OMAD (one meal a day)
madagirl81
Posts: 72 Member
Hi guys, I'm thinking of starting intermittent fasting, only eating once every 24 hours, so basically eating one full hour of each day. But I'm confused because am I supposed to stuff all my calories into that hour or am I supposed to eat whatever. What worked for you and how much weight did you lose? And what's your stats? I'm 35, female, 4'11" as 140 pounds so as you can see I need to lose ALOT
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You still need a calorie deficit to lose weight, so yes, hit your calorie goal within that hour.8
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TavistockToad wrote: »You still need a calorie deficit to lose weight, so yes, hit your calorie goal within that hour.
Thank you, I feel like that's gonna be alot of food, but I'm not complaining lol1 -
I'm also tiny and losing weight eating 3 small meals a day with 2 planned snacks. Why are you making this so hard? It's all about your sticking to your daily calories.
I jot everything down on paper the day before then log after I eat. I call it the "plannning" diet. You plan what you eat the day before. Easy.
Yes you are right but I feel like I have trouble controlling myself and for me it gets complicated eating multiple times a day. Eating once a day makes it so I don't have to think too hard lol plus the 23 hours I'm not eating, the hormone insulin decreases resulting in more fat loss over time. Thank you20 -
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Oh gosh... I wouldn't recommend this for a plethora of reasons, and I don't think that insulin decreases because you're eating once a day.7
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Eating once or eating 10 times a day is majoring in the minors.
Eating less than you burn over a period of time is what burns fat.3 -
Usually intermittenent fasting gives you more then one hour a day to eat. Stuffing 1200-1500 calories in one hour is not healthy. Your insulin will be low but that won't make you lose fat it will just make it so you have low blood sugar making you tired and foggy. Eating every 3-4 hours during the day will have your insulin levels be more even and avoid the huge insulin drop you'll get after one big meal. You say you have bad willpower to avoid food but you will have to learn how to reign that in if you ever want to create a new lifestyle that will keep weight off.12
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I have never tried this but I wonder if it would lead to binge-type behaviors?7
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futuresize8 wrote: »I have never tried this but I wonder if it would lead to binge-type behaviors?
It can in some people, others find it really works for them. Others find they can't get enough calories and protein in in one sitting.
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I am familiar with IF but I have never heard of it being a 1 hour window.
16:8 or 20:4 but never 23:1 or even 5:2 where you eat normal for 5 days and very little for 2 days.
try having a bigger window at first to see how you do.1 -
madagirl81 wrote: »I'm also tiny and losing weight eating 3 small meals a day with 2 planned snacks. Why are you making this so hard? It's all about your sticking to your daily calories.
I jot everything down on paper the day before then log after I eat. I call it the "plannning" diet. You plan what you eat the day before. Easy.
Yes you are right but I feel like I have trouble controlling myself and for me it gets complicated eating multiple times a day. Eating once a day makes it so I don't have to think too hard lol plus the 23 hours I'm not eating, the hormone insulin decreases resulting in more fat loss over time. Thank you
I don't believe this is true. Can someone who knows more about this chime in?2 -
OMAD, warrior diet, both are eating all your calories in one meal or at least a very small window. Just as with almost any other diet, it's a viable and sustainable solution for some...and an impossibility to follow for others. If it works and you can get all you nutritional needs in that window, there is nothing wrong with it. Worrying about insulin release and all that other stuff, is far overcomplicating the situation.5
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I'd die6
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I tried it, found it very difficult. I take a modified approach now. Basically a small lunch at 1pm (300-400 cals) and a large dinner at 6pm (800-900 cals). The small lunch tides me over until dinnertime. I love having a big filling dinner that keeps me stuffed until bedtime.
My lunch is generally a mix of carbs and protein (protein bar/oatmeal and a piece of fruit, or a bowl of soup) and my dinner is focused more on protein and fat (meat dish with veggies).3 -
futuresize8 wrote: »I have never tried this but I wonder if it would lead to binge-type behaviors?
I think you're right. If you have had nothing for 23 hours, who's going to pick the nutrient dense option when there's easier, caloric dense options readily available? If you can do this, OP, and it works, sure? I don't see the logic in there.
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futuresize8 wrote: »I have never tried this but I wonder if it would lead to binge-type behaviors?
Not necessarily. My husband has eaten only one meal a day for as long as I've known him (we are now grandparents). He never binge eats and is happy to eat whatever balanced meal I prepare.
