Anyone do IF & OMAD then increase food intake?

GemLady77

I have been doing IF for 18 weeks now eating OMAD. I also workout with weights for 40 min and 20 min of cardio 3x a week. I am currently at a plateau so I wanted to start using MFP to track my calorie intake in hopes that following certain macros I can break this plateau. I was chastised by a nutritionist that I was doing it all wrong only eating one meal a day and instructed to hire a coach for guidance but I can not do that. Another person was so nice as to advise me to start at 1600 calories to lose 1 lb a week and she gave me a macro breakdown but then another lady also advised I start tracking bc I may not even be eating 1400 calories so to go to 1600 cal it could cause me to gain weight. Any input from anyone who has done this before. Also that nutritionist advised I will need to reverse diet in order to get my body back to where it should be....I am still a bit confused.

Any advice from anyone would be great. During the 18 weeks I have lost 22-24 lbs so far, going from 216.8 to 196.8 (in the 1st 12 weeks). This morning I weighed in at 192.6 if my memory serves me right. I have never ever tracked calories/macros before but it doesn't seem like its that hard to do this.

jaimydude

If you have not tracked before I would first start tracking to see how much you are consuming daily. then I would start cutting back 100 cals a week till you see results. Then stay at that for a while.

MertonJGM

I think it could be impossible to avoid a stall without using MFP to track your food intake accurately. Beware, most of the food listed has incorrect analyses for what you eat.
Take the time to set up a relatively accurate food diary using the USDA analysis or pick a specific food from the assortment that best represents the group, never cheat, and use outliers.
Then determine if you have intestinal issues like dairy, gluten intolerance, constipation, sugar and snacks, and extreme hunger after meals. I have had all these problems with stalls and weight rebounds, and here are my solutions.
I use MFP almost daily when problems occur, as outlined above.
Dairy & gluten are easily solved by avoiding completely all products especially processed food.
All sugar can not be avoided, but added sugar can be eliminated, and here is my biggest problem. I love fruit, but the fruit has too much sugar and has been a reason for my stalls, absolutely no artifical sweeteners of any kind, or you will never beat sugar addiction.
Appetite suppression after meals can only be solved by protein 22-25%, but on a restricted diet, say 1500 calories/day, and carb-restricted to 10% net carbs can result in less than 30 -40grams of fiber per day to avoid miserable constipation if that is your problem. All the water in the world makes me pee all day long, but moderate water, eight glasses plus Benefiber or such works for me. The final part of my stall and weight loss problem is to keep fat high by 50-60%. This will be hard to accomplish because you, like most, have been educated to believe fat is the problem. It isn't, try it with the other suggestion, and you will overcome your stall and feel good.

erickirb

GemLady77 wrote: »

I have been doing IF for 18 weeks now eating OMAD. I also workout with weights for 40 min and 20 min of cardio 3x a week. I am currently at a plateau so I wanted to start using MFP to track my calorie intake in hopes that following certain macros I can break this plateau. I was chastised by a nutritionist that I was doing it all wrong only eating one meal a day and instructed to hire a coach for guidance but I can not do that. Another person was so nice as to advise me to start at 1600 calories to lose 1 lb a week and she gave me a macro breakdown but then another lady also advised I start tracking bc I may not even be eating 1400 calories so to go to 1600 cal it could cause me to gain weight. Any input from anyone who has done this before. Also that nutritionist advised I will need to reverse diet in order to get my body back to where it should be....I am still a bit confused.

Any advice from anyone would be great. During the 18 weeks I have lost 22-24 lbs so far, going from 216.8 to 196.8 (in the 1st 12 weeks). This morning I weighed in at 192.6 if my memory serves me right. I have never ever tracked calories/macros before but it doesn't seem like its that hard to do this.

If you were not tracking on MFP, how do you know how many calories you were eating? I suggest setting your goal here to lose 1 lb per week, track exercise, eat what it says, and adjust after 3-4 weeks if not meeting expectations.

jazzytyrant

I started IF/OMAD in March 2021 at 222lbs. Tracked everything, zero exercise, 1200-1500 calories a day.

By March 2022 I was 153lbs but my weight loss had slowed. I started Keto/OMAD 13th March and I'm currently at 139lbs just over 4 weeks later.

I aim for macros of 70% fat, 5% carbs and 25% protein and avoid anything processed . After one week of Keto the hunger and cravings disappeared and the weight is coming off at a steady 2lbs a week - still do zero exercise.

I'd recommend you try Keto for your plateau 🙂

Sand_TIger

A person will only start gaining weight over time at 1600 calories if that is more than they burn in a day. End of story. They might get some temporary water weight gain if they suddenly start eating carbs but that's it.

I love the suggestions to start logging everything you eat so you have an idea of what you are really taking in. It's extremely common to underestimate what you are eating. I could eat 2000 calories on OMAD, very easily, if I wasn't careful about what I was eating!

Once you figure out how much food you actually need, and how much you are taking in, then some adjustments can be made. You can totally do this. It is helpful to study a little and learn about what's going on but I think you can really find success.

looneycatblue

GemLady77 wrote: »

I am currently at a plateau...

Any advice from anyone would be great. During the 18 weeks I have lost 22-24 lbs so far, going from 216.8 to 196.8 (in the 1st 12 weeks). This morning I weighed in at 192.6 if my memory serves me right. I have never ever tracked calories/macros before but it doesn't seem like its that hard to do this.

