Intermittent fasting---too little calories? OMAD

keto
fasting
(Bee ) #1

OK Sooo… How many calories am I suposed to be eating a day if I only eat one meal and am trying to loose weight? Too little is a bad thing right?:thinking: 400 calories a day can’t be healthy. But then how am I supposed to pack all the calories and nutrients I need into one meal? I was thinking about drinking isopure protien powder + a tablespoon of avacodo oil :avocado:with my one meal to help bring the calories up. But even then that’s only 223 calories extra. Also 25g of protien… Can you have too much protien? Uhg. I dunno. :woman_shrugging:

#2

You can to start here. You’ll find tons of information for people just getting started on keto.

https://www.ketogenicforums.com/c/newbies

(Bee ) #3

Thanks but I’ve looked. I can’t find the info I’m looking for.

#4

Well, I kinda feel like you’re asking the wrong question. The ketogenic diet is more focused on carbohydrate restriction, and not calorie restriction.

Simply put:

Replace the carbohydrates you eat with fat.

That, in a nutshell is the ketogenic diet.

(Bee ) #5

Oh yeah. I’ve already got that down pat. 20g carbs and under. And I’m not eating as much fat because I’m relying on my body to burn the fat I’m already carrying.

#6

Then don’t worry about the calories.

You want to eat enough fat to be satisfied. You’ll find that you need to eat less with you’re fully fat adapted (your body is burning fat for fuel instead of glucose). But until that happens, feel free to eat if your hungry. Just don’t go over the 20g of carbs.

(Bee ) #7

I do find myself not hungry. That’s why the one meal a day is easy for me. But only 400 calories a day everyday healthy? My body won’t think it’s starving?

(KetoQ) #8

Depending upon your height and weight, you should probably be eating 1500 calories + per day, whether that is one or two meals. And feel free to make most of those calories FAT calories.

400 calories a day is not sustainable for very long, plus it will eventually lower your metabolism, and doom your weight loss goals.

OMAD and IF should not be your initial focus. Hitting your macros and feeling satisfied with your meals should be your focus. That will help you become “fat adapted” and burn your current fat stores. That iwill get you on the fast track to keto weight loss success

And don’t do protein shakes. Eat a healthy salad to get additional nutrients.

(Bee ) #9

So I just have to figure out how to pack a whole days calories worth into one meal. Challenge accepted!

#10

Protein shakes based on raw-dried, undenatured grassfed whey can be a very handy way to increase your protein - highly recommend if you’re not a person that likes to eat heavy on the meat. Both the Drs. Eades, Dr Phinney & Jeff Volek PhD, and nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman (author of LCHF Radical Metabolism) utilize liquid meals in their menu suggestions/guidelines, in order to aid intake of nutrients and also to lighten the work the digestive system has to do when establishing itself in the high fat way of life as the entire intestinal tract’s microflora changes. I have 2-3 smoothies a week, and I also take Ginger capsules daily for enymatic support and cortisol reduction. :herb:

There’s a difference between true satiety and a stagnant digestive tract. In the early months of keto, the microbiome is changing a lot - as different enzymes are needed in the presence of so much fat. Ginger is an enzyme precursor, and is amazing. Some people take the more isolated enzyme supplements such as papain and bromelain - but I chose to avoid them as they can lead to dependency.

Besides carb reduction, I think it’s also critical to attend to making sure that the OMAD or supplementation keeps up the salt, magnesium (I take angstrom magnesium), a weekly dose or more of collagen (powdered bone broth or homemade bone broth), Vit D3, and either Vit. C supplementation or adding berries to your smoothies. Vit. C is really impt for collagen uptake. :sparkles:

IF with a small eating window of 6-8 hours needn’t mean minimal nourishment - if your digestive fire is strong you should be able to fit in a decent amount of protein and fat via OMAD or TMAD. How to make your digestion strong? Use digestive spices in your cooking, supplement with Ginger capsules (start w/ 1 capsule twice a day), avoid iced beverages with meals.

I also find starting the day with a fatty coffee w/ coconut oil n’ cream gives me a leg up on brain power and intake energy, and prolongs my fast till about 3pm if I’m having a shake - or easily goes a full 24 hours if I’m aiming for a Foodie OMAD feast.

#11

I’ve found that whole foods protein shakes based on raw-dried, undenatured grassfed whey can be a very handy way to increase protein intake - esp as a person that doesn’t like to eat heavy on the meat (I usually only eat one meal that is meat-based 30-40g protein serving, and if I have an additional meal it tends towards lighter fare - due to my particular midlife metabolism).

The Drs. Eades, Dr Phinney & Jeff Volek PhD, and nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman (author of LCHF Radical Metabolism) utilize liquid meals in their menu suggestions/guidelines. It can help with increasing intake of nutrients when one isn’t keen on eating 2-3 sizable meals, and also lightens the work the digestive system has to do when establishing itself in the new high fat way of life, and just in general.

