I’ve been using Huel for a long time, since at least 2018. I tried to find the exact date of my first shipment but the order history is broken. At any rate, I’ve always liked the product and the ethos behind it. I currently order 4 bags of Black (2 vanilla and 2 cookies and cream) every 4 weeks. I enjoy these flavors, and the nutritional profile is too good to pass up. There have been ups and downs with product, cost, delivery, and service, but overall I am pleased.
I’ve developed a dangerous weight problem that I am attempting to address with Huel as a key component. I added Greens to my next shipment as a morning supplement and to help me restrict my calorie intake to between 12pm and 8pm daily. I’ll try to find a way to document my progress in this forum in a way that’s not too attention-seeking.
My 1000-Meal shaker and shirt came recently, and it’s silly but I am very proud of them. I hope Huel does more customer appreciation in the future.
Finally, I took the advice posted here in a pinned message, and asked a question via the comment on a Huel Facebook post. I was pleasantly surprised with the positive response.
It would be interesting to see your wisdom of using Huel for weight loss, provided you want to share. We are all unique, but general advice does apply. We just need to find what works for us individually.
I think this is the state of the art in terms of personal Huel-only trials:
I can’t recreate his thorough presentation, but I’ll try to provide some relevant feedback. I agree with your statements that while everyone’s mileage can and will vary, we can inform and motivate each other. Plus, the Huel team sometimes chimes in with both tips and encouragement.
May 1st 2023 will be the start date for this journal. It’s conveniently a Monday which is the start of the week for most of my purposes. I’ll create a spreadsheet populated with daily info collected from Fitbit and my connected scale, to include daily calories in and out, along with calculations for BMI and BMR.
Four bags of Black Edition and 1 bag of Greens every four weeks equates to approximately 1000 calories per day, to which I plan to add a couple servings of oatmeal for a total of 1200-1300 calories. In the future I’d like to consider incorporating Hot and Savory into my diet as well.
At 355 pounds my current BMR is 2700 calories, giving me a daily deficit of around 1500. Daily exercise should help my metabolism adjust such that I should plan to lose 2-3 pounds per week.
I haven’t been for a physical in a couple years so I don’t have recent blood work, but I’ll catalog what I have and eventually update that as well. Frankly I’ve grown skeptical of the medical community’s ability (or willingness) to help people overcome weight problems without throwing a bunch of expensive and unnecessary “treatment” at the issue. I know what I need to do. But I’ve always been better at planning than execution, so maybe tracking my progress here will serve as a level of accountability. We’ll see. I’ve been fighting and losing this battle for 10 years now, so frankly I’m running out of ideas other than to just keep trying.
Thank you so much for sharing all of this, @vuduray !
As has been mentioned already, everyone’s weight journey is their own and only you will be able to know what will work best for you. It sounds as though you have a solid plan in place and the first step is sometimes the hardest one! From there it’s a ll about creating sustainable habits and routines that will help you work towards your goals.
As someone who is also trying to reach my own health goals using Huel, I am so excited to be able to support and cheer you on as you work on yours. Please do share your progress (and even struggles if you want!) here. That’s what community is for, after all.
Today is day 7, and while it’s not quite over, my first week has been successful. Not counting today I have averaged about 1600 calories a day of which about 38% are from Huel. I’ve lost about 5 pounds, but that’s not very significant as I have lost and gained this same 5 pounds many times. More important is the sense that I’m gaining traction with regard to repairing my broken relationship with food, building good habits and shutting down bad ones, and creating positive momentum toward sustained weight loss and improved health.
My spreadsheet is pretty rough at the moment:
DATE
WEIGHT
BMI
BMR
FAT
MUSCLE
WATER
CAL OUT
CAL IN
DELTA
HUEL CAL
HUEL %
WORKOUT?
