Every Other Day Diet

mzjamocha

Is anyone on the EODD plan? Would you like to be friends? This plan you eat 500 cal every other day and normally the next day. It is a modified form of alternate day fasting. So far I've kept up with it which is saying a lot! It feels like a sustainable lifestyle change for me

tomcustombuilder

mzjamocha wrote: »

Is anyone on the EODD plan? Would you like to be friends? This plan you eat 500 cal every other day and normally the next day. It is a modified form of alternate day fasting. So far I've kept up with it which is saying a lot! It feels like a sustainable lifestyle change for me

id imagine it would work as long as your overall weekly calorie target was met. Probably a good idea to get a decent amount of protein on the low days though

neanderthin

Alternate day fasting (ADF) does have some health benefits but as far as weight lose is concerned, it's not significant. One thing that seems to be consistent with ADF is our NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis) basically our daily movements are reduced therefore reducing the CO (calories out) part of the equation and that is where any advantage kind of disappears.

One other thing that I've noticed in the literature, which would effect me personally, is when compared to constant daily calorie reduction there is a small loss of lean mass (muscle) in these studies. Basically when losing weight your going to have a harder time keeping all your lean mass, which for people with a lot of fat to lose and who might not be as active then maybe this is not as concerning but for me maintaining and or increasing muscle mass for my weight would be considered good for my height and age, anyway, at 70 this is a very big deal, along with strength, is the cornerstone to good health and longevity.

The reason why this happens apparently, and I believe there is a very high probability that it does, is, while we have glycogen to access for our energy on those alternative days, our pool of amino acids is limited, actually almost non existent, so on those days we simply don't have enough for anabolism or overall protein management so protein will be manufactured from other pools of AA's and muscle is a big shopping center, so to speak. Also, there's enough evidence that if we don't spread our protein intake out fairly evenly through the day that that same mechanism applies, in other words, compared to a day with same overall calories but if most protein was consumed in 1 meal then more lean mass is lost then when we spread the protein out rather evenly through out all our meals, hope all this makes sense to you. I also agree with Tom here, that concentrating those 500 calories with a protein is a good idea and I'll add that it should be quality protein (animal) to maximize AA shortfalls and bioavailability.

Anyway, if losing weight is your priority and the potential lose of muscle isn't much of a factor, and your not on a weight resistant program and you feel especially comfortable with this lifestyle, then go at it, but if not, it's a lot of metal energy spend with not many and possibly a negative outcome. Good luck in your journey. cheers

EDIT: An alternative to the alternative, sorry couldn't resist, would be (TRF) time restricted feeding like 12:12 or 16:8 as examples. These don't have the same protein problem and offer similar health improvements and are potentially showing some anti-aging effect. This may allow for less overall stress and less meal planning and of course IF doesn't care what you eat, so it's not really a diet and you can just reduce the calories of the foods you generally enjoy, baring of course it's not all ultra processed and reducing some of that for whole foods would put you in bonus territory.

ddsb1111

mzjamocha wrote: »

Is anyone on the EODD plan? Would you like to be friends? This plan you eat 500 cal every other day and normally the next day. It is a modified form of alternate day fasting. So far I've kept up with it which is saying a lot! It feels like a sustainable lifestyle change for me

Hi mz, although I don’t follow ADF exactly I do fast 3 days a week. I’d be happy to check in with you. If you keep your protein in check you should be perfectly fine. How’s it going so far? How long have you been doing it for? Any success or struggles?

Sinisterbarbie1

I would caution to be careful how you define “eat normally” on alternate days. There is a risk of falling into a binge restrict pattern where you actually end up consuming more calories than if you were to eat at a constant recommended modest deficit. Ie you are starving after a day of only 500 calories so consume progressively more calories on your “off” days as the week goes on.

ddsb1111

Sinisterbarbie1 wrote: »

I would caution to be careful how you define “eat normally” on alternate days. There is a risk of falling into a binge restrict pattern where you actually end up consuming more calories than if you were to eat at a constant recommended modest deficit. Ie you are starving after a day of only 500 calories so consume progressively more calories on your “off” days as the week goes on.

Here’s an interesting study on disordered eating and ADF you might want to see, it’s surprisingly not what you’d expect (specifically Table 2). I’ve read other studies as well showing it minimized binges due to the allowance of more calories on their eating day:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4424827/

ETA: This is an older study. If there’s new findings I’d be interested in reading your source as well.