I'd never heard of IF before joining MFP but that's how we've eaten for decades. He only eats one big meal at night (22-23 hr fast). I eat a small lunch around 2:00 - 3:00 and a big meal at night (16-17 hr fast).2 -
ladyhusker39 wrote: »madagirl81 wrote: »I'm also tiny and losing weight eating 3 small meals a day with 2 planned snacks. Why are you making this so hard? It's all about your sticking to your daily calories.
I jot everything down on paper the day before then log after I eat. I call it the "plannning" diet. You plan what you eat the day before. Easy.
Yes you are right but I feel like I have trouble controlling myself and for me it gets complicated eating multiple times a day. Eating once a day makes it so I don't have to think too hard lol plus the 23 hours I'm not eating, the hormone insulin decreases resulting in more fat loss over time. Thank you
I don't believe this is true. Can someone who knows more about this chime in?Lesscookies1 wrote: »Oh gosh... I wouldn't recommend this for a plethora of reasons, and I don't think that insulin decreases because you're eating once a day.
Insulin is a hormone released when glucose levels in your bloodstream rise. Glucose levels rise when you eat. Fasting means you do not trigger this response regularly. New studies are showing that IF helps regulate insulin levels in the body. I can't say that that is directly responsible for fat loss, however I think it is proven that wacky insulin levels is related to fat retention on people. So regulating hormone levels is helpful in weight loss. Im not suggesting that people could eat way over their TDEE in an IF pattern and somehow lose. But sometimes some people do hit inexplicable plateaus and while often it could be bad logging, there are people whos systems are out of whack. Thats why weird weight fluctuations are associated with diabetes or hypoglycemia - insulin levels arent right and it affects how your body processes, stores, and burns food/energy.
Link to a recent study by National Academy of Science on IF benefits beyond weight loss.
http://m.pnas.org/content/111/47/16647.abstract2 -
Instead of eating only one meal a day, why not pack everything you want to eat that day in a large container (you can use smaller containers inside to keep your foods separate. So your large container would have your daily caloric amount. You can eat anytime you are hungry, but only items from your large container. When it is empty, you are done for the day. You will learn to space your meals more naturally, stay to your caloric amount, and be able to give your body the "pick me up" it needs during the day from a snack. Of course you will log everything here and measure everything before you put it in your container.4
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I would recommend starting small and then go from there...aim for 12 hours of fasting (so from 9pm-9am) and then maybe increase it by an hour every day/every few days. I started at 13/11, and am now following 16/8 and it works well for me, but that's because I also eat in a deficit in those 8 hours. Basically if I'm only eating from 11-7, I don't mindlessly snack in the AM, and I take the time to really plan my food. It's a tool, not a magic bullet.1
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ladyhusker39 wrote: »madagirl81 wrote: »I'm also tiny and losing weight eating 3 small meals a day with 2 planned snacks. Why are you making this so hard? It's all about your sticking to your daily calories.
I jot everything down on paper the day before then log after I eat. I call it the "plannning" diet. You plan what you eat the day before. Easy.
Yes you are right but I feel like I have trouble controlling myself and for me it gets complicated eating multiple times a day. Eating once a day makes it so I don't have to think too hard lol plus the 23 hours I'm not eating, the hormone insulin decreases resulting in more fat loss over time. Thank you
I don't believe this is true. Can someone who knows more about this chime in?
-- She's right that the absence of insulin results in the breakdown and burning of fat. However, I don't think it's that simple because you need insulin to transport glucose into muscle cells.
However, I did read a study once... here's the link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2121099/ - the basic finding was that with the group that ate 1 meal per day (as opposed to 3) had a delayed insulin response which led to prolonged elevations of glucose post-meal even though the fasting blood sugar level wasn't materially affected by meal frequency. The study was done on "normal" weight men and women, but I would personally be concerned about the healthfulness of this approach as a long-term strategy (I'm also not an MD).0 -
futuresize8 wrote: »I have never tried this but I wonder if it would lead to binge-type behaviors?
For sure. Same with the trap i fell into of eating 6-8 200-300 calorie meals a day while also not eating until later in the day. I began to think of food constantly because id have to eat so often i was basically always thinking about my next meal. At the time i liked it but once my life shifted even slightly and food became less readily available it became a problem.
