One meal a day (OMAD)

[3-Chord-Genius]

I am not obese, in fact I appear quite slender. But I'm 51 now and noticing the development of belly fat which makes me feel disgusting. Nothing uglier than a slender guy with a gut. Except a Fender Jaguar.

So I'm currently cutting my carbs way back, and increasing fat and protein. Not exactly hardcore keto diet, but following it loosely.

 

[tfarny]

I imagine the real benefit of one meal a day is reduced calories overall. As far as what/how we're "built" to eat, paleo is kinda right, but puts way to much emphasis on the "hunter" part, and not nearly enough on the "gatherer" part. It's romantic and all to think our ancestors were mighty hunting savages, but I'll bet the reality is that we were more likely meat scavengers, occasionally successful hunters, but largely nut-grub-plant eaters. And opportunists, rather than three squares a day. This also kinda supports the 6+ small-meal-a-day folks.

Seems pretty obvious to me that a realistic paleo diet would be a little meat or fish, a lot of vegetable matter, and practically no simple sugars.

Which pretty much just sounds like a healthy diet to me. Imagine that.

That is pretty much what the paleo diet is, though...and "our ancestors" were probably all-of-the-above, which is why we are such good omnivores as a species. "Primitive" human groups living in non-marginal food areas seem to be for the most part very skilled hunters and fishers more than scavengers, however. Anywhere on earth there have been big animals, the local humans have managed to hunt them down with few exceptions. There is really never going to be such a thing as "the original human diet", but we can put most foods into some basic categories of "something like that which was likely available and eaten" and "nope" pretty easily. Sweet potatoes and lamb, good. Kool whip and Pepsi bad.

 

[FerruleCat]

Check out Dr. Jason Fung's The Obesity Code and Complete Guide to Fasting. He advocates low-carb, high-fat with intermittent fasting.

For Fung, it's all about our insulin resistance: By eating the typical high-carb, high-frequency diet, we keep ourselves marinating in insulin, which encourages fat storage and drives insulin resistance. Over time, elevated insulin sparks metabolic disorder and Type 2 diabetes.

According to Fung, by eating low-carb, high fat and working in intermittent fasting, we can lower our insulin levels, lower blood sugar, and lose weight. This approach has worked for me, with 25 pounds lost over the summer. My A1C was 6.8 in May; now it's 5.6, and that's despite some holiday diet slip-ups. (I'm getting back on track now and expect to see resumed weight loss.)

By the way: On this approach, you don't need a ton of protein. The body can convert amino acids into new sugar, so you don't want to encourage that process with excessive protein. It's also hard on the kidneys. A typical lunch for me is the proverbial card-deck-sized piece of flatiron steak, some creamed spinach or other greens, some celery sticks with a little ranch dressing, and a club soda. No taters, no bread, no fruit. Dinner has a more varied lineup of meats and veggies.

As far as energy goes, I still carry about 150 days of calories around my waist. If I tap into that, I just need to make sure my hydration and vitamins/minerals are correct. (The longest fast on record is 382 days, which was medically supervised and with supplements.)

Fung doesn't recommend one meal a day for weight loss, since that schedule is predictable enough for your metabolism to adapt by simply slowing down. OMAD is fine as a maintenance plan, however, once you get to your goal weight.

Finally: Just because something doesn't spike your blood sugar doesn't mean that it does not spike your insulin. It turns out that artificial sweeteners can spike your insulin even more than plain sugar does.

 

[Chuckster]

So bizarre... this is my normal lifestyle. Not a planned thing or a fad, it's literally just what I have done for as long as I can remember. I eat once a day. If I have lunch, I won't have dinner, and vice versa. I never eat breakfast... on rare occasions I will have an English muffin or a bagel.

I am rarely hungry; for me, food is merely fuel. I do not enjoy or crave food like others do.

(For reference, age 53, 5' 10", 168lbs. )

 

[studio1087]

Our physiology was built to eat less than one meal a day

People are pretty resilient. My dogs eat twice a day and they are healthy as horses. I think whatever people commit to as long as they are getting about 2k calories a day and the basic minerals, vitamins etc.. I don't think it matters on periodicity... I'd bet that most of what we think is critical is more emotional. The keto, paleo etc stuff or OMAD any of it can work okay if the person commits and finds a way to limit their overall intake AND they increase exercise...

