That’s pretty much what I do, too. I’ve had days where I eat at 11 am and then again at 6pm (those are hungrier days). Other days, my first food of any kind is 7 or 8 pm. I’m trying my first longer fast right now (so zero meals today! LOL), but I expect I’ll eat 2 meals tomorrow for sure. Well…maybe…just depends on when I decide to end the fast.
I think it is important to switch it up according to whatever our bodies are telling us is needed for that day.
I really appreciate every single one of you taking the time to help me out! I have been taking all this information in tonight and I’m excited to move forward and hopefully kick start things again, and hopefully feel even better on Keto than I do currently. I am going to go without my Keto coffee tomorrow, shortening my eating window and focus on keeping my TOTAL carb intake low, not fall back on protein powders if I can help it, and not focus so much on eating a lot of fat and just overall portion control and listen to my body. Hopefully it makes for a positive next couple of weeks of changes! Thanks again everyone!
Julie, I’ve had a long history of dieting and used the Atkins diet way back when…fast forward to now, I’m 72, been overweight most of my life but not out of control obese. I’ve been fighting Type 2 Diabetes for about 10 years. I’m 6’2" and weighed 230 pounds exactly 30 days ago. This morning I weighed 206.8. I’m going to go to at least 200 (haven’t weighed that for 55 years) and probably will go to 190 if not 185. I have no doubt in my mind that I can’t do it. And I will do it with a Keto diet and fasting. I can’t tell you how important the fasting is. The other GREAT thing about fasting on a Keto diet is the fantastic positive reinforcement you get so quickly. I’m down 24 pounds in 30 days! And, I’ve only been fasting the last 6 days!
Sorry, to ramble so but I want you to know how great it can be. To answer your questions about the one meal. Last evening my wife boiled some fresh shrimp, I made up some dip from cocktail sauce and mayo and ate 14 shrimp. and, that was it. I usually don’t feel like gorging myself. BUT, I sure worried about not having enough food around when I first tried this…thinking I would be dying for a huge feast…not! Another meal I remember, I had two bowls of my homemade chili (minus the beans) with sour cream. the two bowls were 3 to 4 cups, total. Mostly, I have found I’m ready to eat but not interested in a ton of food. Hope this helps…good luck.
That is amazing!!! Good for you! I am so happy you shared that!! My thinking is the same now as yours was, that I need to eat enough to sustain me for 23 hours. And in the research I did, it seems most eat at dinner time or in the evening and not in the morning for OMAD. That scares me a little that I will be hungry in the morning but I also don’t want to do it incorrectly. I did a 5 hour eating window today (9-2) and didn’t have my usual Keto coffee this morning as per suggestions and I’m feeling good in terms of being hungry. I really would like to try the OMAD soon. Your success is definitely a motivator!
I am on my own weightloss journey, i have came across this a product that i am thinking about buying . But wanted to ask if anyone has tryed it ?or heard of it? I found it here [Https:Healthyeffectiveweightloss.blogspot.com]
Really need some honest opinions about this before i waste time and money. If anyone has tryed it please let me know
Eating OMAD is much easier than I thought it would be. (I also love that my kitchen is cleaner for that much longer)
Julie, I don’t think it matters about when you decide to eat. It’s often the evening meal so you could eat with family and be not far from sleep where you get 8 easy fasting hours during sleep.
If you get the Fasting book, it’ll lay out the benefits of all the fasting combinations.
Let me know how the first one goes.
Do every single one of those except the last one and I bet you start seeing differences quickly. Portion control isn’t something you want to do when you are doing everything else right unless you’re a person who has broken satiety signalling. When you shorten your eating window you want to make SURE you’re giving your body what it needs so eat until you are well and truly satisfied at your meals. That doesn’t mean you need to be stuffing down fat bombs or chasing some calorie or fat macro, but you want to eat enough at your meals so that you can get through to the next planned meal without dying to snack. Snacking is what you want to avoid, not a few extra calories at a planned meal. It makes ALL the difference WHEN you get your food.
