OMAD
etherealanwar
Posts: 465 Member
To those of you currently practicing OMAD or have in the past, how long did it take you to get used to only eating one meal a day without hunger pains during the remainder of the day? I was interested in giving it a try and was curious to see how others experience with it have been.
To those who tried and quit, what was your reason(s)?
To those who tried and quit, what was your reason(s)?
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Replies
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May I ask what the purpose of this WOE is? I mean, I assume you’re eating all of your daily calories in that one meal, and I can imagine eating that much in one sitting would make someone feel gorged. I don’t know if I would rather feel hungry or overly full, but they both sounds equally as miserable.7
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The people who have success with it don't typically have to fight hunger pangs all that much. It works for them because it works for them - that is, it lines up well with how they normally tend to eat anyway.
If OMAD goes against your typical eating pattern, then it's probably not a good fit for you and will likely be hard to sustain. This is one of those times where it doesn't make sense to make things harder than they need to be.
But to your question... caffeine. Sometimes a 5hr energy shot or similar, sometimes just a basic caffeine pill. But caffeine gets me through my mornings.10 -
May I ask what the purpose of this WOE is? I mean, I assume you’re eating all of your daily calories in that one meal, and I can imagine eating that much in one sitting would make someone feel gorged. I don’t know if I would rather feel hungry or overly full, but they both sounds equally as miserable.
Some people prefer bigger meals. And if your calorie goal is on the lower side, OMAD doesn't even have to be that big of a meal.2 -
Have you looked into other eating plants in IF? Jumping straight into OMAD might be overdoing it if you have never tried IF before. I would suggest to start with 16:8 or even 14:10 if you have never tried it before.4
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I occasionally do OMAD, but that's because I'm just not hungry a lot. I follow a high fat Keto diet which I believe contributes to my satiety. I try to only eat when I'm hungry, so some days I skip 1 meal, sometimes I skip 2, sometimes they are consecutive, some days they aren't. Growing up I never really ate breakfast or lunch while in school and college, it wasn't until I started working a regular full time job that I started to eat three meals a day, and by coincidence (maybe it was the food, maybe it was the sedentary lifestyle) that is when I started to put on weight.
I guess my question for you is, why do you want to follow this WOE? I can't imagine skipping meals if you are actually hungry, that sounds miserable.1 -
Honestly, I could not as I tend to eat fairly small meals, and get hungry again fairly quickly (mind you, even if i have a full British as breakfast)1
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michelle172415 wrote: »I occasionally do OMAD, but that's because I'm just not hungry a lot. I follow a high fat Keto diet which I believe contributes to my satiety. I try to only eat when I'm hungry, so some days I skip 1 meal, sometimes I skip 2, sometimes they are consecutive, some days they aren't. Growing up I never really ate breakfast or lunch while in school and college, it wasn't until I started working a regular full time job that I started to eat three meals a day, and by coincidence (maybe it was the food, maybe it was the sedentary lifestyle) that is when I started to put on weight.
I guess my question for you is, why do you want to follow this WOE? I can't imagine skipping meals if you are actually hungry, that sounds miserable.
Yeah I probably couldn't jump straight into it, i suppose I should have looked into IF more so as that sounds manageable.
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etherealanwar wrote: »Yeah I probably couldn't jump straight into it, i suppose I should have looked into IF more so as that sounds manageable.
Reducing the number of meals you eat is not a means to lose weight at all so there is absolutely no reason to do any of it unless it aligns with the way you normally eat.
Just eat the way that comes naturally while maintaining a calorie deficit.
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I accidentally do OMAD on occasion, but not on purpose. That's just how God made me. Recently, though, I realized that working out in the afternoons with no fuel is what was making me sick to my stomach after exercising, so I've started having a few hundred calories with my coffee.
You can give it a try. But if you find you're too hungry, maybe an IF schedule would be better for you?0 -
I OMAD once or twice a month, usually to save enough calories for a decadent restaurant dinner.
I've tried doing OMAD every day, but I always cave after day 2 or 3. It's just too hard for me.
I do much better with 2 meals a day: lunch and dinner.1 -
I have a tendency to eat one meal on the weekends because I am lazy and sit around the house playing WoW and writing on my book. It works for me because my energy expenditure is low (I am basically a slug) and I don't really get hungry. By the time I eat, it's usually 4 or 5 and then I'm kind of done for the rest of the day.