We are built to take whatever punishment we can think of... the breakfast is the most important meal of the day stuff was marketing... just like the pyramid stuff... completely created for market purposes.

In 10 years, I think we'll have the food thing dialed in... but our emotions will still be all addicted to sugar and stuff that we should change our minds (and emotions) about.

That’s all very interesting and educational for me. I meant it when I asked “respectfully”. It’s narrow minded of me to think about this in terms of “me” but I’m an insulin dependent diabetic. If I ate once per day you’d find me on the floor. I eat small quantities of food several times per day but that’s just me and I’m the only “me”.

Thanks. I wasn’t trying to to start anything. It just seemed very odd to me. Have a great evening.

John

 

[viccortes285]

Diets depend on your health, activity levels and age. There is no one perfect diet, you have to find what works for you. I am 5'8 Weight varies from 160-165. I don't snack eat small portions about 4 times a day. I workout 5 Days a week. I am 69. My weight or routine doesn't change. I don't drink nothing but water and one cup of coffee at 6:30am. Nothing after a small dinner eaten around 4:00. It works for me.

 

[geoff_in_nc]

If I could curb my evening snacking gene, I could do IF with no problems.... That and portion control are my personal bugaboos.

 

[ifallalot]

Diets depend on your health, activity levels and age. There is no one perfect diet, you have to find what works for you. I am 5'8 Weight varies from 160-165. I don't snack eat small portions about 4 times a day. I workout 5 Days a week. I am 69. My weight or routine doesn't change. I don't drink nothing but water and one cup of coffee at 6:30am. Nothing after a small dinner eaten around 4:00. It works for me.

That’s all very interesting and educational for me. I meant it when I asked “respectfully”. It’s narrow minded of me to think about this in terms of “me” but I’m an insulin dependent diabetic. If I ate once per day you’d find me on the floor. I eat small quantities of food several times per day but that’s just me and I’m the only “me”.

Thanks. I wasn’t trying to to start anything. It just seemed very odd to me. Have a great evening.

John

We're all different, and I knew you weren't trying to start anything, I was just making a generality based on our distant hunter-gatherer past

I hope I didn't come off as disrepectful with my response either.

 

[GuitarJonz]

Have been doing the 16/8 IF thing for a week now, eating more healthy meals only between noon and 8pm. I started the day after my 10 year colonoscopy, when I was already really cleaned out. I have been surprised that I can easily make it to noon with nothing but water and coffee, and even cut out the cream and Splenda in the coffee. Liking good quality black coffee has been a surprise too. Not watching the scale closely yet, just trying to get into this routine for the long haul, for general heath and weight loss. I'm a stocky 6'2, and should weigh about 75 lbs less than I do. Lots of water. I remember being told in Weight Watchers long ago that most Americans are chronically dehydrated to some degree, most don't drink enough water, and that lack of water feels like hunger, so people eat more than they should. I've found that to be true. Drinking more water, especially a half hour before a meal, does make you feel fuller, and eat less.

 

[getbent]

That’s all very interesting and educational for me. I meant it when I asked “respectfully”. It’s narrow minded of me to think about this in terms of “me” but I’m an insulin dependent diabetic. If I ate once per day you’d find me on the floor. I eat small quantities of food several times per day but that’s just me and I’m the only “me”.

Thanks. I wasn’t trying to to start anything. It just seemed very odd to me. Have a great evening.

John

John, that makes TONS of sense. Something I do not know (and could not pretend to know) and would like to know... what is the history of diabetes? I assume it has always existed... what did people do before insulin injections etc (sorry for the hijack) but, I was woefully nearsighted and then had a pretty bad eye injury in my late teens... in my early 40's I had wavefront lasik which pretty much gives me perfect vision... One of the deciding factors for me getting the surgery was that in the event that I lost my glasses or contacts, I could not help my family. If we had an emergency and I could not see, I was a detriment. I had an incident in my 20's where something like that happened and it scared me... once I had kids, I knew I wanted to do something about it...

In reading about the old west... the myopic guy was at a huge disadvantage... what did diabetics do?

 

[blowtorch]

Diabetics pretty much died.

