i’d throw them in anyway. I started off at 13 stone, which is the heaviest i’ve ever been in my life and in two weeks on Huel i’m down to 12 stone 5. Id probably have done the same on 1200 of normal food a day but with a lot more effort working it out and a lot more difficulty hitting my macro targets.
I’ve thrown in some “intermittent fasting” almost by accident some days just because now I no longer wake up hungry. I ALWAYS woke up hungry before. I proceeded to have granola which was the only breakfast I really liked, but it was near 400 cals and a lot of sugar for a bowl that never filled me up and I was eating again moments later. I think I will forever replace my breakfast at least with Huel now as I cant think of anything better and easier to have!
Basically eliminating sugar has always been a goal of mine too, especially in terms of weight loss and toning up. I’ve done low carb in the past and limited sugar, but this is probably the lowest sugar i’ve ever had consistently. Now bare in mind I’ve done this directly after Christmas where I worked out on average I was consuming a whopping 450g of sugar a day with chocolates, biscuits etc - and now i’m down to roughly 1g-3g. I’ve had no headaches, nothing. The only issue I had was a couple of days of an horrendously angry mood, which has now gone. Many other have said their sugar withdrawals were much worse - hell there’s a program on TV at the minute in which Jennifer Ellison has had to be taken to hospital due to “severe withdrawal symptoms” just for stopping sugar for two weeks! Madness!
I’ll also add that I’m an IBS sufferer. Though I don’t believe IBS is an applicable term, its more “you’ve got a stomach condition we can’t diagnose”. There’s basically one tiny part of my colon which can cause pain and agony - and in the past has spasmed and caused attacks. To be fair its been pretty good for about 2-3 years now, perhaps in “remission”, i’ve ever had a colonoscopy in which the doctor go to the exact point in my colon, expanded it with air and I was in agony. All he did was recognise that was an issue in that area and no where else and sent me on my way!..
…Id always noticed that increasing fibre had flared this up in the past. In fact all my stomach troubles started when I decided to go “healthy” one day and ramp up my fibre hugely. I was on the floor in utter agony with cramps soon after. Since then i’ve had to be careful, when my IBS was bad i’ve had to have a low fibre diet to stop it occurring. I’m fully aware of insoluble and soluble fibre and that the latter is recommend for IBS, I had been given the husk sachets for it but again, 2 day so use and I was having massive IBS attacks that kept me in bed for two hours - hideous.
So with that in mind I was weary of the huge fibre (for me anyway) doses in Huel and the warning that jumping straight to it might cause wind. But guess what. NO stomach issues and not even ANY wind. The latter is great for me as i’d often struggled with that most evenings and the only thing Id ever traced definite issues to was fast release carbs like pasta. Now my stomach seems a lot more settled in comparison - as I said, I cant say its Huel alone as its been a lot better the last couple of years anyway, but id say Huel is the icing on the cake and i’ve had no bathroom issues what so ever.
What I do love about Huel as well, and I have no scientific evidence to back this up of course - but I believe its so much better to spread your nutrients out throughout the day. The supergreens type powders (many of which I tried 10 years ago too) I don’t think really work as i’m sure downing 500ml of nutrient induced water all in one go in the morning does little for your body. I’d bet you pee most of the vitamins and antioxidants back out again. I feel that by just adding Broccoli powder to my Huel (and I wouldn’t bother with this if I was consuming 2000cals a day) just means i’m slowly consuming about 150g of broccoli throughout the day, something my body should easily be able to absorb and process properly.
If you’ve made it this far, well done! I plan to stay strictly on 1250 cals until I’ve reached about 11 stone (thus 2 stone of weight loss) at which point I may either go up to 1700 which I think is probably about my level for keeping the same body weight (though with the balanced goodness of Huel I think id probably get away with slightly more…experimentation will tell with this area) - I plan to draw up a macro diet of 1700 cals so that if I do need to have a social meal out or a couple of treats here and there, they are actually accounted for and i’m not getting out of hand and slowly putting body fat back on. I’m not someone that enjoys exercise and id rather not go through a grueling 6 month fat loss regime again once I get there this time, I really hope I have to discipline to enjoy some treats but keep in more or less the same shape.
I may well use Huel for bulking at about 3000-3500 cals in the future so as Ideally i’ll be exactly like I got to in 2012 but with increase muscle mass in the shoulders and chest - so i’d probably aim for a month of this with some rigorous weight training. Otherwise 1700 with be my daily aim which will more or less be 100% Huel indefinitely.
I might add that I still have my family tradition of a take away curry on Sunday night. I have it as spicy as possible with extra chilli’s to boost the metabolism and I have a tomato based source rather than cream, and I also cut down on the rice and have extra chicken - plus its factored in my macros so its a not cheat, cheat meal really.
Id recommend Huel to everyone and my best friend is jealous she can’t have it as she’s Coeliac - she’s hoping you’ll bring out a slightly more expensive version with oats from a gluten free source! 