From 363.4 to 197.7 lbs: My One-Meal-a-Day Success Story

What you have achieved is truly amazing - you look awesome.

For anyone who tells you that eating one meal a day is unhealthy - just direct them to a book called 'The Fast Diet' by an English Doctor called Michael Moseley; I guess you should be able to get hold of one via Amazon or similar.

It is precisely the concept of 'three square meals a day', cheap and readily available fast food (to save time for a busy lifestyle), drinks full of sugar on every supermarket aisle, and the introduction of 'acceptable' between meal snacks that has generated this epidemic of obesity.

Well done you for sticking to your guns! :bigsmile:

It works for you... CONGRATS on your weightloss success! FYI-- I remember watching a segment of DR. OZ where "Judge Judy" said she does the one meal a day thing too. And she looks great in her bikini at whatever age she is!!!

Alright, here is the day two update. Lol! Stomach gurgles all day and I'm burping a lot. Is this from empty stomach? Very gassy in stomach. Does this go away? I feel pretty good during the day but have to fight hunger about once per hour for about 15 minutes starting around 9 AM. My biggest question is about 10 minutes after I eat my one meal around 6:30 PM I feel dizzy dizzy dizzy for a good hour. I thought I would feel this fasting not eating. Any helpful advise? Did you get this when eating? It weird.

How is yours going so far?

The main difference is the WD allows for some fruit & veg snacks during the day, so not as clean IF as what OP is doing. I think thr WD is really great for younger, less obese people.

I am particularly drawn to this method of fasting, and I'm not a binge eater. In fact, I'm just about the opposite at times. My body rarely gets hungry, despite the fact that I have a positive relationship with food: no past history with EDs, no extreme yo-yo dieting, etc. I'm up 15 pounds from where I was two years ago because after dieting for a while it became too much of a hassle. I was sick of having food constantly on my mind, worrying about fitting in enough calories on particular days, wasting hours of my precious time eating and planning meals when I could be improving other aspects of my life.

I decided to give OMAD a try this past Sunday, and already I've lost 3 pounds. I like this style of eating because while I LOVE food, I hate having to make eating a chore by sticking to a schedule (6 meals a day, every 2 hours, or else!!!). My body did not get hungry regularly over the course of 24 hours because in the past I'd been constantly eating, snacking, trying to "keep my metabolism going," as they say, when in truth all I really did was cause myself to forget the value of food for what it truly is.

I've done a lot of research on IF and metabolism in preparation for this, and would suggest that future readers do the same.

My distain towards eating when I'm not even hungry coupled with an interest in IF led to my decision to give OMAD a try. OP, huge congratulations on your success! I'm so inspired by your determination to do what is right for your health. I hope you will give me a few minutes of your time by answering some of my questions:

1. You mentioned slowly building up your daily calorie intake as you settled into OMAD, but I'm curious to know: did you take your BMR/TDEE estimations into consideration while working up to your maintenance weight? Did you make any effort to net at least your BMR during that one daily meal?

2. On the topic of raw fruits and vegetables, I've found over the past week that OMAD doesn't really leave room for such things when one has their meal in the evenings like I do. I love my raw fruits--apples, bananas, cherries, berries, etc.--but I've read that it's bad for the digestion to mix fruits with grains/carbs during meals. I feel like there's no room left for fruit by the time I've eaten my feast of a dinner! What do you suggest I do, then, in order to get my fruit fix without compromising the fast?

3. I'm also curious to know what kind of exercises you did during your transition. You said you didn't do a lot of exercise at all when starting off, but did that ever change?

In terms of side effects, I do not experience many hunger "pangs," though my stomach does growl a little as the day goes by. I like the feeling, though, of knowing that my stomach is empty and I'm in control of how I fuel my body. I try to exercise (40 mins. on the elliptical) a couple hours after I've had my meal in order to have some energy, but some nights I just can't do what I'm usually capable of. My body gets tired quickly depending on what my one meal consists of.

Other than that, I've experienced a few throbbing headaches since Sunday, but I've been keeping hydrated and expect these symptoms will subside, too.

I'm really looking forward to getting to know this way of eating better in order to improve myself! Thank you so much for contributing your valuable information.