That being said, for me, I don't think I'd ever *choose* to only eat one meal a day as a rule. But that's personal and during the work week, I'm way more twitchy, hyper, and energetic so I get hongry!
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etherealanwar wrote: »michelle172415 wrote: »I occasionally do OMAD, but that's because I'm just not hungry a lot. I follow a high fat Keto diet which I believe contributes to my satiety. I try to only eat when I'm hungry, so some days I skip 1 meal, sometimes I skip 2, sometimes they are consecutive, some days they aren't. Growing up I never really ate breakfast or lunch while in school and college, it wasn't until I started working a regular full time job that I started to eat three meals a day, and by coincidence (maybe it was the food, maybe it was the sedentary lifestyle) that is when I started to put on weight.
I guess my question for you is, why do you want to follow this WOE? I can't imagine skipping meals if you are actually hungry, that sounds miserable.
Yeah I probably couldn't jump straight into it, i suppose I should have looked into IF more so as that sounds manageable.
That's how I started too. I'm another who does keto and I found my hunger dropped enough that I fell into IF pretty naturally. I eat if hungry which means I often don't have a true breakfast until 12-3pm. I will usually have some coffee with cream in the morning though.
I've done OMAD a few times because I wasn't hungry, but found it uncomfortable to eat 1500-2000 calories in one sitting. What seems to happen more often is that I would have a 1000 kcal dinner/breakfast, and then have another small meal a couple of hours later.1 -
3 days. but i eat ketogenic so i can go much longer without thinking about food. you do get hunger pangs but it really isn't hunger. just drink water. 2 years ago i started doing omad 2x a week. i switched to every day about 10 months ago. though everyone is different you will hear many people say that omad typically only helps them maintain their weight...though you will see some loss in the first couple weeks, but you may not after that and you may have to do an Alternative Day fast once or twice a week to continue to see results. some will say you can eat what you want during your meal, some suggest eating keto. i suggest eating keto. as an fyi, i also work about 16 hours in and then eat 4 to 5 hours later. i have no problem completing my workout.
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etherealanwar wrote: »michelle172415 wrote: »I occasionally do OMAD, but that's because I'm just not hungry a lot. I follow a high fat Keto diet which I believe contributes to my satiety. I try to only eat when I'm hungry, so some days I skip 1 meal, sometimes I skip 2, sometimes they are consecutive, some days they aren't. Growing up I never really ate breakfast or lunch while in school and college, it wasn't until I started working a regular full time job that I started to eat three meals a day, and by coincidence (maybe it was the food, maybe it was the sedentary lifestyle) that is when I started to put on weight.
I guess my question for you is, why do you want to follow this WOE? I can't imagine skipping meals if you are actually hungry, that sounds miserable.
Yeah I probably couldn't jump straight into it, i suppose I should have looked into IF more so as that sounds manageable.
I sent you a PM.
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I don't do OMAD but I'm not far off. I guess I do OMMAD (one major meal a day) Mon-Fri as I will have a coffee and a piece of toast in the morning and a small snack mid afternoon but the only proper "Meal with a capital M" is my dinner at night.
But I do this because I find it easy. I'm generally never hungry during the day and conversely find myself wanting to eat at night. I didn't go out of my way to eat in this way it's just the pattern that I naturally fell into.
I couldn't imagine trying to force myself into an eating pattern that wasn't natural and certainly can't fathom adopting an eating pattern that causes pain.
I'm done trying to force myself to do things I don't want to do just because they work. There's a long list of things that work so I'm just gonna do the things that work that I enjoy or find natural. Takes so much of the effort out of this weight loss thing when the things you're doing are enjoyable/natural so you don't have to constantly try.2 -
Took about a week. Took about 2 weeks so every workout didn't end with me throwing up. I started to mix salt into water and drank some of that before the workout and I was a whole new person.
