Interesting. This was a good read. I don’t (think I) OMAD, but I generally eat all my calories within a 3 hour window (e.g., 5pm-8pm). Say, big salad at 5pm, steak at 5:45pm, some veggies/cheese, etc. at 7:00 and then maybe something else around 8:00pm. All keto stuff under 20g carbs per day.
What defines OMAD? One sitting, i.e., all the food within a 1/2 hour? 1 hour? I guess my question is what’s the time duration for the M in OMAD?
I agree. I was strict for 15 months then lost too much weight and needed to add back. I sensed my carb tolerance was higher. 27 days with milk and occasional toast and I am in light ketosis 0.3. Yes it is good to start out under 20, but everyone’s tolerance varies. We don’t want people throwing in the towel just because they are not at the 20 limit.
I think another rationale for the “you need under 20 carbs” is because of carb creep and poor calculation by us such that if we aim for under 20, we end up with 30-40 which as @Ilana_Rose says, is just fine for ketosis and goal hitting.
Oh and the thing about our ancestors munching on fruit during the summer? I walk outside and find tomatoes and zucchini demanding to be eaten. Come October I will be feasting on pumpkin seeds. But will continue to monitor. Good thing bacon is never out of season!
My issue was him saying he is not doing Keto at all, so I was wondering why ask us about it, it seemed like he was trolling…
True. Any diet that is low enough in carbohydrate for your liver to be able to manufacture ketone bodies is a ketogenic diet—for you. As I understand it, our threshold gets lower and lower as our insulin resistance increases. Some people get hung up on the exact amount of carbohydrate, forgetting that if someone is below their carbohydrate threshold, whatever that may be, their insulin level will not get high enough to trap fat in their fat tissue. The problem comes when we eat above our threshold, because our insulin resistance starts going back up, and we start retaining fat again.
My belief is that this is basically a psychological problem, since it has been demonstrated that the human body has no need for any dietary carbohydrate intake at all. Perhaps what we can help people understand is that a 20 g/day limit is great for starting out (though some few people will have to eat even less than that in order to get into ketosis), and that while it is possible to experiment to find one’s actual carbohydrate threshold (after becoming fat-adapted, of course), people often find that they lose interest in eating very much carbohydrate once they’ve been on a ketogenic diet for long enough.
And for those of us who are sugar/carb addicts, it’s actually easier to eat a minimum of carbohydrate—or none at all.
I’m not sure that is the best wording. 
But, I do not think that is necessarily the case either - social interactions, cultural food background, living in a family of vegans, not being the cook, sleep issues etc. could make a 20 gram max very hard to deal with (and feel like a real imposition if later found to not be necessary).
True but, that does not mean that ingesting zero carbs is necessarily optimal for everyone (and we definitely are omnivores so - ignoring carbs would have been an evolutionary disadvantage).
Ok, guys. I’m going to try and switch to Keto for my one meal. I feel it is easier doing OMAD.
I didn’t lose any weight at all this whole last week even though I was super strict and added 5 gym sessions. Might be it is all water, since it is also super hot in Germany right now, and my body getting adjusted to the gym sessions, too. But might also be that after a couple of weeks doing OMAD, my metabolism starts to adjust.
I’ve lost almost 20kg since the beginning of this year, and almost 30kg in total. I am so motivated by the results that I will do anything to make it work…
Want to get rid of 30 more kg in the best case…
Fingers crossed Keto will get things going again.
Wishing you the best of luck in your transition to keto and fingers crossed that you start losing fat again.
If you are doing 5 gym sessions each week you may well be building muscle, which weighs heavier than fat, so you might find that using a tape measure, the fit of your clothes and a mirror is a more effective way to monitor your progress than relying on the scales.
Indeed, but it’s only the first week i’m going to the gym. I do it to build muscle exclusively, because i start to see skin getting loose in some places.
I don’t really think that after that first week i’m building any muscle, but rather think it is water in my system that is weighing on me…
I feel a million times better than just 3 weeks ago, and it keeps going that way. Now, though, i am on a plateau for 10 days on the spot… i want to keep that weight loss going in any case, because that has the biggest impact.
