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Originally Posted by mojolissa
I have some questions about OMAD.
I'm getting conflicting info about whether this is sustainable.
How can fasting be healthy, but OMAD be unhealthy?
Is it just because you shouldn't do it long-term? why not?
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Not unhealthy, but not optimal for weight loss.
As always, what is your goal
"The problem with OMAD is in its repetition. Eating one meal a day is a pattern easily recognized by the body and by doing the same behavior every day, the body does what it does naturally – it adapts. It is this adaptation that causes problems. Namely, the body simply slows its BMR."
Answer quoted from the The Obesity Code FB Files:
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Introduction
This document will explain one meal a day (OMAD). This is one of the most frequently asked questions. It will explain when and for whom it may be appropriate and why it isn’t appropriate for everyone.
What Is OMAD?
OMAD in this group means eating one meal at the end of an approximately 24hr fast. Conversely, eating one meal a day in conjunction with longer fasts (e.g., fasting for 48hrs, eating one meal, then beginning another fast) is NOT considered OMAD (at least not in the sense that causes concern). Here are two more examples to help clarify.
Example 1: If you fasted from Sunday night after dinner until Tuesday night before dinner, you only consumed one meal on Tuesday. However, because this one meal on Tuesday was at the end of an approximate 48hr fast, this is not describing what we normally mean by OMAD.
Example 2: If you fasted from Sunday night after dinner until Monday night before dinner, you only consumed one meal on Monday and only fasted approximately 24hrs. This is what we normally mean by OMAD.
Post from Dr. Fung
On October 3, 2018, Dr. Fung posted the following in regard to OMAD:
Everybody responds differently. Some people do OMAD successfully, but we've seen many in the clinic who do well initially, then plateau. The body can often adapt, even to OMAD. That's when we usually change things up - either longer or shorter fasts. Changing the fasting periods often helps keep the body from adapting to a certain weight. But if you are doing OMAD without problems, then there is no reason to change.
Why Isn’t OMAD Good for Weight Loss?
OMAD can easily become like a calorie restrictive diet. It is a great tool once you reach your goals and want to maintain. It does work for weight loss for some people but eventually they find they will stall. So we suggest that you mix it up. You can do OMAD with other protocols during the week such as 2 meals a day (2mad) or a longer fast of 36, 42 etc. 14.
More About Calorie Restriction.
IDM considers OMAD calorie restriction for two reasons. First, most people cannot consume more than 1200 in a single meal. Second, when one eats reduced calories over time their bodies sense this reduction and their BMR slows down.
Why does this occur?
Many of us come from a history or yo-yo dieting or severe low calorie dieting. So our metabolism needs to heal and rev up. The way to do that is by feeding ourselves good foods and it needs to be enough to carry us from meal to meal. OMAD can be a great tool temporarily for some folk without a history of yo-yo who are close to goal. That describes very few of us.
See also, Metabolism blog posts at https://idmprogram.com/tag/metabolism/
The ideal fasting protocol for weight loss is alternate day fasting while consuming two meals on eating days. Trust the process. It is hard when you are starting out to increase your food consumption. If you don’t, though, you stall.
Fear of Overeating
Many experience fear of overeating. An IDM educator suggested a client giving up on tracking and weighing oneself, and eating meals to satiety, and adding fat using healthy oils or fatty fish/pork belly/ marbled meats. Avoid the scales can be difficult. It can be even more difficult not to track. The client had a 3000+ day streak on MFP! With some ADFs, at the end of the month the client had lost 8.7lbs. This exercise reinforces that we need to trust the process.
Read The Complete Guide to Fasting if you haven’t. It was my bible during that time and still is.
OMAD Is a Form of Eating, Not Fasting.
A day does not go by in this group in which the moderators and admins are not asked about OMAD. It is a very popular subject and for many people who work 9-5 M-F, it meshes nicely into their lifestyles because they can eat their one meal with their families after work. However, many are also shocked to learn it is not a form of fasting. It is actually a form of eating – eating one meal a day. It is really not fasting AT ALL!
The problem with OMAD is in its repetition. Eating one meal a day is a pattern easily recognized by the body and by doing the same behavior every day, the body does what it does naturally – it adapts. It is this adaptation that causes problems. Namely, the body simply slows its BMR. At first when you start OMAD, the BMR stays very high. However, after a while BMR inevitable slows down. It might take the body some time to adapt, but it does. First with energy levels, then with other metabolic operations and at some point, as we see quite consistently, BMR just slows down, and the inevitable plateau follows. If you are trying to lose weight, this is not a good situation. In fact, what we need is the opposite: a way to speed up BMR.
How to Increase BMR?
There are a few ways to increase BMR. They include alternate day fasting, mixing up fasting patterns during the week, and finally longer fasts. OMAD, coupled with a day or two of skipping meals altogether, will do it too.
Exceptions
We’re all different and there will always be exceptions. There are some instances where OMAD will work. First there is the person who has only 20-30 pounds to lose. In this case, OMAD works well.
Next, there is the class of people who have NO history of yoyo dieting. Third, there are those who are at goal weight, and OMAD is a good way to do weight maintenance.
If you truly want to try OMAD, of course you are free to do so. If you are successful, congratulations on being in the minority. However, if you are unsuccessful, it is probably time to change your plan and use IDM as it is intended – to heal obesity.
Final Words of Wisdom
Fast on, my friends! DO not get caught in the OMAD trap! Mix it up; try alternate day fasts; don’t be afraid to join a mod fast. We run at least one mod fast every week and there members can ask questions freely and get almost real-time answers!
So, some final educated thoughts on OMAD. It’s a double-edged sword. Eating one meal daily might give you weight loss, which is great, BUT you also run the risk of not getting enough nutrients, slowing your BMR. If you have a history of yo-yo dieting, gaining and regaining, then your metabolism has most likely slowed down. Your body does not trust you to feed it enough so eating OMAD can easily cause weight gain if your BMR is very slow. The only benefit to OMAD is the fact you’re only stimulating insulin once a day. However, many people don’t technically really eat OMAD because they may drink fatty coffees. IDM has clearly indicated in many of its resources that OMAD must be combined with 2MAD and fasting...if it’s used at all. And this pattern is directed at people who are in maintenance. When people are still highly IR or have weight to lose, OMAD is not ideal at all.
This document is the property of OCN and may not be used without the express written permission of OCN.
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