Huel for Bodybuilding: (Good for bulking, muscle gain & training?)

Can you use Huel for bodybuilding?

In this article, I have gathered information about whether or not Huel is good for gaining weight and bodybuilding.

Gathering a calorie surplus from different sources is an onerous task and what is more cumbersome is to ensure that these calories are contributed by the right balance of macronutrients.

And Huel powders make sure that you only sweat at the gym by providing you a complete food with calculated calories and 27 vitamins and minerals that can help you achieve your daily caloric intake and provide you with nutrients.

Especially the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that can help you gain weight and muscle.

So, keep reading to find out how Huel can help serve your purpose of bulking or putting on weight.

Can you gain Weight with Huel?

Yes, Huel can help you gain weight.

To gain weight, you need to counter the calorie deficit and consume Huel in a calorie surplus to balance out the number of calories utilized by the body.

A fast metabolism or a low-calorie intake are the two culprits that make you underweight.

If you are not providing your body with enough calories from your food, it will eventually start utilizing the energy stored as glycogen in your muscles and fat stores and make you skinny.

And in case of a high metabolism rate, your body is burning up more calories in either the resting state or during activity, thus making it hard for you to maintain your weight.

And therefore, adding more calories to your diet is how you can put on some healthy weight.

The biggest challenge with weight gain is to stuff in more food than your actual hunger.

This research compared the impact of solid and liquid meal replacement and concluded that liquid meal replacements are more effective for underweight people as they blunt the ‘postprandial decline.’

And thus, Huel shakes can be comparatively less filling than solid meals and can enable you to overindulge the excess calories and make space in the stomach for subsequent meals sooner.

Getting an additional 500 calories per day can make you gain 1 pound of weight every week.

To use Huel for gaining weight, you need to calculate your daily energy requirement (DER) by using a calorie calculator and then achieve your additional calorie intake with pre-calculated calories of Huel products.

You can opt for 5 to 6 small meals a day rather than choking on 2 or 3 big meals.

For this, you can chug in 2 or 3 Huel shakes and some snack bars in between your three regular meals; this will help you plump up without making you feel too stuffed.

Or you can avail of your freedom to consume excess calories and instead of preparing your Huel shakes in plain water, toss in peanut-butter, ice cream, half and half, double cream, or any of your favorite toppings and increase the calorie content of your Huel shake so that you can achieve your calorie surplus of the day with only one glass of loaded shake.

One serving that is two scoops of both black and white Huel powder can provide you 400 kcal, and so does one bottle of ready-to-drink shakes.

And you can snack on Huel bars to get 200 kcal.

If you want to shift entirely to the Huel diet for weight gain, you can consult this website to adjust your meal plan accordingly.

Gorging in junk and processed food is not a wise choice to fatten up because the weight gain is due to the ‘bad fats’ and sugar (simple carbohydrates), which have zero nutritional value and are essentially promoting visceral fat gain which is not healthy at all.

Huel provides a balanced macronutrient ratio which plays a significant role in determining a healthy weight gain.

An effective calorific concoction comprises high protein, complex carbohydrates, and ‘good fats’ as the prominent energy-yielding macronutrients like Huel’s.

The high protein content in Huel is contributed by high-quality plant protein, and the complex carbohydrates come from whole grain oats, brown rice, and quinoa in Huel.

These are digested slowly and provide a regulated release of energy so that the body does not resort to breaking down glycogen in muscle and fat stores for meeting its energy demands.

Thus it helps in maintaining and gaining weight.

Some fat in your diet is vital to support your weight gain aims. 

It provides energy for workouts, is calorie-dense, and promotes muscle mass. But the kind of fat is the ultimate chess piece that drives the health game, and the ‘good fats’ queen it.

According to this science news,  gaining more calories from polyunsaturated fats plays a crucial role in increasing muscle mass rather than body fat.

In contrast, ‘bad fats’ that are saturated fats will only bulk up the belly.

