cutting down on meals???

kimmaltsev

Any thoughts on eating just one meal a day for the next few weeks/months? Is it a wise choice to do this? Or even stop eating all together?

DawnieB1977

Are you actually being serious?

999tigger

If you stop eating alogether, then errm you will die eventually. Is that a good idea? Your ticker says 118lbs over so you have a long journey ahead.

Start with this thread and learn how to lose like everyone else in a healthy sustained way otherwise you are going to fail as well as doing many foolish things.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

livingleanlivingclean

Why would you want to do that? What good will it achieve?

honkytonks85

Some people do warrior style fasting which is basically eating one meal a day. But I wouldn't recommend this approach until you have mastered the basics eg. counting calories

TimothyFish

In terms of losing weight, you can lose weight with just one meal a day, as long as you have a calorie deficit. I don't think that is wise, because that means you have to spend a lot of time trying to avoid eating. You would probably be hungry most of the time and you would be setting yourself up for failure.

macgurlnet

kimmaltsev wrote: »

Any thoughts on eating just one meal a day for the next few weeks/months? Is it a wise choice to do this? Or even stop eating all together?

Are you really saying you'd starve yourself to lose weight? If so, please see a medical professional immediately.

There's nothing wrong with eating once a day, 3 times a day, 6 times a day or whatever as long as you're meeting your body's nutritional needs. If your calorie goal is, say, 1400 and you eat 1 balanced meal with that many calories.....that's a fine thing to do. It wouldn't work for me but to each their own.

~Lyssa

tycoon460

Some people do use one meal or a small window of 8 hour allowed eating (intermittent fasting). I will say trying to do intermittent fasting is very hard mentally. I find even doing 3 meals a day very easy to go into NOM NOM Mode and eat everything in sight eventually.

Do not stop eating all together. That is a horrible idea. You might lose weight but you can develop all sorts of health issues (heart problems, organ failure, death...). Not to mention once you go back to eating you're more likely to go to feeding frenzy because you've STARVED yourself. Your body will basically go what the heck just happened and you'll want to eat the entire fridge and kitchen in one sitting.

Going from one extreme to the other is just setting yourself up for failure. Plan on losing 1-2 lbs a week and adjust your lifestyle to it then go back and adjust it again in a few weeks. It's an endless cycle. You need to look at this in the mindset that this will be a lifestyle change not a diet, else you'll just yoyo back and forth.

I find accurately counting food (with a scale or by measuring cup), eating 3 meals and 3 snacks a day, exercising 5-6 times a week, avoiding preprocessed food, and eating clean (fresh produce or only things I cook/bake) the most effective for me.

There are plenty of great guides on here to get you started safely.

bbontheb

I wouldn't. For me, I knew if I did anything out of the ordinary I would crash after and go back to eating unhealthy and large portions of crappy food. So, I have been working on the last 6 weeks of establishing healthier eating habits. Planning if I am out (taking healthy snacks), having a list of meals I can "go to" if I need something quick, and for me it's eating regularly. I mean, breakfast, big lunch, sometimes snacks in between, fair size dinner, and sometimes pm snack (this I reserve for my treats). Any bit of feeling deprived my head goes crazy and wants to hoard so I wanted to ensure this didn't happen.

If it's all overwhelming perhaps focus on getting 3-4 main meals you can eat for lunch/dinner to make it easier. I eat the same things for lunch as I do for dinner. I can't eat wheat so it makes it a bit easier to know what I can or can't have. No sandwiches etc. Sticking to protein, and veggies mostly to fill me up has helped me not noshing on stuff mindlessly and also having a strict rule to plan food to bring if I am on the run has helped tons.

DeguelloTex

One meal a day for a few months could be reasonable. Zero meals a day for a few months, less so.

strong_curves

The only folks that I know of who try to stop eating altogether have EDs and it's so sad. Food isn't the enemy, you need food to stay alive. You CAN eat food and still lose weight, you can eat ALL types of food and still lose weight. You just have to eat less than you burn, learn about portion control, have some self control. Please do NOT harm yourself by not eating.

Lounmoun

kimmaltsev wrote: »

Any thoughts on eating just one meal a day for the next few weeks/months? Is it a wise choice to do this? Or even stop eating all together?

You can eat all of your calories in one meal or spread them out over 3 meals or eat 16 times a day. You'll lose weight the same if you eat the same amount of calories. You might find you function better one way or another.
I function best eating every 3-5 hours during the day.

I don't think it is wise or healthy or necessary to stop eating all together. Maybe get some professional help if you are having these unhealthy thoughts.

ladymiseryali

You are aware that this isn't a pro-ED site, right? We don't support unhealthy methods of weight loss.

kimmaltsev

what's ED?

cyronius

Eating Disorder

Alatariel75

Stop eating altogether? Seriously? Can you really imagine that anyone will tell you that's a good idea?

jennifer_417

kimmaltsev wrote: »

Any thoughts on eating just one meal a day for the next few weeks/months? Is it a wise choice to do this? Or even stop eating all together?

If you eat 1 meal a day and hit your calorie goal (whatever MFP tells you when you properly plug in your numbers), then yeah, that's ok, if you can do it.

But to stop eating altogether? No. That would be really foolish, and would lead to a bevy of health problems, and eventually death.

Soopatt

I do the one meal a day thing when I want to eat something special, like a high calorie meal at a restaurant and want to avoid blowing my daily calories. I do it about every two weeks. As far as I know the odd full day of fasting does not kill anyone (many people do it for religious reasons) so one day without eating is not going to cause you any health problems as long as you stay hydrated (with water). Remember the 40 hour famine? That was a fundraiser in which normal people could skip food for the day and donate the money they would have spent to the needy.

I don't think asking these sort of questions implies an eating disorder. Most of us are overweight. It it was that easy to just stop eating, we probably would not have found ourselves in this position to begin with.

Short answer - limited fasting (a couple of meals or one day) is fine. Starving for days or weeks is not. Unless of course, you believe the political cause to be worthwhile.

rosnigetsfit

Seriously, 1 meal a day? Why? Nope, it doesn't work that way.