basically the idea of eating one big meal every day instead of 2-3 smaller ones. I like the idea of making like, some eggs, or something in the morning and eating a big ol' meal with all of the nutrients i need at like 3:30. and then like, some fruit as a desert. is this healthy?
It's just intermittent fasting with a ~23 hour fasting period. As long as you're eating healthy it should be fine. You'll be really hungry for a while until your body adjusts and starts burning fat during the fasting period, maybe two weeks or so.
i feel as if i could benefit a lot from that, i have a terribly unhealthy relationship from food and training myself to abstain from it could help. I'm not saying i'll starve myself btw, but it might help being more used to not being full constantly if that makes sense
It takes a while and a force of will but it's quite wonderful when you feel like you're in control and not your impulses. I'm currently dealing with a stress- and depression-induced eating disorder and it sucks. I'm not eating too much per se but I'm mostly eating garbage that isn't good for me, like a bunch of donuts, and then feeling sick. I'm making a little progress on the stress and depression side and it's helping to curb the eating disorder, too.
FWIW if you ever decide to discontinue you need to be vigilant about overeating. Eating a single 2,000+/- calorie meal a day is a lot at once and can also mess with your perceptions of food. It works so long as you can stick to it
Generally yes. It can vary depending on a person's specific circumstances and what kind of health issues they have and what they're trying to accomplish. But by and large, reasonable intermittent fasting (like OMAD) can be very healthy and helpful for people.
edit: I wrote quite a bit in this older thread defending it against a naysayer if you're interested.
The only diet that has worked for me so far is just to consciously eat less at every meal. Eat until you are full, but then just don’t eat anything after that. Drink water and decaf to stymy your appetite. Leave your home so you’re less tempted to eat. Do your best to exercise. Measure your weight under the same circumstances every week. Stay away from liquid calories. Doing this has resulted in me losing about a pound per week for months.
Maybe...
My spouse has spent the last month with those Bluetooth blood glucose monitors on to give their doctor more info to try to figure some persistent health stuff out.
Its really wild how fast eating, not eating, and eating certain things affects glucose levels. So yeah, be careful and if things start to feel weird, don't feel you have to stick with it.
It works for me, I can't focus well while digesting so eating once a day a few hours before bed for the last few years has been positive for me.
I read somewhere that doing this lets the body recover, apparently we have some small hairy stuff inside our veins walls, and food after being converted to sugar and go throw our veins damages these walls, and they need 12 hours to recover completely. I guess you also give more time for the body to use fat as fuel and lose some weight.
Im not a doctor or anything, these "hairy stuff" is called endothelial cells, there are some studies like this one.
It worked for me. I lost about 30 lbs and have kept them off for 8+ years by doing OMAD/IF.
awesome, congratulations! do you have any tips/meal ideas for doing OMAD long term?
Hey thanks! I don't think I have any unique tips, but these are the things that have helped me:
- learning that our cravings are malleable because they're often the result of our gut microbiome asking for the things it's used to, and you can get it used to something else by just powering through for a couple weeks - after that, the occasional trash meal will actually make you feel awful and you'll crave the good stuff you usually eat
- understanding the processes of digestion and hunger and learning to pay attention to what my body really needed and when it really needed it
- finding exercise that I enjoy - the big life changer was getting a laptop treadmill desk so I could play Civ and walk (I have several times gone until the treadmill tracking computer topped out and had to be restarted - hours and hours - and One More Turn is a great way to keep yourself moving)
- any exercise is better than none - 5 minutes on the elliptical is better than 0, 5 crunches are better than 0, etc - just giving myself permission to completely half-ass it sometimes made a huge difference in my ability to stick to it as a regular habit
- understanding that nothing is ever really linear, so I'm gonna have times where it feels like I'm fucking up or just not making any progress, but that's okay as long as I get back at it as much as I am able - and my ability is contingent on my stress level staying below critical and my support needs being met, factors which are often not in my direct control
- even if I never look a certain way or reach a particular BMI, just choosing to take better care of my body by being careful about how I fuel it and use it is its own kind of victory - any time I'm going through a rough patch and have fallen off healthy habits, I know that it is possible to turn it around, and that even tiny changes can feel really good
Hopefully something in there is helpful!