Huel products comprise mainly of polyunsaturated fats derived from sunflower, coconut, and flaxseed and have the least quantity of saturated fats.

Is HUEL good for bulking up/bodybuilding?

Yes, you can use Huel to modulate your calorie intake during all three phases of bodybuilding, especially for bulking up and gaining muscle.

For muscle building, you need a bulk of protein with essential amino acids, especially the Branched-chain amino acids (BCCAs). And from these BCCAs, especially the leucine, Huel stimulates muscle protein synthesis and muscle repair process.

The complex carbohydrate content of Huel shakes is essential to provide the energy for lifting weight during your gym sessions and helps you recover sooner from a strenuous workout.

Carbohydrates are mainly glucose that promotes glycogen synthesis.

They prevent the body from converting the glycogen in the muscles into glucose so that you do not have to redo all the work you are doing on your biceps.

These complex carbohydrates are also broken down slowly to release different vitamins and minerals into the body.

Bulking up is the first phase of bodybuilding, and it isn’t as simple as gaining weight.

To ‘bulk-up,’ you need to determine a calories surplus that is 10%-20% (300 kcal- 600 kcal) of your weight maintenance calories, and by consuming approximately 500 kcal every day, you can put on 0.5kg every week.

And Huel can consistently provide you with high-quality nutrition to fuel the calorie surplus you have to consume for approximately 4 to 6 months to put on more muscle mass than your body needs.

The fat gain from the calorie surplus is inevitable during the first phase.

So, in the next phase, you have to ‘cut down your calories for weight maintenance, and this involves the complex interplay of both nutrition from Huel and exercise.

The calorie surplus fuels the strenuous workouts in the last phase to achieve a state of hypertrophy.

Gulping in Huel shakes after working out not only provides the energy for lifting weights but also repairs the muscle micro-tears that can occur from the over-exertion during the high-resistance training.

So, by combining Huel and gym, you can build those biceps in no time.

One Huel black edition powder serving provides 400 calories and 40g of protein.

You can use this Huel powder to avail of its high protein and calorie content for bodybuilding.

Huel for weight gain – Reddit Stories

I have skimmed through Reddit stories to find out if Huel is actually effective for weight and muscle gain or not. Here is what the users are saying about it:

This Reddit user used Huel for 30 days, and based on his experience, he recommends Huel as being effective for muscle and weight gain.

The user consumed Huel ready-to-drink shakes 2 to 3 times a day, in the morning, noon and post-workout, as the sole protein source.

In addition to it, weight training and creatinine intake were also part of the user’s routine and helped put on 6kg of weight and lean muscle within a month of use.

Blankspacewater is another Reddit user who used Huel as a bulk supplement, and it has worked better than other powders in terms of weight gain.

The user consumed Huel vanilla flavor twice a day to fulfill daily calorie requirements and as a protein source after the workout on training days to get the desired results.

In another Huel Reddit fitness post, Jimmy, a Royal Marine, wrote that he lived on Huel for nine months, consumed 9 scoops of Huel with 1.5-liter cow milk every day, and went to the gym for six days a week.

He thanked Huel for transforming his skinny physique, which helped him clear the marine’s fitness test and qualify for training.

Related posts:

• Huel for Breakfast: Can you have it for only Breakfast?
• Huel for Lunch: How Good for Launch?
• Is Huel Healthy & Worth it Long Term? 
• Huel with Milk: Can you make Huel with Milk?

Final Thoughts

To wrap it up, the worked-out calories on Huel shakes can help you to achieve the calorie surplus required in either weight gain or for bulking.

The energy-yielding macro-nutrients in Huel powders can help you put on some weight and fuel your workouts. Whereas the high protein content can help you gain muscle.

The Huel black edition best suits your high calorie and high protein requirements.

And the Huel white powders can provide you with a perfect balance of all four-energy yielding macro-nutrients. You can also consume Huel bars and meals as per your needs.

But before opting for Huel, consult a nutritionist and a trainer for appropriate workout plans that will match your nutritional uptake from different Huel powders.