Eating only once a day - What are your thoughts

TestingFun01

I enjoy eating one meal a day. That is dinner. I eat a big ol' plate of food. I get a glass of milk with it, and also any dessert I'd like. I love it. Lots of freedom.

reeyonce

I just think it's unrealistic long term. I highly doubt this person is gonna keep this up forever. I reckon they will do it for a few weeks/months etc and then go back to eating normally. Like they said themselves the whole thing was pretty much accidental. When their circumstances/lifestyle changes, their diet probably will too. They haven't intentionally adopted this way of eating to achieve a goal, I mean they don't even count calories and they eat what they want. Comparing this situation to people who have intentionally set out a structural way to eat one meal a day, eating all their required calories and whatnot is just ridiculous.

Do it for now if that's what is working for you. But long term I just don't think it's realistic.

happyfeetrebel1

Fit4eva, why do you ( general) need breakfast?

I need it myself or I get too hungry later in the morning but that's me - lots of people manage fine without it.

Because you have not eaten all night, where are you gonna have the energy to take on the day and do your exercises? Breakfast kick starts your metabolism and stops you from being starving later on in the day and overeating.

Nope.

happyfeetrebel1

LOL..I posted the above not realizing that others had already said no.

The whole 'you need breakfast' thing is pure crap

_Zardoz_

I spent years starving myself trying to lose weight! once i started eating properly and clean and having breakfast the weight fell off> I have spent most of my 20's in the gym with different pt and researching every thing going! losing weight is simple, eat clean and move. don't starve and don't overeat! it is common sense that starving all day and then eating a big meal is not good! what about your sugar levels, your digestive system. Ask a doctor, Ask a pt, Ask a nutritionist? I answered this question because i have starved myself and made myself ill. I now eat clean and train and feel good. I would never recommend to anyone to starve all day

Hmm I don't 'Eat Clean' so I wonder how I lost that 145 pounds. I know magic.

Curtruns

I would post your question on a public forum and let others debate the pro's and con's of your actions and laugh at how animated they get in their disagreements.

Then I would do a google/bing/goduckgo search on your question and base your decision on the source that makes the most sense to you.

after all, opinions are like _________ and MFP is full of them

Annie_01

Eating 3 square meals a day is a recent concept.

http://www.alternet.org/story/152486/there_is_no_biological_reason_to_eat_three_meals_a_day_--_so_why_do_we_do_it?page=0,0

Mr_Knight

If your nutritional requirements are being met in one meal a day, have at it, absolutely nothing wrong with it.

:drinker:

SLLRunner

Fit4eva, why do you ( general) need breakfast?

I need it myself or I get too hungry later in the morning but that's me - lots of people manage fine without it.

Because you have not eaten all night, where are you gonna have the energy to take on the day and do your exercises? Breakfast kick starts your metabolism and stops you from being starving later on in the day and overeating.

Nope

YES

There is ZERO science to back this claim.

If you feel better doing it, then do it... that's your personal preference, and that's perfectly fine.

BUT... it's not required. "where are you going to get the energy" is actually really easy to answer... most people are on this site to lose some of the energy they have to take on the day... it's called body fat, you know, stored energy... yeah.

I feel that your heart is in the right place, but you are misinformed here :frown:

I spent years starving myself trying to lose weight! once i started eating properly and clean and having breakfast the weight fell off> I have spent most of my 20's in the gym with different pt and researching every thing going! losing weight is simple, eat clean and move. don't starve and don't overeat! it is common sense that starving all day and then eating a big meal is not good! what about your sugar levels, your digestive system. Ask a doctor, Ask a pt, Ask a nutritionist? I answered this question because i have starved myself and made myself ill. I now eat clean and train and feel good. I would never recommend to anyone to starve all day

I think you might be missing the point. The OP is not starving himself, he's choosing to eat his calories in a bigger daily meal. 1200 is too low for him, so all he needs to do is increase his calories. While eating one meal a day would not work for me, and it did not work for you, it does work for others.

Also, clean eating has nothing to do with weight loss, and neither does meal frequency.

paomiamifl

I just think it's unrealistic long term. I highly doubt this person is gonna keep this up forever. I reckon they will do it for a few weeks/months etc and then go back to eating normally. Like they said themselves the whole thing was pretty much accidental. When their circumstances/lifestyle changes, their diet probably will too. They haven't intentionally adopted this way of eating to achieve a goal, I mean they don't even count calories and they eat what they want. Comparing this situation to people who have intentionally set out a structural way to eat one meal a day, eating all their required calories and whatnot is just ridiculous.

Do it for now if that's what is working for you. But long term I just don't think it's realistic.

It may sound unrealistic; however, I've been living (and clearly healthily surviving) eating one meal a day since around June/July 2013 (around 13 months or so)
If the OP feels better, I support the idea because if they didn't have "excess energy" (in the form of fat reserves), it wouldn't cause weight loss AND the reported surge of energy the OP (and myself) is claiming. If I eat breakfast, I feel sick. It's always been true for me. I didn't get obese by not eating breakfast but rather eating surplus energy my body obviously didn't need.
Eating one meal a day - in my case - has resulted in going from 226 to 134.2 (today's weight). I'm 5'1, wheelchair bound, DO NOT count calories, enjoy my one meal a day immensely, do not think about food all day, eat chocolate, ice cream, and delicious healthy recipes my husband and I cook once a day. Today, we are eating leftovers from yesterday around 5pm. And we won't eat until 5 pm tomorrow, with the exception of a coffee here or there (with real sugar AND creamer) and the rest of the time, water.
Would I tell EVERYONE to do it? No. Mostly because I honestly believe people should find what helps them, and stick with it day after day. At the end of the day, it's calories in vs calories out. HOWEVER one gets that message to their bodies across is fine in my book.

paperpudding

I don't see how it matters that OP may not do this for rest of his life.

If he is eating, say, 1500 calories in one meal now and then later decides to eat 750 calories in 2 meals or 500 calories in 3 meals or 300 calories in 5 meals or any other way of dividing 1500 throughout the day,why should weight pile back on???

reeyonce

But that's the whole point of what I'm trying to say. He clearly stated himself that he doesn't even COUNT CALORIES! Which is why it is unrealistic! For all he knows he could be eating only 1000 calories a day. When he starts to eat normally again, he'll probably eat a lot more calories, thus gaining weight. There is no overall structure to this 'diet' or 'lifestyle change' or whatever he wants to call it...it's just really a matter of convenience and circumstance which we can ALL relate to I'm sure. However if he actually sat down and worked out a plan where he is eating only one meal per day and getting all he needs from it, then THAT would be perfectly fine! Plenty of people do it!!!!!! My point is very simple. It's not hard to understand