Well let's just say two weeks in the Keys on vacation with friends and family was not in the best interest of the plan, but I'm starting over tomorrow and will keep you updated. Anyone else have better results this past two weeks?

My omad is never more than it was before. I wasn't able to huge amounts of food even before, and when you focus on healthier options you just fill up faster. The sugar-starch junk calories are condensed, so you can consume many more calories than eating chicken and broccoli, and such.

I was appalled to learn McDonald's et al, in effect predigest (the spuds are milled then formed into fries) the potatoes that go into making french fries so that they give a hit to the blood sugar faster that in the whole potato state. That's why you can eat so many.

I suppose a person could be gluttonous, but it would be hard using only one plate of food. I do know that I feel pleasantly full, but never uncomfortably stuffed. And the food tastes so much better for the wait.

I would recommend the digital. They are much more accurate. If you get the old style (I still have one around) get something with a true weight, like a barbell, or several cans of veggies, and check the weight. Most older models do have an adjustment feature if the weight is off.
I like the the scale feedback; so long as one remembers there is anywhere up to five pounds of water weight gain/change any given day. For instance, if I eat regular ham, I'm up 3-4 pound next day with water retention. I only record my weight on Sundays.

Good luck!

Great job and interesting approach. You must have great self control. Keep up the good work.

I think the biggest key to successful weight loss is finding what works for you - something you can stick to, that keeps you healthy. This is a perfect example of that. You've obviously found what works for you. It's not something I would have done. I do save the majority of my calories for dinner, but I find I get quite lightheaded if I don't have at least *something* during the day as well. But that's what works for *me*.

Congratulations on your weight loss! I bet you feel amazing

So much this! Congratulations on your success. You look amazing!

Amazing and BUMP for later!

binge
noun \ˈbinj\
a short period of time when you do too much of something
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/binge

I'm amazed this encouragement to develop an eating disorder is allowed to continue on MFP.

My body rarely gets hungry, despite the fact that I have a positive relationship with food: no past history with EDs
... wasting hours of my precious time eating and planning meals when I could be improving other aspects of my life.
... I like the feeling, though, of knowing that my stomach is empty and I'm in control of how I fuel my body

Claims a "positive relationship with food" & no eating disorder, but thinks that meals are a waste of time, improving food intake will not improve her life, likes knowing that she's starving her body & in control of what she's eating.
Sounds like an eating disorder to me.

... I try to exercise (40 mins. on the elliptical) a couple hours after I've had my meal in order to have some energy, but some nights I just can't do what I'm usually capable of. My body gets tired quickly depending on what my one meal consists of.

Not having energy the rest of the day (because you have no fuel for your body), and tiring quickly should be red flags that you're not doing what your body needs.
Yes, once in a while I'll have a low-energy day. But most of the time my body ticks along normally & I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, and know that I have the energy for whatever is coming.

... I've read that it's bad for the digestion to mix fruits with grains/carbs during meals

Grains are carbohydrates. So are fruits. So are vegetables.

McDonald's et al, in effect predigest (the spuds are milled then formed into fries) the potatoes that go into making french fries

Unless they're adding enzymes which break down the starch, they are not "predigesting" them, they're just changing the form.
Fries are addictive because they're high in fat & salt.

Body can assimilate approx 20gm protein at one time. How does eating all caloric needs within one hour a day provide adequate nutrients? A man your height wt would likely need apex 90-112 gm protein a day but now way can your kidneys process that in one hour- that's the concern I would see with the OMAD -but your pics results are amazing and your kids are darling too

How do you find going to sleep on an empty stomach? I did OMAD for the past 2 days but literally couldn't sleep last night so had to have a small meal. I was eating the OMAD meal within 2-3 hours of getting up. Now I'm pushing the OMAD meal back. Around 10 hours after getting up. So far I'm feeling great today, very energetic and I'm 8 hours in. I really couldn't sleep on that empty stomach last night so I think if I'm to continue this OMAD, I;'m going to have to eat about 10 hours after waking.

OP.. when you reached goal weight, how did you transition into maintenance? I'm already having trouble getting all my daily calories in one meal because I get full now on so much less.