Huel, exercise, and results

Weight loss
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I am using Huel for breakfast every day, and lunch most days. I am going to start exercising soon. My goal is to lose some fat and get in shape. I wouldn’t mind staying the same weight if I lost some fat and gained some muscle. Or I wouldn’t mind losing some fat/weight and just being in better shape.

Personally, I will be using just my body weight for working out, and some jogging.

Anyone else? Hows about a facebook group of several people Hueling and exercising and cheering each other on?

Ideas?

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Since December 2017 my BMI went from 30 to 21 (today’s). I pretty much attribute this to two things:

  1. 16 hr daily fast
  2. Eat Huel for meals at work

I am now transitioning to a mostly plant based diet for all my meals, but I was an omnivore during my weight loss. I also exercise mildly during my fasting window. However, exercise contributed only mildly to my fat loss in 2018.

Before this, I went from a BMI of 38 to 30 using vigorous exercise for 2 hr (sometimes up to 3 hr) per day. I was in shape but still overweight and not satisfied with the way that clothes fit. Also I was hungry AF all day, panic eating if I went too long in between meals. It was inefficient and limiting. Not worth the hassle. Besides, at my age, who am I trying to impress by how much I can bench?

Once I learned about insulin resistance and it’s contribution to adiposity (as well It’s role in type 2 diabetes and heart disease) and stopped trying to “out-burn” my calories in, and realized that energy intake and energy expenditure are interdependent, then I realized there were better ways to lose excess body fat.

I am not saying that you should not exercise. Exercise has many benefits. it can make you stronger and increase your endurance. It may also increase longevity, independent of any effects on body fat. It may also help promote better sleep. But in terms of pure impact on body fat, exercise is complicated. Exercise stimulates appetite which compels us to eat more. I know on days that I skip exercise I can get by with eating less, and I can continue my fast even longer. Also, the studies have mixed results. Some show neutral effect on body fat composition. The studies that are the most compelling however are for people who are diabetic. In other words the people who are the most insulin resistant are the ones that tend to lose the most body fat from an exercise program. This leads me to theorize that the true mechanism of exercise and fat loss lies in its ability to improve insulin sensitivity, not necessarily because exercise “burns calories”. We burn more calories in a night of sleep compared to an hour of exercise. We always burn calories.

Also, most people don’t begin exercise program without also making corresponding changes in their diet anyway. they kind of go together as a pair. People will join a gym but then they will also Val to cut out sodas or doughnuts or whatever. So it may be hard to fully elucidate the true impact of exercise.

None the less, I am writing this while waking up this morning. Gonna get my black coffee and get ready to do my kettlebell and steel-bell workout in the upstairs room. Got me a door frame pull-up bar and push up hand stands as well. I keep it simple.

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I would be interested in a group. I have lost 17 lbs since I started Huel on 10/29/18. I have been doing a 16 hour fast (or close to it) from 7pm-11am, then having Huel for lunch. Usually a small snack/meal in the late afternoon, then either Huel or traditional food for dinner. My biggest struggle is wanting to snack after dinner.
In the next week or so I am hoping to transition to consistently having Huel twice per day, and even some days only consuming Huel shakes. I have been doing some light exercise 2-4 times per week, mostly walking/running on a treadmill for 15-30 minutes.

I have really come to believe (like Deron) that what you eat and how much you eat contribute way more to losing weight than how much you exercise. Trying to “out-burn” my calories consumed in years past was incredibly difficult and time consuming. Focusing on what I eat vs working out takes so much less time, which is good for me right now!

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I agree. I am down 70 lbs since starting my Huel diet eight months ago, and have not exercised during that time besides walking to and from my car. Definitely plan to eventually (don’t we all) but exercise makes me hungry as hell, and busting my ass in the gym and then sitting down to a giant bowl of mac n cheese is kind of like trying to scoop water out of a boat that still has a massive hole in it. I feel like exercise and weight loss are so overly conflated that many people never even bother trying to lose weight because they aren’t motivated enough to do cardio, which is a shame, as exercise is a secondary factor at best when it comes to weight loss and can in fact make the whole process way more stressful than it needs to be.

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I’ve been embarking on a personal research project, looking at the expert panels recommendations as well as primary literature regarding subjects such as diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, obesity, plant-based diets, etc.

There is indeed one underlying theme tying many of these issues together. Insulin resistance. It appears that insulin resistance is the mechanism driving the metabolic syndrome, which is a condition where a patient has 3 or more of the following: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, low HDL, high triglycerides, and/or elevated blood sugars. Yes salt does play a role in high blood pressure. But it also appears to be associated with insulin resistance as well. And the metabolic syndrome substantially increases risk of heart disease and all-cause mortality by around 40%.

Treating metabolic syndrome has traditionally been about treating each individual aspect (BP, triglyderides, glucose, etc). But experts are encouraging a more root-cause treatment, focused on reversing insulin resistance. The weight, BP, triglycerides, HDL, glucose, etc. will then begin to normalize once the root cause (insulin resistance) is treated.