5/1/2023
354
55.6
2764
60%
25%
43%
3719
2100
1619
450
21.43%
YES
5/2/2023
352.8
55.4
2757
60%
25%
43%
3296
1630
1666
850
52.15%
NO
5/3/2023
350.4
55
2722
60%
25%
43%
3235
1810
1425
450
24.86%
NO
5/4/2023
350
54.9
2719
60%
25%
43%
3333
1540
1793
850
55.19%
NO
5/5/2023
350.4
55
2722
60%
25%
43%
3691
1580
2111
400
25.32%
YES
5/6/2023
349.2
54.8
2734
60%
25%
43%
4264
930
3334
450
48.39%
NO
5/7/2023
348.4
54.7
2729
60%
25%
43%
0
NO
I use a Greater Goods connected scale to capture weight and mass percentages, and a Fitbit Sense with the Fitbit Premium app to track my activity and nutrition.
Questions and constructive feedback are welcome, although keep in mind this is early on in what I hope to be a longer and more in depth record.
I am too. I capture more than I’m showing here. I journal daily with a template that includes keywords for mood and energy level. And Fitbit stores my food diary along with macro breakdown.
The strict diet and data collection stalled as soon as it started. And frankly, this thread didn’t get the response (or start the conversation) I’d hoped. I track the data, and am making progress, and Huel has been a big part of it, but posting here isn’t worth the time and effort. Nevertheless I have a lot to say about Huel, having used it for 7 years, and researched it for nearly as long:
Nothing matches the nutrition. There is a growing body of science showing that plant-based protein is the best anchor of a healthy diet, and nothing gives you 120 grams of it a day like Huel Black.
Online fulfillment is hard. Doing it well, almost seemlessly, is extremely hard. Huel used to suck at it, but they’ve gotten better, to the point where their order, payment, and shipping networks are reasonably reliable.
While I’ve always loved the oaty vibe of original vanilla, my current jam is cookies and cream Black. It is straight up delicious.
The price increases have irked me over the years. But the math is pretty clear if you compare calories to calories: At < $3.00 per 400 calories, Huel is extremely competitive. And you can find good buys at other sites if you’re averse to huge subscription shipments.
I’m not sure if/when I’ll continue updating this thread. But feel free to share your comments and/or questions.
It has been almost a year since I last wrote in this thread, and I have some good news, so I thought I would drop an update.
After years of fits and starts, the positive changes I’ve been trying to implement finally started to take hold this year. I won’t bore you with the details; suffice it to say you don’t put on this kind of weight without some underlying issues, and I was never going to effect any real change until I tackled the root causes. After a long and messy break up, I think I finally reset my relationship with food.
Emotional health journey notwithstanding, Huel has been a critical tool in changing my nutrition, weight trajectory, and my life. Using a scale was the missing piece of the puzzle. By playing around with the serving size I’ve been able to develop a rhythm that is manageable, affordable, and measurable.
I start with a breakfast consisting of Huel Daily Greens and a double serving of Metamucil, which is about 130 calories. This light breakfast feels good, and gets me into the afternoon without a big pile of calories.
I then mix a total of 280 grams of Black Edition with about 1320ml of ice and water in a large blender, then divide into 4 equal servings of ~380ml consumed between noon and 8pm. The resulting ~1250 calories from Huel allows for occasional snacks (carrots with a little ranch, pistachios in shell, fresh cut pineapple right now) while still keeping me around 1600-1800 calories a day.
The resulting weight loss has been slow but steady, with a little over 20 pounds down since mid April. I was on a 10-week loss streak until my recent birthday, but I’m back on track now. This is not a lot of weight, but frankly, I need to lose a little more before I can ramp up the exercise very much, so right now I’m focusing on locking my nutrition down and small incremental gains in physical activity as tracked on Fitbit.
With over 200 pounds still to go, there is no point in getting in a hurry. I already feel much better, having pulled back from what I believe was the brink of some real serious health problems.
I’m still tracking the numbers, and may post something here later when/if there is interest, or I find something compelling to share. In the meantime, feel free to ask questions. I think I may have cracked the code…
the more you capture now, the more interesting patterns you may find later
I capture more than I’m showing here. I journal daily with a template that includes keywords for mood and energy level. And Fitbit stores my food diary along with macro breakdown.