Eating All Of Your Calories In One Meal

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alexreyn13
alexreyn13 Posts: 52 Member
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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    Yes: calories overall will be the key to weight loss.
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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: 27,986 Member
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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.

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