I quit when I started eating maintanance/surplus. No way am I eating 3400kcal on one sitting
Still ate everything after exercise but instead OMAD went with 4 hours. 0 -
I only do it when I have something planned for the evening that involves food, and I only do it because I don't like limiting my choices when I go out. I'm usually not as focused on getting proper nutrition on those days. Other than that, I don't see why it would be a good thing for me. It would sure make hitting my nutritional goals harder. That much protein in one setting doesn't sound appealing, and I would miss vegetables if I had to eat less of them every day.
It would also limit my food choices and make eating boring. I can't, for example, have oatmeal, plus stew, plus a sandwich, plus yogurt, plus ice cream, plus many many tomatoes. Just doesn't mesh all together and I wouldn't be able to enjoy each and every one of these foods because food enjoyment tends to decline the more food you eat in one setting. For someone who doesn't like to limit food choices, this is a big no no.5 -
I don't know why my post is getting woo'd, I thought it was a pretty harmless question and was simply wondering how people managed to eat this way.
I can see how this can be just the way someone is wired to eat naturally and I don't plan on pursuing it seeing as how I tend to get hungry somewhere along the day and that just isn't comfortable. I might look into IF in the future as I've had days when I did follow it unintentionally without any issues.
Thanks everyone for your replies!5 -
Don't worry about the woos. OMAD isn't woo in itself and can be a valid structure to follow for some people, but some IF proponents (which OMAD is) do believe it has magical properties. Likely the woos were not directed at you specifically, but just some trigger happy people who have seen OMAD threads take a weird turn. I wouldn't take it to heart.3
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etherealanwar wrote: »I don't know why my post is getting woo'd, I thought it was a pretty harmless question and was simply wondering how people managed to eat this way.
I can see how this can be just the way someone is wired to eat naturally and I don't plan on pursuing it seeing as how I tend to get hungry somewhere along the day and that just isn't comfortable. I might look into IF in the future as I've had days when I did follow it unintentionally without any issues.
Thanks everyone for your replies!
Don't worry about the woo's, I've had to learn to ignore them, I always get woo'd LOL3 -
Yeah, Woo clicks are meaningless. Half the time I think Woo clicks translate into 'I don't agree' more than an indication that something you've said is Woo. Particularly since (as far as I can tell) Woo'ing a post is anonymous.
Woo relies on the other hand are a different story. If your post gets actual replies calling it woo then there's a pretty good chance your info might be, to put it diplomatically, out of date
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Have been eating one meal a day for almost 5 months now. Absolutely love it. Can't see myself every eating any other way ever again. Only took about a week for me to get used to it. And paying attention to electrolyte levels is very important.2
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It took around 3-4 days for me to get used to it. I've been doing OMAD for the past 2 months now. I was previously doing 16-8 intermittent fasting for about 6 years. Rather than hunger pangs, I had irritations. My mind was focusing on food. I drank water, tea etc. to help make the feelings go away. After a few day, hunger never bothered me.1
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It took around 3-4 days for me to get used to it. I've been doing OMAD for the past 2 months now. I was previously doing 16-8 intermittent fasting for about 6 years. Rather than hunger pangs, I had irritations. My mind was focusing on food. I drank water, tea etc. to help make the feelings go away. After a few day, hunger never bothered me.
Weight loss aside, I understand this way of eating is meant to be extremely beneficial from a longevity point of view. A lot of extremely knowledgeable geneticists are saying this is the #1 way to avoid disease and increase longevity, so I have to say, it has me intrigued! How do you find it makes you feel otherwise?1 -
I haven’t done it. But I read an article about it that suggested moving to OMAD gradually. Eg., if today your eating window is 12 hours, then cut that to 10 hours.
Then after a couple of weeks cut that to 9 hours, then reduce by another hour every week or two. Until you get to a 1 hour eating window.
I don’t think I could it. I like eating throughout the day. It ensure I take breaks from work throughout the day.
Good luck0 -
etherealanwar wrote: »Yeah I probably couldn't jump straight into it, i suppose I should have looked into IF more so as that sounds manageable.
Reducing the number of meals you eat is not a means to lose weight at all so there is absolutely no reason to do any of it unless it aligns with the way you normally eat.
Just eat the way that comes naturally while maintaining a calorie deficit.
