Eating All Of Your Calories In One Meal

alexreyn13
alexreyn13 Posts: 52 Member
edited December 1 in Health and Weight Loss
This isn't something I'm planning on doing, more or less a theoretical.

If you had one person eating a "Balanced" day's worth of 1500 calories vs. someone that consumed most/all of their calories in a single meal, would both people still lose at about the same rate? How does your body deal with a large calorie dense meal?
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Replies

  • berrydana7
    berrydana7 Posts: 78 Member
    Since the same amount of calories is consumed, then yes. However, if I eat 1500 calories in one meal, I would feel extremely bloated!
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Yes, people lose at the same rate. But some people find it is easier to keep calories down if they only eat once per day. Here is a group (OneMealADay -- OMAD)
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/20634-omad-revolution
  • dustedwithsugar
    dustedwithsugar Posts: 179 Member
    Sometimes I'm doing this. I mean I don't eat all my calories at once but I'll have small lunch (300 kcal) and eat the rest (1100) at dinner. I'm losing on average 1 - 1,5 pound a week, so it doesn't make difference at all.
  • jakeycork
    jakeycork Posts: 26 Member
    Yes: calories overall will be the key to weight loss.
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
    I couldn't imagine eating that much in one meal. I would be overstuffed. But I guess it's possible if you were to go to fast food or a restaurant to eat for sure or say Thanksgiving day. But my problem would be eating the calories in one whole meal like that and likely getting hungry again later in the day and eating too much at that point. That's how I got myself where I am now. :D
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
    Some using intermittent fasting go to one meal a day. Meal timing doesn't really matter. Focus instead on energy balance. I believe it was Alan Aragon and Brad Schoenfeld who published a study on this not too long ago. I'll have to go back and confirm. If someone else doesn't post it here then I'll post it later in the day.
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
    My husband has eaten this way his entire adult life. 1 cup of black coffee at 8am and then nothing till 7pm. He eats a huge balanced meal- which is far bigger than I could eat. His weight is more or less constant and he is a big muscular man who lifts heavy weights all day as part of his job. Not something I could do but he has suffered no detrimental effects from it.
  • 100df
    100df Posts: 668 Member
    I can't eat all the calories at once unless it's something very calorie dense like pizza but I do eat most of the calories towards the end of the day and evening. It helps me stay within my calorie goal. I have read about the health benefits but not sure I am experiencing anything other than getting smaller.
  • xtina315
    xtina315 Posts: 218 Member
    It's like one meal from a fast food resturant, I'm sure we've all done it at one point in our lives. Yes, they would still lose weight if thats their calorie allotment.
  • dwaterfield
    dwaterfield Posts: 34 Member
    I'm doing this twice a week as a variation on intermittent fasting. It seemed to help me get past a plateau a few weeks back so I'm happy with it so far. I may take it up to three times a week.
  • alexreyn13
    alexreyn13 Posts: 52 Member
    Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah I just thought about it as i decided to use McDelivery for the first time (why does anyone need this service) I hadn't eaten anything all day, so all of my calories was basically one fast food meal.
  • richln
    richln Posts: 809 Member
    Herschel Walker claims to have eaten only once a day during his entire adult life. The man must have an absurdly large stomach considering the training he does.
    2nnac97nyjdh.jpg
  • kcjchang
    kcjchang Posts: 709 Member
    You get used to it. I did that from mid teens to early forties. I have loss, maintained, and gained weight through it. Don't think I could or want to get back to that routine.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    The 2 people may not lose at the same rate.

    But if the same person at 1500 calories spread throughout the day and then switched to a single 1500 calorie meal per day, their loss would likely be about the same.

    My husband eats only one meal a day regardless of weight control. It's how he's eaten since before I met him many years ago. I have a small lunch (about 300-350 calories) and eat the rest of my calories at dinner. We both like a big evening meal.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I couldn't do it. Say the meal was at noon. I'd be hungry beforehand, feel sick afterwards, and be ravenous later in the day. If the meal was later in the day, I'd be ravenous beforehand, and feel sick afterwards. There'd be no upside for me.