Diabetes mellitus appears to have been a death sentence in the ancient era. Hippocrates makes no mention of it, which may indicate that he felt the disease was incurable. Aretaeus did attempt to treat it but could not give a good prognosis; he commented that "life (with diabetes) is short, disgusting and painful."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_diabetes


In 150 AD, the Greek physician Arateus described what we now call diabetes as "the melting down of flesh and limbs into urine."

https://www.everydayhealth.com/diabetes/understanding/diabetes-mellitus-through-time.aspx

 

[DonM]

Since I retired I find I just eat when I'm hungry, and not "when your supposed to." I average about twice a day now.

 

[Tonetele]

I eat a good breakfast; fruit, egg(S), no frying ( poached or boiled), toast and tea. Rarely eat lunch, I have fruit again then a decent dinner like salad and fish. I'm losing weight and feeling better. Don't smoke and only have a few beers per week. Miller Chills for all you Yanks! Very popular Downunder.

 

[D_W_PGH]

In 150 AD, the Greek physician Arateus described what we now call diabetes as "the melting down of flesh and limbs into urine."

https://www.everydayhealth.com/diabetes/understanding/diabetes-mellitus-through-time.aspx

Add "water taster" to the list of jobs I'd not like to have, along with lant collection supervisor.

 

[D_W_PGH]

I am not obese, in fact I appear quite slender. But I'm 51 now and noticing the development of belly fat which makes me feel disgusting. Nothing uglier than a slender guy with a gut. Except a Fender Jaguar.

So I'm currently cutting my carbs way back, and increasing fat and protein. Not exactly hardcore keto diet, but following it loosely.

Have your testosterone checked. Some upper body softening is inevitable unless you either change something through exercise or get hormone supplementation.

 

[flatout9]

Some pretty impressive folks only eat one meal a day. General Stan McChrystal follows this regime. I've gone to the intermittent fasting and skipping breakfast has become easy and my energy levels seem more consistent through out the day. Plus I'm focused mostly on protein but occasionally a tortilla will slip through my face.

https://tim.blog/2015/07/05/stanley-mcchrystal/

 

[Billnchristy]

I eat a small breakfast and a huge lunch then only eat dinner Wednesday and Friday.

Weekend is whatever we have time for.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

Eat whatever i want.

Work out in some fashion every single day.

No desk job.

Recognize the fact that the later I eat at night - the sooner I'll die.*

Beer intake on average : 4 weekly.

Talked to a smoking hot curvy French woman my bro-in-law was dating years ago. She said "You Americans look at food like medicine. We just eat it..."


*I get that people sometimes don't feel hungry in the morning but eating something/anything for breakfast and skipping dinner makes way more sense than the reverse.

 

[magicfingers99]

Speaking as someone who has a problem with portion size, 16:8 and keto type diets work better for me to hold or lose weight because portion size never comes into it.

I've done vegetarian type diets for a couple of weeks before, but they don't do it for me - I feel awful and lacking, and several weeks in, it doesn't seem to go away. Keto, I feel better after getting through the first week.

Portion size and volume eaten would serve the whole world well if we could all do it easily. If it was life or death, I could.

watch the video i linked on fasting it explains the process very well, caloric restriction leads to constant hunger and lower energy levels. They cite a 'starvation" study done after wwII, it was folks in minnesota that were fed lots of carbs and very little protien or fat. Their metabolic rates dropped, their basal temp was 95.4 degrees and they were constantly hungry and low in energy. They were never reaching ketosis and unable to burn fat, so the body was slowing meabolic processes to conserve energy.

They contrast it against a a 400 and some pound man who fasted for over a year, only consumming coffee,tea and a daily vitamin. No food for over a year, and he stayed healthy and dropped to a190 some pounds.

our bodies are built for feast and famine, 3 squares just ain't right for the way we are engineered.

watch the video, its like 14 minutes and really lays it out pretty well. Multiple day fasts 5 to 10 days are probably easier and better for weight loss, correcting insulin tolerance and more easily accomplished than dieting or calorie restriction and healthier.

 

[magicfingers99]

I switched to smaller plates and no second helpings about 10 years ago.
Works for me..

now you just need to get down to only eating one plate of food instead of two and I think you may be on to something.