(Bee ) #12

I’ve looked into magnesium before but have never heard of angstrom. I found one on Amazon by Mother earth minerals. They are 96 servings and it only cost $19.95. Why aren’t more people talking about this? It’s absorbed better than the other types right? And is Apple cider vinegar a good enough enzyme supplement?

#13

Yes, Mother Earth brand has good quality. The company that supplies most other suppliers (and ME, I believe!) is where I get mine from: https://www.angstrom-minerals.com/collections/magnesium-supplements

Apple cider vinegars is great for enzymes! But the thing about taking ACV straight is that is that it can harm tooth enamel unless watered down a lot or taken via a straw - so I’ve never gotten into it much beyond in salad dressings! There have been a few indigestion incidents over recent decades when I took ACV due to not having anything else on hand, and it sure did the trick.

There are a number of great digestive allies. I know Ann Gittleman (author of Radical Metabolism) is a big fan of “Bitters” - and they too are amazing. For my present lifestyle, I really like the simplicity and cheapness of Ginger capsules, plus its other superfood benefits!

#14

Great response, @SlowBurnMary! Thank your for the information.

As someone who has referred to themselves as “the laziest of lazy keto”, I probably shouldn’t be trying to answer these questions. :grin:

(KetoQ) #15

Bianca –

It sounds like trying to eat enough food in one meal might be a challenge for you.

Try a 20/4, 18/6 or 16/8 IF plan, meaning, you fast for 20, 18 or 16 hours, and have an eating window of 4, 6 or 8 hours respectively. That may make it easier to get all the nutrition you need, while still getting the benefits of fasting.

Try 16/8 first, so you can ease yourself into fasting and give you time to figure out meal plans that will fit your personal preferences and life schedule. Then as you build momentum, extend the fast and decrease the eating window.

I started off OMAD for the first 8 weeks and now just eat when I’m hungry. That often means eating 2x/day or eating as much as I want (all keto friendly foods) in a 2-4 hour window once I get home.

Try not to look at keto as a traditional “diet.” Look at it as a sustainable way of eating and lifestyle where you can eat healthy foods, not go hungry and not be focused on your next meal.

Good luck,
Q

(Bee ) #16

Everyones info is valued and appreciated. :+1::slightly_smiling_face:

(Bee ) #17

I really wasn’t shooting for fasting. After a couple months of keto I just got less hungry and less hungry till I was only eating once a day. But then my weight loss stopped. And I’m thinking it’s because I’ve been eating too few calories. I’ve tried eating more often in a Window of time but then I just feel heavy n bloated. N I gotta force myself to eat. Would be easy if I could just eat 5 avacodos :avocado: everyday n call it done. :sweat_smile:

(MelissaH) #18

@SlowBurnMary what ginger supplement do you take? I’m intrigued

(A ham loving ham! - VA6KD) #19

@richard has touched on this quite a bit. If you’re eating a calorie deficit, your body still has a total energy budget it needs to survive. If food is scarce, ideally, that energy will first come from glycogen stores, and then someone who’s fat adapted will seamlessly transition to fat stores. (someone who’s not well fat adapted will do it too, but it’ll be a rougher transition). Eventually, in the more dire stages of starvation, it will turn to protein (your muscles), but that’s at the bad end of starvation and we want to avoid that.

None of these stages are a hard switch, but rather a blended transition, sometimes with a bit of everything (glycogen, fat, protein) all going on all at the same time.

While your body will turn to fat for its energy needs, you can’t unlock all the energy in your fat stores instantly. We know in the best conditions, a person can unlock about 30 kcals per pound of fat per day. So if you only had 10 pounds of fat in your body, you’d only be able to get 300kcals per day from it. If you have 100 pounds of fat, you could potentially get up to 3000 kcals from it daily. Your body will dip into its fat reserves to make up any difference between what you eat and what it needs. Your body will also begin to shut down less critical functions to save energy as energy reserves dry up, but so long as your metabolism is healthy and you have more than a few 10’s of pounds of fat on your frame to spare, your body will happily tick along… Perservation of life is it’s #1 priority.

Edit: We also know that daily calorie needs swing up and down quite a bit, which is why the CICO model is so flawed… it assumes you have the same energy need day in and day out and it’s based on very generalised data from a large populace…we’re all snowflakes in that regard and individuals can vary sometimes +/-40% of the TDEE models.

(Doug) #20

Nice post, Keehan. :slightly_smiling_face:

Yeah - especially for those who are fat-adapted, it’s pretty much a linear thing, using blood glucose then glycogen, then shifting to burning fat (with some autophagic protein recycling going on and the liver making sugar for the few body parts that have to have it), and finally consuming muscle tissue in the effort to stay alive.

I can’t find it today, but have read of a Russian study on people who had starved all the way to death. They averaged only a 3% loss in heart muscle.