With respect to eating in the morning vs evening that is entirely up to you. Most people just LIKE to eat later because they are used to the supper meal being the largest. Also, a lot of people don’t wake up very hungry due to something called the dawn phenomenon. The body gives a large pulse of glucose into the blood in the wee hours to get you started in the day. If anything an earlier meal is actually better. Studies show that insulin responses to meals gets larger and larger as the day goes on. My suspicion is that the best meal time, if there is one is around midday. That takes advantage of the dawn phenomenon and the lowered insulin response to meals of the earlier part of the day. That’s how Buddhist monks eat. One meal at around noon, I believe.
I’ve never heard of it. But you can buy Roobios tea at any supermarket inexpensively so if you want to drink it it won’t set you back much. However, I’m very suspicious of those weight loss claims.
By: Brittanie Volk, PhD, RD & Marlia Braun, PhD, RD on April 6, 2018
Am I stuck in a weight loss plateau?
Your weight will vary day to day—as much as several pounds—due to normal fluctuations in body water. So looking at your weight from one day to the next, or even one week to the next, does not accurately reflect weight loss. Dietary influences are just some of what can impact the number on the scale, whether a true weight change or just normal day-to-day fluctuations. Medications, hormones, exercise, and body composition changes additionally influence weight. Before further investigation, it’s important to evaluate whether what you’re experiencing is a true plateau or is the day to day fluctuations constantly fluctuating around a lower number, meaning you are losing weight, just possibly slower than you’d like.
Follow these steps to determine whether or not you are stuck in a weight loss plateau:
- Take a look at your weight loss over time, rather than weight changes within a small window.
- Consider if this ‘plateau’ follows a period of significant weight loss. Have you been at the same weight for less than 3 months after a period of significant loss? If the answer is yes, it may not be a true weight loss plateau and may be part of the normal weight loss process. Weight loss may pick up again shortly. This may just be your new stable weight for a period of time before weight loss continues.
- Don’t let the scale be your only measure of progress. Your body composition may be changing while the scale shows no change at all. Notice how clothing fits, and measure your waist circumference.
Ok, if you’ve identified that it’s a weight loss plateau, now what? Identify the source(s) to break through a weight loss plateau. …More
See also:
- How much protein is excessive? How much protein is enough? - Dr. Jason Fung
- Autophagy: Intermittent fasting protein cycling (IFPC) - Naomi Whittel
Julie, something I want to mention that I have enjoyed using and enjoy the feedback I get from it, Carb Manager App. This is a free App that lets you input your carbs daily and many other data like weight, blood glucose, ketones, etc. Then you can view your weight drop on graphs and you can quickly look up food and get their carb count. I’m not a big numbers person but for a small amount of daily input, I get a lot of positive feed back. I did opt to buy the Premium Option…it was only $39.99 for a year…not sure all the extras are but felt it was worth it. This is their website: https://www.carbmanager.com
Aren’t we told that the OMAD program has a chance to put our bodies into that mode where we will be just using fewer calories - and thus at risk to gain it back? I am sorry - but just SO confused. I don’t really know the difference between a 24 hour fast and OMAD. Trying to figure out a WOE that I will be able to stick to forever and so very afraid that I will just lose the weight and gain back twice as much… (I know - I will have to eat this way forever - but perhaps with the fasting? I will be able to increase the carbs a bit?)
@Mountainannie OMAD is basically a 23 hr fast. You eat all the calories of your day in one meal. Meghan Ramos has said that strict OMAD is very good for maintenance but can lead to stalls in some people. BUT, she’s entirely in favor of a more mixed up intermittent fasting regime such and OMAD 3-4 days a week and then a longer eating window the rest, like 18/6 for example. I don’t PLAN this but it’s essentially what I do. Any day that I find myself very hungry between 11 am and 2 pm I just have lunch and that’s usually 2-4 days a week.
With respect to being confused. Don’t be. OMAD and such are things people on this WOE come to months after starting usually. Early on you just need to do three things. 1. Eat less than 20 g of carbs a day, 2. add plenty of fat to your foods, and 3. stop eating when you are satisfied. That’s the first 6 weeks. You shouldn’t be over complicating that period. By the end of that period most people see natural reductions in their hunger and are able to drop their snacks and often their breakfast. That’s already an intermittent fast and MOST people lose plenty of fat without doing more.