The literature is clear: diet is one of the most important factors influencing insulin resistance and obesity. It might be the single most important. In essence, insulin resistance is a dietary problem that needs a dietary solution. Medications (and even exercise) should only play a secondary role. Exercise is good, but should be considered an add-on to the main treatment of better diet.

I just wanted to kind of expand the discussion beyond “losing weight”. There may be too much focus on losing excess body fat for aesthetic appearance. But, if we see excess body fat as more of a “canary in the coal mine”, it makes more sense. Excess adiposity is usually the first recognizable sign of insulin resistance. And chances are, by this point we have already begun having mildly elevated blood sugars and triglycerides. We may have already started the early stages of atherosclerosis and the microvascular damage seen in diabetes.

The good news is that it can be reversed and we can improve our health. But, it must start first with the things we put in our mouth. This has far more influence than how much time we spend exercising.

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I’m out of shape. Push ups, dips, and pull ups are tough, and jogging needs work. Hopefully in a couple months I’ll have some results to report.

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Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping…
Well since I’ve posted this we have had a baby, I was sick for while, and my foot was sore. I have not exercised regularly for a good period of time yet. :-/

My plan is to start for reals Monday. Who’s up for a motivational facebook group, or this thread, to keep each other going… and stuff. ?

I Eat Huel for breakfast every day. I’ll have Huel for lunch every day, at least on work days. I’m going to go no-junkfood and watch-my-added-sugars. I did that for a month or so before, and after the first few days of craving the sweets it became easier. And the longer I did it, the longer I wanted to go. (It’s fun having a long streak of success…)

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It’s great to hear that you’re back on it! Congrats on the new addition to the family as well.
The same has happened to me, just stay focused and keep your eye on the prize. Down 23.4 lbs since May 28… Huel has been an incredible part of my journey.

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Congrats on the kid!

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Something I have witnessed in our diet culture is the extremes. Setting a date, then cutting out everything you enjoy, and promising yourself you will work out everyday. These extremes nearly always lead to failure. They may work for a week, or even a month, but inevitably our self-control breaks and then we are off the wagon. I’m not saying that’s what you’re doing, but it has undertones of that.

I don’t think we have to live in these extremes, unless your doctor is telling you that a lifestyle change now will be the difference between you and being alive next year. I would say, so much better to start slow with something easy, and slowly add in an intentional way.

For me, I am trying to use Huel to replace 1 1/2 of my meals and limit snacking after dinner. That’s all. Ideally, I want to add some regular exercise and more green veggies to my diet in the next 6 months or so. A year out, I would love to be happy exercising 3-5 times a week and eating 3 super well-balanced meals a day with 1 healthy snack. I just know that if I start there that I will fail. I will call it a win if I am only at step-2 of this plan in a year. That would still be so much better than starting at the extreme and being back to doing nothing good for my health.

Either way, I wish you luck, mental health, physical health and happiness.

  • fluhatinhueler
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I can understand your points. I have exercised for a few weeks in the past, or jogged for a few months. Or focused on eating better for a month or so. Now I’m just combining it all. :slight_smile:

I have goals, which are hopefully both attainable and require a good amount of work, for every 6 weeks or so, to take me to the end of the year. I think I’ll post every couple weeks or so of progress, if anyone is interested. Or at least every 6 weeks or so.

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Two weeks completed. My junk food is down, and my exercising is way up. I may be getting a little lighter, and can do more pull ups, dips, and can run better then I could two weeks ago. Still not a pro, but better than day one. I’m having at least two Huel drinks a day.

Onward!

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Better than yesterdat but worse than tomorrow. Keep working keep improving

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I’ve wondered about making a YouTube channel, but don’t know if it’d be lame. And I don’t have video equipment…

