OMAD, also known as the one meal a day eating lifestyle, is an even more extreme version of intermittent fasting. Instead of doing a typical 16:8 fast, meaning fasting for 16 hours with an eight-hour eating window, or an 18:6 or even 20:4 fast, OMAD is just what is says, eating one meal the entire day, and fasting for the other 23 or 24 hours. It sounds more difficult than it is, but many people are doing it and getting fantastic results, both with regard to weight loss, and also the healing effects of autophagy.
But what I’ve found in doing OMAD the past couple weeks is that eating just one meal a day works a little too well if you’re not looking to lose weight or body fat and you’re already too thin as it is. It also might not be optimal if you’re a very active person or working out daily. I said in a recent post that intermittent fasting can work a little too well if you’re a person that’s not looking to drop weight like myself, and the same can be said for OMAD. In fact, because OMAD is more extreme, the effects are even more powerful, so you should only be doing this lifestyle if you are looking to lose weight and simplify your life, or if you’re looking to maintain your weight and possibly gain muscle through the increase in natural human growth hormone you’ll get. It should be noted, however, that you will only put on muscle doing OMAD if you eat enough food, especially protein and fat (red meat, fish, etc.) and adhere to a strict weight training program every day.
I have found myself to be low on energy most days, especially when it comes to having enough energy to do a proper workout when I eat one meal a day. If I want to continue being active and working out daily, even if it’s for an intense 30 minute workout, along with having enough mental energy and physical energy to do everything else I need to do on a given day, then it seems I might have to at least fit in another smaller meal in the early afternoon.
Part of the problem is that in eating a ketogenic diet, in which I’m leaning heavily towards a carnivore diet more and more, and eating OMAD along with that, I am barely getting in any carbohydrates. Now, this is great for losing weight, and great for curing many ailments, but not so great for building muscle and putting on weight. The exception to this would be if I were to eat one HUGE meal per day of fatty meat, with enough protein and fat to not only hold me over until the next day’s dinner, but also give me enough energy to work out the following morning as well. This is definitely doable, but not really practical with my current living circumstances, so I have to make the best of what I’m able to do.
My point here is, OMAD, in combination with a diet devoid of sugar and grains, works EXTREMELY well for weight loss, body fat loss, autophagy (even though that kicks in more so after 36 hours), and overall health. If I can’t even keep my energy levels up and my weight on while doing this, then that shows that if you need to lose significant weight, eating OMAD and keeping your carbs super low, along with a simple daily exercise routine, will take pounds of fat off you quicker than you’d ever think was possible.
Check out the myriad of benefits of OMAD here, and start making the transition to the one meal a day lifestyle today if you need to lose a lot of weight. Learn other tips on how to exactly mirror my daily nutritional practices by reading the do’s and don’ts I have in this post:
https://jeffmirro.com/how-i-live-my-life-fasting-diet-fitness-and-health
