Using Huel for my weight loss journey (VLCD, Newcastle diet)

This is totally normal and don’t let it demotivate you. I’m not totally sure of the reason but often when people start a calorie deficit they will see a big drop in weight initially and then it will stutter a little. Just remember this!

Amazing to hear these benefits to your lifestyle already! Keep at it, you got this!

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Focus of how you feel and not on the number on the scale. Especially when and if you’ll start doing exercise to keep it going, focus on the healthiness you’ll feel, not the weight, since exercise might make it harder to see the number go down given that your muscle mass might increase :smiling_face:
You’re doing great! Keep going

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Date 29/06/2022 05/07/2022 08/07/2022 10/07/2022 12/07/2022 14/07/2022 16/07/2022
Weight (KG) 190 187 185 184 182 181 180

And that’s 10KG lost. Another milestone has been achieved. Feeling good!

The graph is pretty constant so far, so I was stressing about nothing really.

weight loss so far

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I’ve taken to using a zero-calorie electrolyte sports drink too.

So I have one of these a day which boosts electrolytes and vitamin intake. Along with a helpful caffeine boost.

Too early to tell if this works, but I thought this along with a multi-vitamin tablet and cod liver oil should have me covered to augment the VLCD on Huel.

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Wow this is really impressive, well done! That’s a lot of discipline to be so consistent with it, you must be feeling well chuffed.

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It’s difficult, I mean if you try to do anything physical you get dizzy and feel like you’re gonna pass out. That said though it’s worthwhile. I can see and feel big improvements already so that motivates me to stay true to the diet. I think if it were slower, I’d lose interest and discipline.

Because I have an office job and work from home I need to move minimally which makes this much easier. I don’t think this would be practical if I had a job that required me to be physically active. I think even commuting would be a hell of an ask. You really have yourself on just enough to survive, and no more on this diet. At such low calories, any additional ask becomes almost impossible.

I had a new sofa arrive in week one of the diet, and the mess I got into trying to move the living room around was crazy. Where as before I’d have managed fine. (That was the day I cheated and had a steak).

I am also aware that weight loss won’t keep this progress indefinitely. But I’ve got a lot of weight to lose, and therefore a lot of available fat for my body to consume in ketosis. So I am guessing that weight loss will probably remain constant for at least another month or so. But it’s going to be interesting to see how the progress goes because I am certain I am in this until Christmas. (Baring some serious medical issues or medical advice that I should stop.)

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So one thing I am worried about is lose skin at the end of losing so much weight so fast. I’ve been using moisturising skin on my body to try and get the skin in as good condition as I can make it. But I know a bit part of this is to do with collagen. So, I have no idea if this will actually help but I bought this supplement to augment my diet as well to hopefully give my skin the best chance at snapping back as I lose weight.

Anyone ever used anything like this or have any sources about a better way to go about it?

This link talks about it;

Collagen makes up around a third of your body’s protein.8 Collagen is made up of strong chains of amino acids which are what give firm skin its plumpness and resilience. In the skin, collagen is found in the middle layer (the dermis).9
With weight gain, especially significant weight gain, the collagen chains in the dermis can become stretched and damaged to accommodate the pockets of fat below.

Then, if we lose lots of weight, the damage to our skin’s natural collagen becomes apparent in visible loose skin.

One method which might help restore some of the bounce and structure to your skin after weight loss is to take collagen supplements.

A clinical trial conducted in 2019 demonstrated significant improvements in skin hydration, elasticity, and density in participants after twelve weeks of taking oral collagen supplements.10 The best type of collagen for improving skin density is Type I collagen – found in fish and marine life.11

This is the PubMed paper that article references.

This PubMed paper looks more promising though;

Results: Reduction of thick collagen fibers (p = 0.048), increased thin collagen fibers (p = 0.0085), and increased elastic fiber density (p < 0.001) were observed in the massive weight loss group. No differences were found between the groups regarding mean age (p = 0.917) and total amount of collagen fibers (p = 0.3619). Structural dermis alterations in the massive weight loss group demonstrated collagenous remodeling, with consequent reduction of thick, organized, structured, and directed fibers in favor of thin, misaligned, and loosely arranged fibers. Weight loss was also associated with increased skin elasticity.

Conclusion: The morphometric changes in the collagen and elastic system scientifically explained the already established clinical perception of cutaneous alterations in patients who had massive weight loss following bariatric surgeries.

