Around the Web

A few sites that I've come across:

Pat's Soylent Adventure Patrick is following much the same recipe I am, but with a few additions (posted on makesoylent.com.)

makeshifttechnology has been working on versions of soylent that can be purchased with food stamps, which is a great endeavor.

Other than Rob's posts, I still haven't seen posts about people's months-long experiments with their own homemade soylents. The week-long trials that journalists have had can hardly give an impression of life on the food.

Daily Update: September 5, 2013

Weight: 225 lbs.

Servings of Hacker School Soylent: 2

Real Food Meals

Health Rating: 3
Ham, pineapple and a broccoli casserole.

Hunger

Hunger Craving Rating: 2
Pretty low throughout the day until dinner out.

Bowel

Bristol Stool Scale: 4.5
Two 5s and two 4s.

Notes

Emotional Rating: 3
Nothing new to report.

Daily Update: September 4, 2013

Weight: 226 lbs.

Servings of Hacker School Soylent: 2

Real Food Meals

Health Rating: 2
Ravioli and asparagus

Hunger

Hunger Craving Rating: 1
Pretty low througout the day.

Bowel

Bristol Stool Scale: 4.25
Three 4s and a small 6. Low gass

Notes

Emotional Rating: 3
A pretty normal day. I handled a work upset pretty well and was able to get back in and working after just a few minutes of venting.

Daily Update: September 3, 2013

Weight: 227 lbs.

Servings of Hacker School Soylent: 2

Real Food Meals

Health Rating: 5
Samosas Au Natural and 1/2 of a large chicken breast.

Hunger

Hunger Craving Rating: 1
Pretty low througout the day. All cravings were suppressed with additional sips of HSS.

Bowel

Bristol Stool Scale: 4
A 3, two 4s and a small 6. Low gas.

Notes

Emotional Rating: 4
Today was very much back to normal, which gives me hope for the future. Between the meetings, the conference and the Monday holiday it was an unusual week. I hope things will settle back down into a good normal pattern now.

Daily Update: September 2, 2013

Weight: 227 lbs.

Servings of Hacker School Soylent:

Real Food Meals

Health Rating: 2
Hamburger.

Hunger

Hunger Craving Rating: 2
Low until mid-afternoon. I drank through my two meals' worth of HSS late afternoon and as hungry for the entire rest of the day. I ended up with lots of pre- and post-dinner snacking.

Bowel

Bristol Stool Scale: 4
Back to being pretty good again.

Notes

Emotional Rating: 3
Not such a good day eating-wise. Hopefully things will go back to the way they were a week and a half ago pretty soon.

Two Weeks In

I started drinking Hacker School Soylent as a week long experiment. I wanted to see how it tasted, how my body would respond to it, and if any of the claimed magical properties were true.

After a week of consumption I was pleased enough with the results that I bought the ingredients in bulk with the intention of extending my trial out to a full month.

What I've been doing

When possible, I've been using 2/3 of the Hacker School Soylent (HSS) recipe for meals each day to replace breakfast and lunch. I've then prepared dinner when arriving home, or joined my friends for a dinner that evening.

I'm not declining social opportunities, so I am reducing my HSS intake when I have a social lunch (or breakfast) planned. The last four days, for example, I've been at a conference. I've reduced my HSS to 1/2 of the recipe and eaten a small "real foods" lunch while chatting with colleagues.

My focus has been weight loss, while maintaining an eating habit that I can keep even after I've reached my target weight. To that end, I'm consuming about 1400 calories of HSS and aiming to have 600 calories, or fewer, of dinner and snacks. Many of my vegetable-heavy recipes that I cook at home support this, like: broccoli beef, Japanese curry, Samosas au natural, and cashew chicken.

Generally I'm finding that 2/3 of a recipe of HSS makes about 1400mL of liquid. I'll drink 400mL before work, around 300mL at lunch time and between 100 and 200mL whenever I feel peckish. I'll often return home from work with 200mL which I will drink when I want a snack after dinner.

Results

So I can't clam to have had any magical improvements, but I have been very pleased with some of the results:

Cravings: all-in-all I have found it easier to keep from snacking. When I'm hungry I'm finding it pretty easy to drink HSS instead of the salty or sweet snacks that my workgroup brings in to share. When I do crave "real food" I've been much more able to re-route to a healthy alternative (like an apple or a pear) than I was before starting HSS.

Bowel: on the Bristol stool scale I've moved from a 6 to a 4.5, with much less urgency and much more controllable gas. I currently suspect that my "4" days are more vegetable-heavy with fewer easily accessible sugars, and I'm hoping that the coming weeks will see more more consistently at a 4.

Mood: I have felt more even and in-control than I normally do these past few weeks. Now this may not be the HSS at all, but I know that my mood definitely affects my eating. (I eat both when nervous and when sad.) I'll enjoy seeing if this sticks.

Energy: Again, I've felt more even since starting HSS. I'm still having an energy-drop in the afternoon, but I'm wondering if that has more to do with the content of the meetings I attend than the inherent energy I am feeling at that time.

Weight: I've lost about 2 pounds in the past two weeks. I think it would be 3 if I hadn't been overeating during the conference I've been at.

Daily Update: September 1, 2013

Weight: 228 lbs.

Servings of Hacker School Soylent: 1.5

Real Food Meals

Health Rating: 3
Lunch: Pasta. Dinner: Chicken and broccoli.

Hunger

Hunger Craving Rating: 2
Pretty low, but I had a craving for cheese at the end of the day.

Bowel

Bristol Stool Scale: 5
A bit loose, but tigher than before Hacker School Soylent.

Notes

Emotional Rating: 4
Final day of the conference, so only 1/2 of a day's worth of HSS. I'm looking forward to going back to my usual 2/3s along with self-prepared meals.

Daily Update: August 31, 2013

Weight: 226 lbs.

Servings of Hacker School Soylent: 1.5

Real Food Meals

Lunch: Large asian-style buffet. Dinner was excessive amounts of toast and cheese.

Hunger

Poor. I should have had HSS throughout the day.

Bowel

Loose and a big gassy.

Notes

At a conference, so only 1/2 of a day's worth of Hacker School Soylent instead of my usual 2/3. It would have benefitted me to drink it throughout the day since I find that it helps me with appetite and eating control, but I didn't. So I was "snacky" most of the daytime and then overly full when I had the HSS for dinner.

Daily Update: August 30, 2013

Weight: 226 lbs.

Servings of Hacker School Soylent: 1.5

Real Food Meals

Lunch: Tacos and Mexican food. Dinner: Ravioli and asperagus.

Hunger

Good appetite control most of the day.

Bowel

Loose and gassy. Back to "normal" but still less frequent than before. Note that I am having soylent for only 1/2 day and eating lunch at a conference and dinner at home.

Notes

At a conference, so I've reduced my Hacker School Soylent intake so that I can eat a social lunch at the conference.

Daily Update: August 29, 2013

Weight: 226 lbs.

Servings of Hacker School Soylent: 1.5

Real Food Meals

Lunch: Chicken. Dinner: Meat, Potatoes, Broccoli.

Hunger

Due to a conference, I wasn't able to sip Hacker School Soylent throughout the day as I normally would and I got decently hungry. Once the conference ended for the day hunger dropped back to usual and, in fact, I had good appetite control for dinner.

Bowel

Loose and gassy. Back to "normal" consistency, but still less frequent than before. (See Notes)

Notes

Yesterday evening and today brought a lot of "normal" foods back into my diet. Today because of a work conference, so I ate a social lunch and reduced the amount of hacker school soylent I ate. Additional "social snacking" happened.