This would be the reverse for some people, Life shifts a bit you go for lunch with a friend chances are youll eat WAY to much because your so used to packing it away. Or if you have a binge chances are you could do alot more damage since your so used to eating such bulk, Swap the bulk out with highly caloric foods = trouble x10
Definatly need to find a middle ground if you have tendency towards all or nothing mindsets0 -
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You eat the calories you are allotted in that one hour. I do OMAD because I like to eat large meals instead of space everything out, so I eat all 1200 to 1400 calories then. It's not hard to do..... I mean prior to this I could easily eat 2000 calories of pizza in one sitting. I usually have a high fat meal such as a ribeye with buttered covered veggies and some cheese. I'm on a Dr. ordered keto diet for my type 2 diabetes so I think that has helped me at least due to keto's appetite suppression. (And just found out my a1c has gone from 6.7 to 5.6
) I go to bed full and happy.
Eh, fasting for 22 to 24 hours hasn't killed me yet or had any negative consequence in my life. I work out just fine with plenty of energy and I am not sluggish or get headaches. I wake up with more energy than I ever had before, enough to where I don't even hit snooze anymore.
I've lost 22 lbs in 7 weeks, one of which was a week in the Bahamas where I didn't log anything but tried to stay on plan as much as possible, and I've gone down 2 sizes. I've only done OMAD for the past 3 weeks though. I have a lot more to lose than you so no, OMAD or keto does not mean super fast weight loss. I've been carefully monitoring my calories and working out. Cutting carbs is not a requirement for IF, it just helps my blood sugar issues.
It's not for everyone and that's cool. Do what works for you and what you can stick with for the long term. I personally love OMAD and could easily do this forever. My granddad lived to 92 and pretty much ate OMAD for his entire life, so I personally believe it's not detrimental to health. I started off with 18:6 IF (I naturally ate this way as I've always skipped breakfast) and found that I just wasn't really getting that hungry until late afternoon and was happier when I got to eat my whole steak instead of a measly 4 oz of it. Whatever floats your boat!5 -
I eat once a day and it works really well for me and helps me control bingeing. It actually makes my cravings for sugar disappear. I've lost 106 lbs doing this (or some version of IF).
When I'm losing weight I aim for 1700 when I'm maintaining I eat 2500 which is harder. I give myself 1-2 hour a day to eat. So I eat a snack while making dinner. I eat a large dinner. If I want dessert I have it. Eating full fat versions of things have more calories like cottage cheese or yogurt. I eat cheese. Drink full fat milk. Whatever I want within reason.
you still will need a deficit to lose weight.
I don't think OMAD over complicates anything remotely. If anything it makes it less complicated for me. I have 1 meal a day to think about, one meal to prepare, don't have to worry as much when I'm maintaining about going over since it's hard to eat 2500 calories in 2 hours as it is. Makes it easier to "bank" calories if I know a holiday is coming, like Christmas, where I know I'll eat a lot.
The first couple of weeks can be difficult. I would suggest trying to start with maybe 16/8 or 18/6 and then slowly extending your fasting period to make sure your body responds well to fasting.
You can PM if you have more questions. But it really comes down to personal preference. It works for some and not for other.5 -
Is this a way of eating you can imagine continuing for the rest of your life? If not, then you may lose weight in the short term, but how will you learn what you need to do to keep it off?4
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Usually intermittenent fasting gives you more then one hour a day to eat. Stuffing 1200-1500 calories in one hour is not healthy. Your insulin will be low but that won't make you lose fat it will just make it so you have low blood sugar making you tired and foggy. Eating every 3-4 hours during the day will have your insulin levels be more even and avoid the huge insulin drop you'll get after one big meal. You say you have bad willpower to avoid food but you will have to learn how to reign that in if you ever want to create a new lifestyle that will keep weight off.
Nope to so many things in this post... I eat 2 meals a day during at most a 6 hour window (and have eaten this way the majority of my life) - I never have energy drops, brain fog, or any of that other stuff that people say will happen if you don't eat every 3-4 hours. I have tried the eat 5-6 times a day and it was a total disaster for me - I was always thinking about food and could never be full (breaking the calories into small amounts never satisfied me).3 -
I've seen really good results with OMAD. I do tend to modify it and drink a few cups of tea or coffee with milk and sugar throughout the day though. Gone from 160 to 128 and the majority of that has been 18:6 or 23:1 (in conjunction with logging).
I find it useful as I like to eat the same as my partner at dinner and he's a 6 ft 200 lb dude so if 5'3 128 lb me ate that plus breakfast and lunch I'd put on loads of weight...
Some people can't cope with eating once a day but if you can, it tends to simplify things! In the long run, do whatever works as long as you can stick to your calorie goals.0 -
I did 5:2 with OMAD on the 2 days but it was a regular meal so that the day was at major deficit. I don't think I would want to get used to having over 1000 calories at one sitting as "standard".0
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