    However, I realize we are all different and this method may work for some people, as strange as I may find it.
  • nonevildoerz
    nonevildoerz Posts: 15 Member
    I've been doing this for just over 3 months. Intermittent fasting. 6 pm ever day I eat dinner as my only meal. Very hard to eat over 1000 Calories. Clean healthy foods tend to be lower in calories.
  • laur357
    laur357 Posts: 896 Member
    I eat all of my 1200 cals in two meals (sometimes one), generally in a period of 6 hours. It's apparently a form of intermittent fasting. And it works well for me because I'm not forcing myself to eat when I'm not hungry - no difference in loss than when I tried to do the 3 meals+snacks thing.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    I practice IF so most days I only eat 2 meals, and 1-2 days a week I only have 1 meal. I also eat LCHF so it's not really that hard to consume 1200 calories in one sitting when it's high fat. I'm still losing 1-2lbs per week which is my goal.
  • kissedbythesunshine
    kissedbythesunshine Posts: 416 Member
    Yes I did this for a while and enjoyed it. Ate dinner around 6pm and dessert around 10pm. I enjoyed it and had no problem losing weight. I only recently started spreading out my calories.
  • Jazzykatt
    Jazzykatt Posts: 38 Member
    I practice this 5 days a week and it works for me. Small, frequent meals keep me feeling hungry while one big meal and a couple of snacks leaves me very satisfied. It also leaves more options as to what I can eat.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I tried it a few times... it doesn't work for me. Even if I have a huge meal at 10am, I'm always hungry when 6pm hits.
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
    I eat very little during the day and "save" all my calories for a big dinner. Agree with others that if my big meal was at lunch I'd probably just keep eating, so it only works because my big meal is at the end of the day. Also, from personal experience of someone who eats a lot of big fast food meals, I think they would average the same but the scale weight of the person eating big meals (esp. if fast food) will be a lot more erratic from just sodium and volume of food, especially if eaten at night when most of us weigh in the morning.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    Whitezombiegirl wrote: »
    My husband has eaten this way his entire adult life.

    Mine too. More or less.

  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
    If you can do it, sure. You're still getting your calories and your nutrients.
    While I like a heavy dinner, I get hungry at breakfast and lunch so it's not for me.
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  • RebeccaNaegle
    RebeccaNaegle Posts: 236 Member
    It doesn't matter when you eat your calories. All at once or spaced out, your body will use them the same either way. If youre eating the same amount either way, then the choice of when to consume them is up to you.
  • DrifterBear
    DrifterBear Posts: 265 Member
    I did this at the recommendation of an acupuncturist. I knew better at the time, but followed it in a moment of weakness. I did it for 45 days and then went off. It was horrible (for me). It really doesn't matter, weight loss isn't helped or hurt as a result. The acupuncturist's theory was you could eat whatever you want one time per day and not track calories or care about what you're eating because it would be hard to overeat. I lost a bunch of weight but was irritated, cloudy head, tired, and couldn't train. I know a lot of people do this, but it was a disaster for me. When I went off it, I basically continued eating whatever I wanted but now whenever I wanted and gained the weight back with interest. I've been so much more successful focusing on CICO and meal planning.
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  • nuttynanners
    nuttynanners Posts: 249 Member
    In theory, yes. It would be REALLY hard to stick to it, though.

    Unfortunately I think a lot of my friends eat this way and it is how they stay thin (not healthy, but thin). I have a theory that this is also how they can drink so much alcohol without gaining noticeable weight. They eat all their calories in one large meal, then drink whatever remaining calories they have. I can't live like that, I'm too hungry during the day lol.
  • gcaracciolo2
    gcaracciolo2 Posts: 130 Member
    I do it sometimes but not often. If there's a dessert for example I want at night that's calorie dense and will not keep me full, I save all my calories for dinner to ensure I'm full until the morning :)
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