1 meal a day diet good or bad?

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Replies

  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    For thousands of years poor people lived on one meal a day or every second day. They have obviously survived - so why shouldn't we?
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    I wouldn't want to eat OMAD but I know plenty of people that have for years. It's just not sustainable for *me* long term but it's absolutely personal preference. It is not going to slow your metabolism or send you into starvation mode (God I hate that term lol)
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    Mari22na wrote: »
    Monomeal = the recipe for eating it all back

    Dialing food down into one meal is not sustainable over the long haul. All of these brutally strict protocols work short-term. They're all so awesome until they're not.

    Funnily enough, I never had a problem maintaining my weight when I only ate once, sometimes twice a day. And back then, I wasn't doing it on purpose, I was intuitively eating that way because it is what worked best for me and my body. But hey, you know everything about everyone, right?
  • SweatLikeDog
    SweatLikeDog Posts: 318 Member
    Sounds like the Warrior Diet. Nothing new. Suits some better than others.
  • DmaMfz
    DmaMfz Posts: 125 Member
    Frequency does not matter. Eating a reasonable deficit according to your TDEE is what matters.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    Seems people with binging and eating disorders do the 23 hour fast thing... just remember..how you lose your weight is how you will have to keep it off. I could and would never want to live like that..so why do it.

    For some it can lead to eating disorders, but for others it is a very valid way of controlling hunger to enable them to stay in a deficit. These people could easily maintain this way of eating for life. Meal timing is a very individual thing and there is no one size fits all approach.


    From what I have learned from people here that probably know much more than I do about the subject is that some people that are predisposed to have certain eating disorders are triggered by VLCDs. I don't doubt that there are other triggers or perhaps for some poor souls it was always just a matter of when not how. Eating one meal a day does not have to be a low calorie diet.

    I routinely eat 1600-1700 calories for lunch and then a 200-300 calorie dinner. It is not OMAD even though I am capable of it and I have done it enough to know. I suffer from insomnia and on nights where I am up super late the mental aspects of going from lunch time until early in the morning with no additional food is hard on me even if I am not hungry. However, eating a very light dinner with specific macros helps me control my acid reflux most days with no medication. If I eat breakfast I am hungrier for the rest of the day which makes it harder to maintain a deficit. I eat this way because it makes my life easier. It could be with weight loss some of the driving forces of this eating pattern will minimize. I will cross that bridge when I get to it.
  • 1houndgal
    1houndgal Posts: 558 Member
    Icarus098 wrote: »
    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.

    For some folks, one meal a day is too strict for health's sake. People with certain medical issues find intermittent fasting can excaberate their symptoms.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
    Everyone's different. I could not just eat one meal a day as I need lots of food and salt to keep my bloodpressure half up. My blood sugar is stable, but people suffering from low blood sugar probably would have problems as well.
  • bpotts44
    bpotts44 Posts: 1,066 Member
    From a blood glucose perspective (which is not just limited to diabetics) one meal a day doesn't cut it. It's best to have a stable blood sugar all day long. And only eating one meal a day means that you are likely going to overeat. Not to mention you will likely feel tired all day when your blood sugar gets low. If you eat only one meal a day, it's best to eat a big breakfast and a few small healthy snacks during the day.

    Not true. As long as you don't over eat carbs your liver very much can control blood sugar in a 24 hour period regardless of meal timing.
  • kds10
    kds10 Posts: 452 Member
    I eat two meals a day plus snacks in between. Basically I skip breakfast and do not eat after supper (which typically I finish by 5:30 or 6:00) I have lost 25 lbs in four months doing this. Yes I am hungry by lunch but when I used to eat a large breakfast at 6:30 a.m. I would be just as hungry at lunch.