How is this considered a plateau? Weeks 1 - 12, lost 20 lbs, 1.7/wk, weeks 13-18, lost 4.2 lbs, .8/wk. Looks to me like you are still losing at a reasonable rate. Most of us lose more in the beginning, it is natural for it to slow down as you get closer to your goals.

Remember this is not a race and you need to find a lifestyle that you can live with long term.

GemLady77

Ok - that's what I have been doing the last 3 days, including today. I have not hit 1200 calories a day but will work on trying to eat at least 1200 a day minimum. Thank you for the advice.

jaimydude wrote: »

If you have not tracked before I would first start tracking to see how much you are consuming daily. then I would start cutting back 100 cals a week till you see results. Then stay at that for a while.

GemLady77

Yes, I am now tracking so I can figure out how many calories I am actually consuming. I think I have it set to 2 lbs a week and it put me at 1200 cal/day. I have not hit that number since tracking. I am currently working on getting in the full 1200 calories in each day.

erickirb wrote: »

If you were not tracking on MFP, how do you know how many calories you were eating? I suggest setting your goal here to lose 1 lb per week, track exercise, eat what it says, and adjust after 3-4 weeks if not meeting expectations.

GemLady77

I have tried keto, not for me. I love carbs too much to cut them down to 20g lol I did it for 2 weeks lost 5 lbs and quit bc I was tired of cauliflower mash and making keto bread bc I wanted bread being I am so used to eating it. Congrats on your success tho, that is really awesome. I will just continue to track and see how that goes. I will keep you posted. Thanks again.

jazzytyrant wrote: »

I started IF/OMAD in March 2021 at 222lbs. Tracked everything, zero exercise, 1200-1500 calories a day.

By March 2022 I was 153lbs but my weight loss had slowed. I started Keto/OMAD 13th March and I'm currently at 139lbs just over 4 weeks later.

I aim for macros of 70% fat, 5% carbs and 25% protein and avoid anything processed . After one week of Keto the hunger and cravings disappeared and the weight is coming off at a steady 2lbs a week - still do zero exercise.

I'd recommend you try Keto for your plateau 🙂

snowflake954

I agree--just track your calories accurately using a digital food scale. Adjustments are made as you progress. No diet is magic. Eat what you like within your goals, watching protein intake.

GemLady77

Thank you - I have been tracking very closely since Tuesday. So far so good. I do need to increase and watch protein as you suggested.

snowflake954 wrote: »

I agree--just track your calories accurately using a digital food scale. Adjustments are made as you progress. No diet is magic. Eat what you like within your goals, watching protein intake.

GemLady77

Thank you for your encouragement. I have been tracking since this past Tuesday. My 1st 2-3 days was low like under 1200 calories but I ate more today so it should equal out by the end of the week. I am enjoying this tracking as a tool to help me succeed. Today after eating about 1500 calories it told me if I ate like this everyday I would lose 4.5 lbs in 5 weeks. That blew my mind. I love that it spells it out for you on how much you can lose in how long by eating x amount of calories. Super awesome feature.

Sand_TIger wrote: »

A person will only start gaining weight over time at 1600 calories if that is more than they burn in a day. End of story. They might get some temporary water weight gain if they suddenly start eating carbs but that's it.

I love the suggestions to start logging everything you eat so you have an idea of what you are really taking in. It's extremely common to underestimate what you are eating. I could eat 2000 calories on OMAD, very easily, if I wasn't careful about what I was eating!

Once you figure out how much food you actually need, and how much you are taking in, then some adjustments can be made. You can totally do this. It is helpful to study a little and learn about what's going on but I think you can really find success.

GemLady77

Yeah, after looking at it that way I guess I was just expecting it to continue at a 2lb/week loss so I felt I was stuck but I see the scale moving again since I have been tracking. I will take it easy and go with the flow. I was just hoping it would continue at the rate I started but something is better than nothing. Thank you for the breakdown - that actually helped me see I am still having progress just a bit less of a loss per week.

looneycatblue wrote: »

GemLady77 wrote: »

I am currently at a plateau...

Any advice from anyone would be great. During the 18 weeks I have lost 22-24 lbs so far, going from 216.8 to 196.8 (in the 1st 12 weeks). This morning I weighed in at 192.6 if my memory serves me right. I have never ever tracked calories/macros before but it doesn't seem like its that hard to do this.

How is this considered a plateau? Weeks 1 - 12, lost 20 lbs, 1.7/wk, weeks 13-18, lost 4.2 lbs, .8/wk. Looks to me like you are still losing at a reasonable rate. Most of us lose more in the beginning, it is natural for it to slow down as you get closer to your goals.

Remember this is not a race and you need to find a lifestyle that you can live with long term.

AnnPT77

Two pounds a week is not an ideally health-promoting goal, when under 200 pounds body weight (and for some, even when over that, if goal weight is close).

0.5-1% of current body weight per week is a more conservative target, with a bias toward that lower end.

IMO, the goal is to home in on habits we can sustain permanently to maintain healthy weight, plus we know (per research) that there's a limited amount of fat we are able to metabolize daily (after which we burn lean tissue, or sacrifice less life-vital things like hair growth, immune system function, body temperature maintenance, etc.).

Prioritize health and long-term thriving - that would be my advice, from the perspective of someone in year 6+ of maintenance . . . not fast loss in the moment.