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So happy to see I can find so many people drinking Huel for the same reason I am - the weight loss! I’ve been drinking Huel for a little over a month now, before Huel I was drinking Muscle Milk for a period of about 2 months, which was fine… Except even with only one shake per day, the constipation was unreal due to the massive amount of protein which was just overkill for my body. I read up on Huel and saw all of the new drinkers complaining about gassiness - I figured it would be the lesser of two evils at this point! Not to mention cost-wise, I save $10 and Huel was more focused toward being an actual meal replacement shake as opposed to being an after gym workout shake. The biggest issue I had with Muscle Milk was that it was just too much protein and it had too little calories, so I could drink 2 shakes, but then I’d be getting 100mg of protein and that was just overkill for a single meal!
3 years back I was planning to get married and wanted to fit into my mom’s wedding dress, which I couldn’t do anywhere near that time because I had a more of a robust build and my mom was very slim and 110lbs at 5’6… Meanwhile I was 180 at 5’7". Not generally unhealthy as it were, I was in weightlifting and wrestling and on looks alone, only looked like I weighed 165lbs tops. I lost the weight and was at around 140lbs 2 years ago with 20lbs left to fit into my mom’s wedding dress when I lost my fiancee who was serving overseas and depression hit hard. I ballooned up to 240 over the course of 2 years due to binge drinking and not caring for my well-being. 3 months ago I genuinely could not make it up 2 flights of stairs without being short of breath and lost a lot of muscle mass. From being a star wrestler who set the women’s weightlifting record in my local high school to being so fat… That felt bad. When I initially lost the weight, I focused more toward cardio because I had the intention of slimming down with thoughts later on of bulking up - I just wanted to fit in the dress and that was it. I suppose that’s where I lost a lot of the muscle mass :frowning_face: Personally I preferred the taste of Muscle Milk - it was so thick and frothy it felt almost like drinking a milkshake! But it didn’t meet my nutritional needs if I was going to use it as a meal replacement shake. Huel is more beneficial, albeit I can still only stand it if I make it with coffee in place of water, but it’s something. I lost 18lbs in the first two months with Muscle Milk and cardio/resistance training, and 11lbs this last month on Huel, following a strict 1,300 calorie diet throughout the months with an additional 5 mile run 3x a week added at the beginning of July. I’ve gone down a pants size and my endurance is building up a bit more each day - so it’s definitely a step in the right direction! My goal weight, for the foreseeable future, is 150 and to get there healthily. When I lost weight the first time around I lost too much muscle mass and it felt horrible being weak on top of being fat and constantly drunk. The past months have gone great and Huel is a great addition to my daily diet. I drink one (2 scoop/400 calorie) shake in the morning with decaf coffee as breakfast at 8AM. A 300 calorie Lean Cuisine meal or an apple with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter for lunch at 12AM/1PM. And a 600 calorie dinner I meal prep for the week at 5PM. This week it’s mac and cheese with a squash substitute and shrimp carbonara next week :smiley: And unintentional fasting for 15 hours because it’s easier for me to deal with being hungry when I’m asleep, LOL!

Down 30lbs with 60lbs to go, hopefully I’ll regain all the muscle mass I used to have and more and see if I can sneak back into my old school and break my record :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’ve been using Huel on a bulk mostly, but I started cutting a little over a week ago. Still use Huel for about 50% of my calories. I am dropping weight, probably a little too fast, so it’s definitely not a bad thing if losing weight is your goal. I’ll probably start taking a little more in to slow down the rate I am losing weight. First I need to look at my options because I’d much prefer the extra calories in fat and protein.

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I just discovered this thread and guess I’d like to share my experience. I lift heavy for 1.5-2 hours 6 days a week and then an active rest day a week. I am currently IF for 16 hours a day. So I eat during an 8 hour window immediately after I work out in the a.m. I am currently having Huel with a scoop of protein powder post workout. Then I eat real food for lunch (my biggest meal with a side of eziekel bread and natural PB for “dessert”) then another Huel shake with protein as my last meal. So far, I’ve stayed full. I am losing body fat right now but that is my goal. I find if I allow myself to eat in the evenings, I binge, so that is why I have chosen an IF window of 8am to 4pm.

Anywho, I would love a group to see what other people are doing and how Huel has impacted their body composition as well. I’m hoping this is what I am looking for so I can spread the word to friends. I am in school full time while working full time and exercising while maintaining my home life…therefore, very little time for meal prepping.

I am currently down to 19.5% BF as a 5 10 female :slight_smile:

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Hi. What is your Huel diet?. Perhaps you already shared, if you did, could you please post a link to it. Thax!

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My diet was two 450 calorie shakes of Huel a day. Every other Friday I had a large pizza to keep me from going crazy.

In hindsight, it was not the best way to go about it. I probably lost a significant amount of lean mass, as I was not exercising at all. If I had it to do over again, I would have been weightlifting at the same time and would have had 1600 calories a day.

I currently have 2000 calories a day, split up into five 400 calorie meals (berry Huel powder, since the powder has more protein than the RTD), and always after a workout. I bought and built a home gym to keep myself consistent. I still don’t like doing cardio, but weightlifting is not so bad at all, so I just do that.

On a typical weekday, I wake up at 5:00AM, take some preworkout stuff, go back to bed for 30 minutes, then workout, then have Huel. Then I get ready, and take more preworkout stuff, and 2 hours after the first workout I workout again, then have Huel again. When I get home from work I do the same thing three more times, always with 2 hour breaks. I take a bunch of supplements as well such as creatine and fish oil gel tabs.

I’ve added an inch to my arms in the last three months, and I’m excited to see how far I can push myself. From what I’ve read, one of the hardest parts about bodybuilding is the constant cooking you have to do. Huel is a great alternative to this.

With the muscle I’ve put on, I can afford to eat unhealthy stuff like fast food once or twice a week without gaining any fat, although I am currently sticking to just Huel to try to get my body fat down into the single digits. I still have fairly uneven fat distribution from my previous weight, and I’ve read that the only way to “reset” the fat distribution is to cut it all before putting it back on again.

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Wow!. Amazing. thanks for sharing!