If you get past the 6 weeks mark and are seeing results you just keep going with that until you hit a stall. Only then do you start worrying about dietary tweaks, and shorter feeding windows.
How long have you been doing Keto now?
With respect to increasing the carbs. Some people can and some people really can’t. Again, get through the first 6 weeks, get yourself WELL adapted to burning fat. After that you can use some method of testing ketones to find out how many carbs you can have and stay in a decent state of ketosis. Also, as you are on this WOE longer, you will find your cravings for carbs markedly decline. Here is an example, I can handle 50 carbs a day easily and stay in ketosis, but with time I’ve realized that my body just feels way better on much less and now I generally have about 5 g of carbs a day.
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer! It has only been two weeks for me. The keto diet is not so strange as I did Atkins way back when it first came out - lost weight but then gained back more… So hoping that with the IF routine along with keto I will be able to find an eating plan that works. I do remember with Atkins that I had a sense of “gorging” as in just eating ALL and Everything… So I do like the idea of just stopping when full.
I have been doing the 16/8 eating w/out breakfast and am now coming off my first 36 hour fast. I am not sure about how much fat I am adding - Well - of course there is all the bacon - and Who Would Have Thought of liverwurst and celery as Breakfast? And olives.
The issue of increasing the Carbs - thanks - that is really a long - long way down the road for me as I have 80 -100 lbs to go! Fortunately I am doing this in solidarity with my sister who has Diabetes2 and will do things for her that I will not do for myself.
Thanks to everyone on this forum…and to you…
Great support…
No, don’t spread food. There are no rules that say you have to eat 3 meals a day. If you want a huge breakfast and just a chunk of cheese in the evening, do it! I would definitely say quit eating by 7pm though. We all tend to move around less in the evening.
Hi Julie,
Sounds like you’re doing everything right.
I don’t know how good MyFitnessPal is? Cronmeter is said to be good but I don’t use it, I’m using my Fitbit Versa and their web site to show grams of carbs, protein, fat…
I also purchased an electronic keto meter, I measure ketones once a week or so. This is not essential but I like the validation it gives me. The jab doesn’t hurt so it’s all good.
Do not use pee stix, once keto-adapted there should be next to zero ketones in the urine, they only show up in the early stages.
At first I had to juggle that is for sure. Eating too much, eating too little, too much protein, too little …
Otherwise October wasn’t all that long ago.
I don’t see any obvious red flags. But adjustments and tweaks are not unheard of. It is a juggling act and some minor point can change the outcome.
I also read Dr Westman, Phinney, Volek’s “Atkins the new you”. Atkins20 is a keto diet but the Atkins crowd have a lot of good advice, double checks and decades of experience nursing people through this process. Well worth it.
It was great! Got out of my stall for sure, and you guys were sooo right about not having to worry about eating and food. SO NICE! I am at a 5 hour eating window and it’s been great, not struggling with hunger. I made keto chilli (thank you for the suggestion!) and keto buffalo chicken soup and both have been filling. Really been staying away from those fake keto foods and it’s great piece of mind (thank you again for that suggestion). Overall, it’s been a great week. Excited yet dreading Christmas as those temptations of non keto food and alcoholic beverages with friends and family will definitely be a challenge!
Julie, I’ve been away for a bit and just checking up on you. Sounds like things are going better for you…I’m happy for you. I’m finding this forum very helpful and the people so supportive. Keep it going girl. M
Awesome post and responses. I was in a stall myself. Currently in my 8th week of Keto. Start weight -253, current 228 (as of this morning) - cheeeehooooooo!!
30 more to go- college weight here I come-
I was stuck a bit at 232 and didn’t check for 2 weeks. Checked this morning and 228 was the reading!
Doing some IF 11 am to 9 pm eating window. Seems to help-
Keto chili recipe please-
Thank you everyone- keep on keepin on!!
Aloha