This is another PubMed article;

Background: Collapsed skin folds after bariatric weight loss are often managed by plastic procedures, but changes in dermal composition and architecture have rarely been documented. Given the potential consequences on surgical outcome, a prospective histochemical study was designed. The hypothesis was that a deranged dermal fiber pattern would accompany major changes in adipose tissue.

Methods: Female surgical candidates undergoing postbariatric abdominoplasty (n=40) and never obese women submitted to control procedures (n=40) were submitted to double abdominal biopsy, respectively in the epigastrium and hypogastrium. Histomorphometric assessment of collagen and elastic fibers was executed by the Image Analyzer System (Kontron Electronic 300, Zeiss, Germany).

Results: Depletion of collagen, but not of elastic fibers, in cases with massive weight loss was confirmed. Changes were somewhat more severe in epigastrium (P=0.001) than hypogastrium (P=0.007). Correlation with age did not occur.

Conclusions: (1) Patients displayed lax, soft skin lacking sufficient collagen fiber network. (2) Elastic fiber content was not damaged, and was even moderately increased in epigastrium; (3) Preoperative obesity negatively correlated with hypogastric collagen concentration; (4) Future studies should pinpoint the roles of obesity, and especially of massive weight loss, on dermal architecture and response to surgery.

Can’t say I know too much about limiting loose skin, but I have read plenty of people who lost significant weight say they would take loose skin over the extra weight any day of the week.

That’s incredible progress so far, and kudos for involving your GP in the decision on how to go about it. I look forward to reading your further progress.

We have a referenced article which may help your understanding.

To be honest, with dramatic weight loss the only way to truly get rid of loose skin is through surgery. This could be something you could get through the NHS so it’s worth discussing with your GP.

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Thanks dude, that’s a helpful article actually. Well, looks like I was fooled by the snake oil salesman. I’ll continue to use it as I’ve bought it now, but once it’s run out I won’t buy more.

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Give it time. I lost lots of kilos and had falling limps of skin. Skin is elastic so it will adapt. That’s also why I recommend against too quick solution for weight loss. Your body can’t adapt entirely so quickly

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Well, sadly some bad news.

My weight has completely plateaued for a week. I’ve stuck to the diet.

Date 29/06/2022 05/07/2022 08/07/2022 10/07/2022 12/07/2022 14/07/2022 16/07/2022 19/07/2022 22/07/2022
Weight (KG) 190 187 185 184 182 181 180 180 180

Screenshot 2022-07-22 183719

Very frustrating. And, according to the Newcastle diet, this shouldn’t happen. So I have to assume the Huel isn’t suitable for this diet. I prefer the higher protein but maybe I should switch to Slimfast. That’s basically been a week with no weight change despite starving myself.

I wonder if it’s this collagen stuff. I might drop that and see if the weight loss starts again. I mean it’s just protein and low calories… at around 46 per serving… which you only do one a day… but maybe. I started it around the time things plateaued.

Can’t imagine it’s to do with one formula over another. 600kcs of one shouldn’t be any different for your energy levels than 600kc of another.

Isn’t it likely that your metabolism’s just adjusted really well to the calorie deficit and slowed itself down to limit your losses? Could you jump-start it back up with some increased physical activity? or try zigzagging with the daily calorie limits to discourage the slowdown?

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I don’t believe my metabolism suddenly adjusted to exactly the calorie intake I’m taking now. or else diets would never work if that’s how your body reacted. There’s something else at play here.

Every body has its own time for adjustment, and this stall can be a sum of: your body metabolism dicrease, more water retention, some less activity which you don’t notice (but trust me, when you are in a high deficit, your body tells you do avoid every possible movement which doesn’t save you from death). Just don’t give up, keep on. Huel alone isn’t the problem, that said, if you prefer the other shake for flavours, smoothness or whatever other reason, no one is forcing you into huel!

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Well, this morning I’m 0.5KG down… so that’s good news.

Date 29/06/2022 05/07/2022 08/07/2022 10/07/2022 12/07/2022 14/07/2022 16/07/2022 19/07/2022 22/07/2022 23/07/2022
Weight (KG) 190 187 185 184 182 181 180 180 180 179.5

How were you feeling during the week where your weight was not decreasing?

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Alright, yeah. The energy levels were okay, I went for a walk and was fine.

‘I don’t believe my metabolism suddenly adjusted to exactly the calorie intake I’m taking now. or else diets would never work if that’s how your body reacted.’

But that’s exactly how the body reacts:
What Is Adaptive Thermogenesis and How Does It Affect Weight Loss? (cathe.com)