1 meal a day diet good or bad?
Icarus098
Posts: 5 Member
So I am pretty astounded about how everyone in life suddenly becomes an expert dietician when you mention being on a diet so I’ve decided to ask people who have real knowledge about weight loss. I have been told by many people that 1 meal a day will lead to the slowing down of my metabolism and that my body will enter “starvation mode”. I have been on a diet for the past 6 weeks and I have successfully lost 16 pounds whilst only eating 1 meal a day. Does it matter how frequently you eat in a day? Surely calories in and calories out are the only thing that matters for weight loss.
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Replies
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No it doesn't matter but make sure you are getting enough calories in your one meal.10
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It's good if it helps you meet your calorie and nutritional goals. It's bad if it doesn't.
There is no one answer. Some people do very well on one meal a day, others don't.
It sounds like you're doing well on it, so feel free to smile and nod when people try to second-guess you.9 -
Depending on how much weight you have to lose, 16 pounds in 6 weeks is pretty aggressive. Are you eating enough calories in that one meal?12
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People like to say things to sound important and make you doubt yourself. I think real life experience speaks loudly and clearly.3
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SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Depending on how much weight you have to lose, 16 pounds in 6 weeks is pretty aggressive. Are you eating enough calories in that one meal?
I eat generally around 1500-1700 calories per day.
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Starvation mode the way they are using it isn't really a thing...
But actual starvation and malnutrition IS.
Your body will use itself as fuel if you aren't eating enough. How much do you weigh? Your body self-cannibalizes if you don't eat enough. So, goodbye heart, bones, liver, it's what happens when people die due to lack of food, ya know?
How much are you eating in that one meal?5 -
It doesn't really matter as long as you are eating enough. Are you getting the recommended calorie amount in to your one meal a day? If so, who cares what they think. Personally, I've tried it a few times, but I have a really hard time getting in enough calories**, so most days I eat twice. But that is simply preference.
**The exception being when we go out to dinner, for some reason I have no trouble packing away 2000+ calories of restaurant foods.8 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Depending on how much weight you have to lose, 16 pounds in 6 weeks is pretty aggressive. Are you eating enough calories in that one meal?
I eat generally around 1500-1700 calories per day.
If you continue to lose at this pace, you may want to add some calories to slow things down. What is your gender, height, and weight?3 -
I would pass out. I have to eat every 3-4 hours.10
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SuzySunshine99 wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Depending on how much weight you have to lose, 16 pounds in 6 weeks is pretty aggressive. Are you eating enough calories in that one meal?
I eat generally around 1500-1700 calories per day.
If you continue to lose at this pace, you may want to add some calories to slow things down. What is your gender, height, and weight?
Why? You don't know if this person is a male or female or how much they have to lose. If they're managing to lose weight at 1500-1700 calories per day, I think that they are fine. If they were eating 900 calories, sure. I mean really, that's only 2.6lbs per week, and if they have a lot to lose, that's not bad. Plus, it's only been 6 weeks, I'd venture a guess that a few pounds of that was likely water weight, so the OP is probably more on track with 2lbs a week.11 -
WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Depending on how much weight you have to lose, 16 pounds in 6 weeks is pretty aggressive. Are you eating enough calories in that one meal?
I eat generally around 1500-1700 calories per day.
If you continue to lose at this pace, you may want to add some calories to slow things down. What is your gender, height, and weight?
Why? You don't know if this person is a male or female or how much they have to lose. If they're managing to lose weight at 1500-1700 calories per day, I think that they are fine. If they were eating 900 calories, sure. I mean really, that's only 2.6lbs per week, and if they have a lot to lose, that's not bad. Plus, it's only been 6 weeks, I'd venture a guess that a few pounds of that was likely water weight, so the OP is probably more on track with 2lbs a week.
That's why I asked for stats and said "MAY".14 -
I am not medically qualified, but wouldn’t your blood sugar level be affected by eating only once a day?9
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nevermind18 wrote: »I am not medically qualified, but wouldn’t your blood sugar level be affected by eating only once a day?
Our blood sugar can be affected by a lot of actions, but they aren't necessarily negative impacts.6 -
nevermind18 wrote: »I am not medically qualified, but wouldn’t your blood sugar level be affected by eating only once a day?
Healthy people can eat like this (once per day) with no issues.3 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »Depending on how much weight you have to lose, 16 pounds in 6 weeks is pretty aggressive. Are you eating enough calories in that one meal?
I eat generally around 1500-1700 calories per day.
Generally. Okay. Are you actually keeping track or is that a guess? That should be a good level for most people.
How much weight do you NEED to lose to get into a healthy BMI?
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So I am pretty astounded about how everyone in life suddenly becomes an expert dietician when you mention being on a diet so I’ve decided to ask people who have real knowledge about weight loss. I have been told by many people that 1 meal a day will lead to the slowing down of my metabolism and that my body will enter “starvation mode”. I have been on a diet for the past 6 weeks and I have successfully lost 16 pounds whilst only eating 1 meal a day. Does it matter how frequently you eat in a day? Surely calories in and calories out are the only thing that matters for weight loss.
Frequency does not matter except as far as how that affects your ability to eat the right amount of calories.
People you know are probably concerned for 2 reasons:- It is an unfortunately common myth that you need to eat small meals throughout the day to be healthy and lose weight.
- You have lost a lot of weight fast. If a good portion of that 16 lbs was water weight in the first couple of weeks, it's no big deal. But if you are less than 100 lbs overweight and are currently losing at a clip of 3 lbs per week, you really should eat more. As a male, 1500 calories net (calories eaten minus exercise calories) is the bare minimum.