Yeah, that's not true. Many people find eating fewer meals makes them less hungry and therefore eat fewer overall calories. It could be said evolutionary that eating on a schedule or "naturally" was how we adapted to starvation by storing excessive calories from that contestant supply of food as body fat for the times we couldn't find much. I think it's not a stretch to see who benefits from a population munching constantly.0 -
Maybe, but it's still the caloric deficit which produces the weight loss. IF is a tool to help people reach that deficit, and if it's working for people, great. The problem is when IF is promoted on its own as a silver bullet, and that's when there is pushback here. It needs to be IF with caloric deficit. It's not a license to eat whatever you want in a short window (not saying you said that).neanderthin wrote: »Yeah, that's not true. Many people find eating fewer meals makes them less hungry and therefore eat fewer overall calories. It could be said evolutionary that eating on a schedule or "naturally" was how we adapted to starvation by storing excessive calories from that contestant supply of food as body fat for the times we couldn't find much. I think it's not a stretch to see who benefits from a population munching constantly.0 -
Retroguy2000 wrote: »
Maybe, but it's still the caloric deficit which produces the weight loss. IF is a tool to help people reach that deficit, and if it's working for people, great. The problem is when IF is promoted on its own as a silver bullet, and that's when there is pushback here. It needs to be IF with caloric deficit. It's not a license to eat whatever you want in a short window (not saying you said that).neanderthin wrote: »Yeah, that's not true. Many people find eating fewer meals makes them less hungry and therefore eat fewer overall calories. It could be said evolutionary that eating on a schedule or "naturally" was how we adapted to starvation by storing excessive calories from that contestant supply of food as body fat for the times we couldn't find much. I think it's not a stretch to see who benefits from a population munching constantly.
I never said it wasn't a calorie deficit that produced weight loss. It's seems that anytime someone mentions something that they feel threatens calories in and calories out the need to come and defend. Any method to lose weight whether it be low carb, high carb, med diet, it really doesn't matter that resulted in weight loss will have conformed to CICO and IF is no exception. Anyway like I've mentioned in previous posts IF or fasting isn't necessarily about weight loss but can be a tool if that is a goal. My focus generally speaking is on the science of nutrition and yeah calories are important but so is all aspects of nutrition and I like to keep an open mind. Cheers. What I bolded is a different thing altogether, and yes your right I never said that.1 -
I’ve been doing 23:1 or 22:2 for about 4 months. I follow a lower carb diet because I’m type 2. It took me about 2-3 weeks to fully adjust. Generally, I only ate two large meals a day anyway (I don’t eat breakfast) so the transition wasn’t bad. I made up for hunger pains by drinking water and electrolytes. Now I eat at supper and I’m full and fine. This WOE stabilized my blood sugar and got rid of my digestive issues. I love it and it’s definitely sustainable to me. I eat better when my whole meal is in my face at once. By default, I cut out most processed foods and eat meat and veggies. Of course I treat myself every once in a while but this works for me!1
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I used to count the weeks but stopped. Been doing OMAD since the start of the new year. We are in September now, so 9+ months. Easy for me because I have always tended to eat one large meal a day and then snack later in the evening. I'm also a low-carb person. OMAD is not for everyone but it doesn't hurt to try for a few weeks. My wife does 18:6 and that works for her.
It's not something magical, just something easy to control intake. I've read a few books and have watched a lot of videos. I believe about 25% of what I see. In all dieting, lots of questionable claims. What matters is what works for you.
Over the summer, when on vacation with family and friends, I've dropped OMAD for a few days. Still tried to make good food choices but Day 1 back on OMAD takes a little will power. Once you are back in the groove, you really stop thinking about it though.
CICO still matters on OMAD for me. Not that hard to eat a days worth of calories plus some in a single meal. Food choices are important, as are substitutions. Cooking the food you love, grew up with, and always return to with lower calories. I've put a lot of effort into this.
I'm also a firm believer that Kitchen is 95% of a diet. Keep only good food in the house and know what foods you cannot be around. Exercise, water intake, gym, stopping smoking, etc really don't help much, for me. (I've never smoked) The only exercise that I do, is walking the dog once or twice a day. He's 15 years old, blind and deaf. Not much exercise really.
Good luck, most importantly, keep trying. If this doesn't work, there is something that will. Don't hesitate to pivot to something else. If you stay motivated, something eventually will work for you.1
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