Btw: just yesterday i was able to completely clean out my closet. My shirt size is 3 numbers down from where it was 3 months ago and none of my suits fit me anymore.
This is crazy… this is a transformation beyond anything i ever believed to be manageable. I used so many approaches. Keto, then IF, then calorie counting, then again Keto, then OMAD… All of this got me where i am today.
Yup. This is me. I may be in ketosis at 85 grams of carbs but I have zero self control when I’m there (and I also feel much worse). Zero carbs maxes out my control since I’ve taken absolutely everything I am able to overeat literally off the table.
This is absolutely true but I’m no longer convinced of its modern day relevance. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the carnivores are correct and that plants while edible are a substandard and unnecessary nutritional source when good animal meat is available. Being an omnivore doesn’t mean that both meat and plants are equally good for us or even that eating some combination of both results in optimal health.
Good luck, @steka. You’re doing everything right by responding to stalls quickly and not becoming complacent. One thing to keep in mind however, is that anytime you start a new exercise regime you can add some temporary water weight. Still, though, decreasing your carbohydrates will definitely improve your fat loss rate.
With respect to OMAD. I had excellent success using it all the way down to my target weight. However, I have great trust in the people at IDM and like others here have pointed out, they consider it a suboptimal strategy and have found that many of their overweight patients have stalled using it as a daily practice. They like it as a maintenance strategy but not so much as a weight loss fasting plan. Their recommendation is to mix it up more. Maybe have some longer fasts and other days where you eat two meals.
However, it’s very important to use what works for you. So if you are like me and really enjoy OMAD I’d try it more keto for a couple of weeks and see if your losses restart. Personally, after two years of OMAD I never had any noticeable reduction in my metabolism.
OMAD isn’t advised for fat loss, more for maintenance. Some people have success with it for fat loss but apparently not the norm.
Hi @Ilana_Rose - I definitely was not trying to say that meat and plants are equally good and, if I had to choose one for the rest of my life, I’d choose meat.
But, that wasn’t my point.
).My point is that the %100 Vegan or %100 Carnivore mindset might not be optimal for our body when followed in a dogmatic way.
I think you bring up a good exception - carb addicts with “all or nothing” tendencies would probably best be served as being dogmatic - as would someone with an autoimmune disorder that seems to improve.
Actually, I completely agree with all of that. In fact if I can ever sort out how to do a really occasional treat or a couple of fruit without it turning into something more or something that sickens me then I likely will. Unfortunately, at this point I still suffer both negative consequences much more often than not. The latter, in my case, is the biggest problem.
Thank you, Ilana.
Maybe i’m a pervert, but i actually enjoy OMAD a lot. No stress dealing with breakfast and dinner anymore, just full on enjoying that one meal.
Having said that, yesterday i had pizza for lunch 
which probably isn’t excellent as well…
You do OMAD with Keto, correct?
I did OMAD with keto during my entire weight loss phase but when I got within 5lbs of my goal weight I found myself getting hungrier and began eating two meals a day more often.
I was never super strict however. Even when more OMAD if there was a day where I was super hungry and that hunger was insistent rather than transient then I would have a second meal. As I approached my goal weight the number of days where I was really, truly hungry (not merely peckish or snackish) for a full second meal increased and now I probably only find myself OMADing 2-3 days a week.
So, did keto now for 2 days again. Basically not Keto, but Carnivore. Today i have the first “mild” result on Ketostix. Yesterday was a bit of a struggle, the usual headache, lots of visits to the toilet, but that’s it. Today, I’m fine - no hunger.
I apologize, @steka. I thought I had responded to your last post.
The answer is yes. I was always keto. I’m actually carnivore now, but still strictly ketogenic. I eat only the fattiest meats and keep my calories from fat at around 80%.
Congratulations on getting into ketosis. Too much protein can lead to running to the toilet a lot on a carnivore diet so if it doesn’t straighten out soon try increasing your fat to protein ratio somewhat.