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There's no way I could get all of my nutrition and calories in if I ate once per day.4
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It's fine if you are getting enough calories and nutrition. I've learned to just tune everyone out. Smile and nod. However on a side note I don't understand how people do this. I hate to be hungry. Plus you'd have to make sure to make that one meal a day really diverse to meet all your nutritional needs right?3
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As long as you're not undereating.5
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Honestly I'm doing something similar myself - I don't eat nothing during the day, but I have my morning coffee and creamer, and currently a light snack in the afternoon (veggie/nut/protein base, try to avoid too many carbs), and then have a normal dinner where I'm not worrying about every bite.
I landed on this after examining what a) works for my lifestyle and travel b) works with my natural eating preferences and c) will still work with CICO.
It took me awhile to accept this as often IF is seen as just being another fad, and I hate fad anything LOL, but it really does work the best with my entire life, and is seeming FAR more do-able and manageable as a "normal" thing than weighing food, counting calories, meal prep, etc - which all work, but NOT with my lifestyle.6 -
I would recommend against such a diet, but not for that reason. Losing weight is only part of the weight-loss journey. The other part is creating new, healthy eating habits that you can sustain for the rest of your life. If you happen to be the sort of person who in fact can eat just one meal a day for the next several decades then what you are doing now serves that purpose. But if not, I think you risk falling back into old, bad eating habits once you hit your target weight.
For myself, I would find it very, very difficult except for relatively short stretches.6 -
Just remember our bodies need food to fuel our metabolism to burn calories!19
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I eat most of my calories at lunch and I have a very light dinner. I strongly suggest you keep an eye on your protein intake because eating multiple proteins or a very large amount of a single protein can seem odd if you are not accustomed to it. I find it easier to break my lunch into 2 courses. For example sometimes my first course is breakfast food and my second course is a more traditional lunch.3
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I eat most of my calories at lunch and I have a very light dinner. I strongly suggest you keep an eye on your protein intake because eating multiple proteins or a very large amount of a single protein can seem odd if you are not accustomed to it. I find it easier to break my lunch into 2 courses. For example sometimes my first course is breakfast food and my second course is a more traditional lunch.
The protein part of it has always left me wondering for those that do if and OMAD. Whenever I have read about protein the recommendation is to split it evenly between your meals throughout the day rather than the more typical, most in the evening way that many eat. What exactly are the consequences of this in regard to limited eating times?2 -
So I am pretty astounded about how everyone in life suddenly becomes an expert dietician when you mention being on a diet so I’ve decided to ask people who have real knowledge about weight loss. I have been told by many people that 1 meal a day will lead to the slowing down of my metabolism and that my body will enter “starvation mode”. I have been on a diet for the past 6 weeks and I have successfully lost 16 pounds whilst only eating 1 meal a day. Does it matter how frequently you eat in a day? Surely calories in and calories out are the only thing that matters for weight loss.
Clearly it wouldnt slow weight loss and lead to so called starvation mode - or people in 3rd world countries. POW camps etc who only ate once a day would all be fat - and obviously that is not the case.
If it works for you - fine.
Me personally, it would not.
Eating smaller intake per time spread across the day works for me.
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If it helps you keep from overindulging and you make sure to meet all your nutritional goal, OMAD is great. If you find you constantly struggle to do it, it's not good for you. The secret to dieting is meeting your nutritional needs at a calorie deficit without struggling. Exercise helps me, because it makes room for my late night snacking habit, but it's not necessary if you hate it or can't do much of it. All that matter is that you create a calorie deficit.2
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Lillymoo01 wrote: »I eat most of my calories at lunch and I have a very light dinner. I strongly suggest you keep an eye on your protein intake because eating multiple proteins or a very large amount of a single protein can seem odd if you are not accustomed to it. I find it easier to break my lunch into 2 courses. For example sometimes my first course is breakfast food and my second course is a more traditional lunch.
The protein part of it has always left me wondering for those that do if and OMAD. Whenever I have read about protein the recommendation is to split it evenly between your meals throughout the day rather than the more typical, most in the evening way that many eat. What exactly are the consequences of this in regard to limited eating times?
Me too (always wondered). As a doddering old bird the recommendation is generally to eat protein in ~30g increments for better synthesis.
Even though over 60% of my cals are usually eaten after 7pm and my breakfast and lunch are light, I make sure my protein is divided in a 30, 30, 40+split.
How does one eat all ones protein at one sitting and utilize it fully?
Cheers, h.
@Lillymoo01, a quick search turned up this, you may find it interesting.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29497353/
Ps sorry for the slight off topic detour.2 -
One meal a day works for some people. It's also called "OMAD." Google it if you want.
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Lillymoo01 wrote: »The protein part of it has always left me wondering for those that do if and OMAD. Whenever I have read about protein the recommendation is to split it evenly between your meals throughout the day rather than the more typical, most in the evening way that many eat. What exactly are the consequences of this in regard to limited eating times?
Effective and sustainable weight loss always wins in the health benefits department unless it is too aggressive or disordered. On protein distribution it is just a guess but I would imagine the downside is not achieving whatever the upside is. Suboptimal doesn't immediately suggest negative consequences.
I think you can drive yourself crazy if you get too caught up in recommendations. My wife's doctor preaches veganism at her during each visit for the health benefits. That works for many people but it won't work for her.
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